Lucy McBath is running to represent Georgia’s 6thdistrict in the U.S. House. After receiving 36.3% of the votes in Georgia’s primary, she has advanced to the July 24thrunoff where she will face Kevin Abel (who received 30.5% of the votes). The winner of the runoff will face incumbent Republican Karen Handel in the general election. McBath is a life-long activist for civil rights and gun control and a strong supporter of women’s rights. If elected, McBath would be the first Black Congressperson to represent Georgia’s 6thdistrict.
Background and Achievements
Lucy McBath received a BA in political science from Virginia State University. In addition to her 30-year career with Delta Air Lines, McBath has spent her life advocating for civil rights and gun violence prevention – an issue that is deeply personal for her. In 2010, McBath’s son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed by a white man who disapproved of the music Jordan and his friends were playing in their car.
Since the tragedy of losing her son, McBath has become a leader in the movement for common sense gun legislation. She has served as the national spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety as well as Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She has experience testifying before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, speaking at the White House Summit on Educational Excellence for African Americans, and lobbying dozens of elected officials for gun control. McBath also founded the Champion in the Making Legacy Foundation which assists graduating high school seniors in Cobb County (her home community) attend higher education.
In addition to advocating for gun control, McBath is an active support of the women’s movement. As a two-time breast cancer survivor, she has a personal understanding of how essential affordable healthcare options are for women. If elected, she would fight for Planned Parenthood funding, access to contraception and abortion, and work towards paid family leave.
Positions on Key Issues
- Supports reproductive rights, access to contraception, and funding for Planned Parenthood
- Supports Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Violence Against Women Act
- Advocates for gun policy reforms as well as gun violence prevention
- Supports the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- Advocates for DREAMers and DACA
- Stands against Citizens United Decision
- Protects public education funding
- Advocates for LGBTQ+ rights
Prospects & Opponents
On July 24th, Lucy McBath faces Kevin Abel in the Democratic runoff. Abel is an immigrant from South Africa who settled in the 6thdistrict to start his own technology consulting company, Abel Solutions, Inc. He is a supporter of competitive healthcare markets and portrays himself as a centrist-Democratic who can work fluidly across the aisle.
If McBath wins the runoff, she will face incumbent Republican Karen Handel in the general election. Handel won the most expensive House race in history during the 2017 special election against Jon Ossoff with only 51.8% of the votes. She received more than $12 million from outside conservative groups. Handel supports anti-reproductive rights efforts, repealing the ACA, and building Trump’s border wall. While the 6thdistrict has been red since 1979, Ossoff only lost the 2017 special election by about 9,000 votes (out of a total of 260,316) and the Cook Political Report has listed the district as Lean Republican.