HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — When 13WMAZ broke the news about the longest-serving sheriff in the country retiring from his position, some folks were surprised to hear Sheriff Cullen Talton's not running for re-election — bringing his half-century tenure to an end next year.
But now, three candidates have already announced they want to run for his seat, a former deputy, a current lieutenant and the district attorney.
When District Attorney Will Kendall announced his candidacy for sheriff, it raised the question of whether a public official can still hold their seat if they run for another elected position.
Question:
Will the district attorney have to resign his seat if he qualifies to run for sheriff?
Our sources are:
The Constitution of the State of Georgia and the Georgia Secretary of State's Office.
The answer:
According to Article 2, Section 2 of the state constitution: the office of any state, county, or municipal elected official shall be declared vacant upon qualifying in an election for an elected office, if the term of the office they are running for begins more than 30 days before the elected official's current term ends.
It helps to understand what the law means for elected officials looking for a job change. If an elected official in a local or state position wants to run for a different elected office, they can't have their other job waiting for them if they lose in the new race.
That is not the case in presidential and federal elections.
If a senator runs for president, if they lose the election, they can go back to their old job in Congress if there is still time left in their term.
But for state and local officials in Georgia, they can't do that.
The law gives candidates who already hold an elected office a 30-day grace period between the position they are running for beginning and their current term ending.
But while holding a state, county or local position and running for another position, the official has to give up their position when qualifying in the election when there is an overlap of more than 30 days between the job they are running for beginning and their current term ending.
That also applies if a local or state official is running for the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate, too.
For Kendall, he can finish out his time as district attorney because his current term ends on Dec. 31, 2024, and the sheriff's term begins Jan. 1, 2025. Essentially, there is no overlap between the two positions, so he does not have to resign once qualifying.
Here's an example.
Theoretically, if an elected official's current term ends on Jan. 1 and the position they are running for begins Feb. 1, that official would have to resign when qualifying in that race because there are more than 30 days of overlap between those terms.
However, if an elected official's term ends on Jan. 8 and the position they are running for begins on Jan. 1, that candidate would not have to resign when qualifying in that race because the end of the current position and the start of the new position is within that 30 day grace period.
Kendall was appointed to his current seat by Gov. Brian Kemp after his predecessor, George Hartwig, retired in 2021. Even though he was never elected, Kendall still sits in a publicly elected position and must follow that law.
When 13WMAZ sat down with the district attorney to discuss his campaign launch, he acknowledged that he would.
"At the end of 2024, December 31st of 2024, or midnight of January 1st 2025, I will either be the sheriff of Houston County or not have a job in public service at all," Kendall said.
So we can VERIFY, because Kendall's term as DA ends before the sheriff's tenure begins, Kendall can finish out his term as DA.