Matt Richards, running to replace current U.S. Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA-10) in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Monday that people in his district worry most right now about a labor shortage.
“I hear it every day from business owners,” Richards told The Georgia Star News this week.
“We have made good progress with that, but people need to get back to work and we especially need labor.”
Hice announced in March he wants to replace Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and will run for Raffensperger’s seat next year.
Raffensperger was among the many topics that Richards touched upon during his interview Monday.
Richards said Georgia’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202, is a great first step, but state officials can do more.
Georgia’s new voter integrity law requires voter ID on all absentee ballots, increases oversight of local election boards that fail to follow state election law, and secures drop boxes around the clock.
“Brad Raffensperger screwed the pooch, and he is the worst secretary of state in the history of this state,” Richards said, referring to the November 2020 presidential election and how Raffensperger managed the vote in Georgia.
“With the absentee ballots he sent out to everybody unsolicited, it was just chaos and I think that we had a good first step with SB 202, but we need to keep transparency up, dive into the investigation and find out what happened.”
The Star News asked Richards how, if elected, he’ll avoid the many traps and pitfalls of living in the D.C. swamp and still act on the best interests of his constituents back home.
“I am not a politician. I am a businessman. I know what it means to create jobs,” Richards said.
“I only care about people in the district, and that is what made me run. It wasn’t for name recognition. I am truly running because I want to serve my district and serve my country.”
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith endorsed Richards last week.
Richards, a self-described conservative businessman and political outsider has described himself as “a pro-Trump businessman who went from sleeping on a dirt floor to owning his own multi-million dollar demolition company in Atlanta.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Matt Richards” by Matt Richards.
