State Senator Brad Lager of Savannah has come up about 15,296 votes short of stopping Peter Kinder’s effort to get a third term as Lieutenant Governor. But Lager says he has no regrets and he dismisses talk of what 2239,690 votes for him says about Kinder. “It says more about what people are looking for and where they want to go,” he says. He says it indicates people are frustrated with the direction the state is taking.
Lager has drawn criticism for running a campaign largely funded by only a few contributors but has no apologies for not having a more broadly-financed effort. “I was actually honored to have the support of those individuals,” he says. “They understand the kind of leadership it will take to change the direction of our state…In fact, I would have liked to have more of them.”
Lager says he knows nothing about a private, secretly-funded group’s campaign mailings attacking Kinder’s character late in the campaign. He says he has not seen the materials: “We live in a country where democracy is fought in many different ways, and as long as people fight them within the legal letter of the law, they have that right to do it.”
Kinder will face former state auditor Susan Montee in November. It’s been more than seventy years since someone was elected to a third term as Lieutenant Governor. Democrat Frank G. Harris was elected to the position in 1932, 1936, and 1940. He died in office shortly before the end of his last term.