In generational battle, Bryan and House working to turn out vote in council runoff

With less than a week to go before the runoff election, the two candidates vying to fill the vacant District 10 citywide Columbus Council seat are working overtime to drive out the vote.

Political newcomer and Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce executive Amy Bryan and retired Army Col. John House have been trying to get those who voted for them in the May election back to the polls.

This race could easily come down to turnout, and both candidates are working to get people who have supported them to the polls.

“We have been making phone calls daily; we have been texting people daily; we have almost been hounding people to encourage them to get out and vote,” Bryan said. “We are doing this with people we know are supporting us.”

Bryan, 32, is pushing people to cast ballots in the early voting period, which ends Friday. Early voting is being held at the City Services Center on Macon Road between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The early voting, which started July 2, has been light in Muscogee County, with an average of about 112 voters per day.

“We are trying to encourage our people to go early, knock it out and they won’t have to go on Tuesday,” Bryan said.

House is doing many of the same things Bryan is doing to get his people back to the polls, but he also knows it’s a far different game than the first time around.

“In a runoff, it’s all in who gets their supporters to show up,” House said. “If my supporters show up, I win. If Amy’s supporters show up, she wins. We’ll see who can motivate their people to get back out.”

The early voting has been encouraging to House.

“I have had a ton of friends who have already voted and run into people every day who say, ‘I voted for you. I voted for you yesterday,’” House said. “It makes me feel good.”

Bryan was the frontrunner in the May election, collecting nearly 41 percent of the nearly 22,000 ballots cast in the citywide race. House was not far behind, collecting 34.7 percent of the vote. Bryan had a nearly 1,600 vote advantage.

Bryan is not backing away from that frontrunner role.

“It says a lot that we are a newcomer to this and we were the frontrunner in the primary,” she said. “We’re using frontrunner all day, every day. That’s important that more than 9,000 people supported us.”

Though this is a non-partisan race, House has been active in Republican party politics locally for years and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2012 against Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop as a Republican.

“Obviously, this is a non-partisan race, but party politics do play a role,” Bryan said. “They don’t for me because I have never really played party politics.”

Bryan did well in south Columbus precincts, far better than House and matching Tollie Strode in places like Cusseta Road and Fort Middle/Waddell. There is only one runoff on the Democratic side, for the state school superintendent. On the Republican side, both the governor and lieutenant governor races are on the ballot.

“Our biggest concern is not as many Democrats are going to turn out because there is only one race on the Democratic ballot,” Bryan said. “Obviously, the governor’s race on the Republican ballot is going to be huge. ... John ran as a Republican against Sanford Bishop and has name recognition in that arena. That is a challenge and it’s a concern. ”

Because of the key Republican races on the ballot, House believes that is a positive for him.

“More Republicans than Democrats have voted thus far in early voting,” House said. “So, that probably means more conservatives than non-conservatives have voted in early voting. The other races means Republicans have a reason, other than me, to go vote.”

But House said he’s not running just to represent Republicans.

“My intent is to represent everybody,” House said. “I want to represent the entire city at the local level. I think most of the issues that separate us by party or state and federal. When you get down to the local level, what we are worried about is crime, jobs, transportation. A bunch of us worry about Fort Benning. ... Those issues that separate us, don’t matter on the local level. They want to know who’s going to fix the pothole.”

Bryan, 32, is banking on her youth being an equalizer.

“For me and my generation, this isn’t about party, it’s about people,” Bryan said. “And it’s about what’s best for the people. That is where we have crossed a lot of lines and touched a lot of people. ... We have support from all over.”

She has found a respect for House, 64, as they have campaigned against each other.

“I think John House is a great man, and I have enjoyed getting to know him throughout this campaign,” Bryan said. “I think it’s important as we move forward in this city, our council is representative of our future. I know that sounds generational, but I think it’s time from fresh ideas. I think it’s time for the next generation to step up.”

House acknowledges that the age gap is a campaign issue. He has used the support of Frank Lumpkin IV, a Columbus youth who has been pushing for an east-west interstate through Columbus, in his campaign advertising.

“It is not a generational message and I have certainly not tried to make it a generational message,” House said.

One of the issues House has raised is the fact that Bryan is an executive for the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce. The Development Authority, which is a quasi-governmental agency that recruits and retains business, gets about $1 million a year from the city property tax revenue. The Development Authority is run out of the chamber under a contract with the city.

“If you look at the Georgia Code, and even to some degree the city ethics ordinance, a government official is not supposed to have a direct or indirect interest with an entity that is under contract with an agency in which they are an official for,” House said. “I think there will be times, and not every day, where there will be a conflict of interest. At this point, the city attorney has indicated there is not one, at least from what I understand.”

At the very least, Bryan will have to recuse herself from some votes, House said.

“I think when we do the budget, they are going to have to do something about the issue of this money,” House said. “Everybody knows that a chunk of it goes to the chamber. I think she will have to recuse herself from that vote. It won’t matter unless somebody sues the city. But it’s an issue.”

That is not the way Bryan sees it.

“John’s campaign has tried to use that,” Bryan said. “... What I do at the chamber — I am not saying that it doesn’t have anything to do with economic development — but my focus is community development and leadership development, the things like Intercity Leadership Conference and Young Professionals. In the grand scheme, it is like saying the person who provides copy services to the city can’t run for office.”

The two are running for the seat that was vacated when Skip Henderson resigned earlier this year to run for mayor. Henderson won the mayoral race without a runoff and will take office in January, replacing two-term Mayor Teresa Tomlinson.

Henderson has been careful not to pick a side for the seat he first won in 1996.

“I feel good about both of them,” he said. “I believe that we will be able to work with either one of them. And, if you look, they both bring a little something different to the table.”

He pointed to Bryan’s youth and her ability to get young people involved in city government, and the military experience of House and his connections to Fort Benning.

“I have known both of them for a long time,” Henderson said.

Henderson’s relationship with Bryan goes back more than two decades and illustrates the generational differences in the race.

“Amy played Little League softball with my daughter and I was her coach,” Henderson said.

Strode, a community activist, finished a strong third in the the three-way race with more than 25 percent of the vote. He has not endorsed either candidate publicly. Because it’s a vacant seat, the winner will take office once the election results are certified, which could be as early as the end of next week.

This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 6:10 PM.