Retired Army Col. John House takes citywide Columbus Council race by commanding margin

Retired U.S. Army colonel and Columbus native John House has found the perfect retirement job.

House, 64, won the citywide Columbus Council seat vacated by Mayor-elect Skip Henderson with a solid showing Tuesday against political newcomer and Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce Executive Amy Bryan.

In the non-partisan runoff, House collected 4,898 votes, or 56 percent, to Bryan’s 3,852 votes, or 44 percent. It was a dramatic turnaround from the May election in which Bryant beat House by about 1,600 votes. Community activist Tollie Strode got enough votes to keep Bryan from getting more than 50 percent and forcing the runoff.

House said now it’s time to get to work. House, because he is filling a vacant seat, will be sworn in as soon as the election results are certified by the Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration and the election is official, which in scheduled to take place Friday afternoon.

“I am exited about the opportunity,” House said with about 60 supporters at his campaign headquarters on 13th Street. He credited a grassroots effort with the win.

“They were out here working hard all throughout the runoff, contacting people and got the people who supported me out to vote,” House said. “That’s the key in a runoff is getting your supporters to go vote. These people deserve the victory.”

Bryan, 32, praised House’s effort to get out his voters.

“We said all along, it would come down to who got their people back to the polls, and John did that,” Bryan said. “But this is not going to stop me from continuing to work to make my hometown a better place.”

House, who has long been active in local Republican party politics, benefited from the critical runoff races on the Republican side for governor and lieutenant governor.

“I think the excitement on the Republican party side certainly drove out a lot of voters,” House said. “And that probably helped.”

House, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2012 when he secured the Republican party nomination against long-time Second Congressional District Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, had some advice for his opponent.

“If she is interested in politics, stay in it, don’t give up,” House said. “I have been down this road before and didn’t get all the way to the final prize. If she wants to participate in public service, she should stay in the process, stay engaged and someday she will have another chance.”

The District 10 seat would have normally been on the 2020 ballot, but a special election was called when Skip Henderson resigned the post he has held since 1996 to run for mayor. Henderson was elected mayor in May without a runoff and will take office in January.

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. Strode finished last in the the three-way race with more than 25 percent of the vote.

The two candidates could not have been more different.

House, like Bryan, is a Columbus native who graduated as the valedictorian of Columbus High before starting a 26-year career in the U.S. Army. He retired as a colonel in July 2001. He recently retired as a part-time public administration instructor at Columbus State University and a couple of other universities.

Bryan is a Hardaway High graduate who has risen through the ranks at the chamber. She is also the face of the Young Professionals group that is run out of the chamber and has been active in her campaign.

This was Bryan’s first political run and she did not make the decision to enter the race until the final two days of qualifying in March.

One of the issues House has raised is the fact that Bryan is the executive vice president for community development and growth, for the 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.

House has contended that is a conflict of interest.

“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.”

Bryan has never seen it as a conflict that would keep her from seeking the office.

“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.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2018 at 7:55 PM.