Georgia state Rep. for District 120 Houston Gaines has announced his campaign for Georgia’s 10th Congressional District.
The announcement comes after U.S. Rep. Mike Collins for Georgia’s 10th District announced his campaign for U.S. Senate on Monday.
Gaines was originally elected to the state legislature in 2018 for Georgia’s 117th District before he was districted to the 120th in 2022.
Gaines’ district currently covers the western part of Athens, Bogart, and Nicholson.
Gaines came on WDUN’s “The Martha Zoller Show” Friday morning to talk about the campaign. He said in the first 24 hours since announcing, he has raised over $500,000.
“Response has just been unbelievable, I’ve been really humbled by it,” Gaines said.
Gaines also spoke about representing Athens as a Republican, given that Athens is a “blue” city.
“What I think I’ve proven over the last seven years in the House is I’ve been more than willing to take on the left, and we’ve done that time after time after time,” Gaines said. “Now it’s time to take the fight to D.C. and help President Trump continue to deliver what he’s doing there in Washington.”
Gaines spoke about issues in the 10th District he sees as pertinent. Most notably, he immigration.
“Georgia is obviously not a border state,” Gaines said. “We saw what happened with Laken Riley right here in Athens where … someone who shouldn’t have been in this country killed somebody.”
He said that Trump “closed the border” leading to a “total turnaround.”
“With the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, you’ve seen a massive increase in funding for ICE, and we’re going to continue that,” Gaines said.
Zoller also inquired about speculation that former Georgia state representative Vernon Jones may enter the race. Jones started his career as a Democrat, serving Georgia’s 71st and 91st Districts before endorsing Trump before the 2020 election and running as a Republican for Georgia’s Governor seat in 2022 and U.S. House of Representatives for Georgia’s 10th District, which Collins eventually won.
“We got support from every part of this district,” Gaines said. “I frankly don’t care who gets in this race, we’re going to win it and I’m excited about the opportunity.”
