Matt Richards, running to replace Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Monday that his campaign has come to an end.
Richards, on Facebook, said the best candidate to replace Hice in the 10th Congressional District is fellow Republican Mike Collins.
Richards, a self-described conservative businessman and political outsider labeled himself “a pro-Trump businessman who went from sleeping on a dirt floor to owning his own multi-million dollar demolition company in Atlanta.”
In July, Richards told The Georgia Star News that people in his district worry most about a labor shortage. Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith endorsed Richards that month. Richards had promised to “wreck the Left’s ‘defund the police’ movement.”
As for Collins, this is not his first time running to represent Georgia’s 10th Congressional District. In 2014, Collins narrowly lost to Hice by a total of 265 votes.
Collins, according to his campaign website, owns a trucking company which he grew from one semi-truck to a fleet of 115.
Hice announced last March that he wants to replace Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump immediately endorsed Hice’s candidacy.
Former Georgia U.S. Representative and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich endorsed Collins in the GOP primary last July.
Trump this month endorsed former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones for the state’s 10th Congressional District.
Jones announced last spring that he would run for governor of Georgia to unseat the incumbent and fellow Republican Brian Kemp. This month, however, Jones announced he will depart that race to run for Congress. He then endorsed Republican and former U.S. Senator David Perdue for governor.
Trump, in December, endorsed Perdue for Georgia governor.
Jones, a Democrat-turned-Republican and a political ally of Trump’s, said last spring that Kemp’s job performance, especially when it comes to ensuring “a free, fair, and transparent election,” has fallen short.
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Matt Richards” by Matt Richards.
