DUBLIN, Ga. — Folks in Laurens, Johnson, Treutlen, and Twiggs counties will decide if they want to keep their current District Attorney, Craig Fraser, or elect a new one.
Harold McLendon from Dublin is challenging the incumbent.
McLendon started his career as an assistant district attorney and has been practicing in private practice, with a focus on criminal law since then. He's been practicing law for 40 years.
"In criminal law, you have to have a passion for this. I have a passion for victims in cases. When I first came out of the DA's office, I represented a young lady and she was killed in domestic relations type situation, and for 40 years I never charged any woman that had a child or had domestic violence," he said.
McLendon said it was his passion, and the recent spike in crime in Laurens County, that made him decide to run.
"We have had the worst violence we have had in the history of this county. Seven people shot Easter Sunday, two of them died," McLendon said.
He said the current district attorney's reaction to that shooting was concerning.
"The very next day, my opponent posted on his Facebook, 'we don't have a problem with crime.' Having known that- 'we don't have a problem with crime.' That is a problem, where he does not identify this as being a problem," he said.
13WMAZ did reach out to Craig Fraser's office several times to see if he'd like to respond and be interviewed about his campaign, but he never returned our calls. He is running as a Republican.
"I have more trial experience than anybody in the criminal law than anybody living in this area including Craig Fraser," McLendon said.
He said he wants to tackle the backlog of current cases in the four-county circuit. To do that, he'd use his trial experience to try the cases himself. He said that's something the current district attorney doesn't do.
"Everybody has to go to work. The surrounding counties' district attorneys actually have a caseload. They work," McLendon said.
He said an important item on his agenda is a strong working relationship with law enforcement.
"I will have an assistant DA on call 24 hours a day to shake hands with, and work with law enforcement. I've spoke with the local chief of police here and asked him to please allow me to house an assistant district attorney in the police department. I've talked with the sheriff and asked him to give me some space to house an assistant DA there," McLendon said.
His opponent Fraser was first elected in 2004 and is running for a sixth term.