Jane Kidd Changes Mind; Will Seek To Become Chair of Democratic Party of Georgia

From The Athens Observer:

Jane Kidd didn't succeed in her attempt this fall to move from the state House to the Senate, but she's not ready to leave politics.

The Athens legislator announced Tuesday she's running in next month's election to become chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party.

Besides one term in the House, Kidd served two terms on the Lavonia City Council. But her political skills were honed inside her family as the daughter of the late Ernest Vandiver, a governor of Georgia, and grandniece of the late U.S. Sen. Richard Russell.

"The Democratic Party of Georgia has allowed others to define us," Kidd said. "... We're not the scary people we have been portrayed as."

Her goals would be to develop a better way of communicating what the party stands for and to improve its grassroots campaigning. She said that's why Democrats lost races for the governor's office and all of the open seats on the ballot, not because the positions the candidates took.

As chairwoman, she also would have to deal with the departure of rural whites from the party, which has become dominated by urban blacks.

"I think rural whites reflect the majority of Georgia. They have been frightened away (from the party)," she said.

The response to her announcement was positive among legislators. House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter of Dublin said her family would be an asset.

"I think Jane would be a wonderful chairwoman because her family represents the positive values of the Democratic party," Porter said, adding, "but Jane has made her own mark."