Future of McKinney in Doubt After Primary Defeat

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The New York Sun

ATLANTA — Following Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s second ouster from office in four years, some are closing the book on her political future.

“She’s history,” a University of Georgia political science professor, Charles Bullock, said. “You don’t get another chance to come back after losing two primaries.”

Ms. McKinney’s supporters, however, said losing a bid for a seventh term in no way spells the end of her public life.

“Cynthia McKinney is loved nationally, locally, and internationally,” the president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, state Rep. Tyrone Brooks of Atlanta, said. “I expect her to move to the international scene, especially as it relates to peace, justice, and environmental issues. This is going to elevate her to another level.”

Ms. McKinney managed only 41% of the vote Tuesday to 59% for Hank Johnson, an attorney and a former DeKalb County commissioner who will compete with Republican Catherine Davis in November to lead the heavily Democratic, predominantly black district east of Atlanta.

Ms. McKinney’s concession speech sounded more like a call to arms for a future campaign. She ripped Republican leadership and vowed to continue fighting against war, poverty, and injustice.

“We love our country, and that is why we dissent,” Ms. McKinney said yesterday, flanked by her son, her parents, and supporters. “A change is sweeping the world, and America must not be left out.”

Ms. McKinney lost her seat in 2002 to a political newcomer, Denise Majette, but emerged from a crowded primary to regain the seat in 2004, when Ms. Majette vacated the seat to run for U.S. Senate. Ms. McKinney had kept a relatively low profile until March, when she struck a Capitol police officer who did not recognize her and tried to stop her from entering a House office building.

A Washington grand jury declined to indict Ms. McKinney, but she was forced to apologize before the House. She drew less than 50% of the vote in last month’s primary, forcing Tuesday’s runoff.

How much of a role Ms. McKinney can play in national politics, and whether she considers another run for Congress, is going to depend on how much support she retains among black voters, a senior research associate at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Joint Political and Economic Studies, David Bositis, said.

“When she won last time … she still had pretty solid support,” Mr. Bositis said. “In terms of what happens now, I think it’s going to sort of depend on how solid that black support remains.”

Black voters at her Stone Mountain precinct on Tuesday had mixed feelings about Ms. McKinney. Vanessa Milton voted for Ms. McKinney and said the congresswoman had a relatively good track record before the Capitol police incident. But the 48-year-old said she felt Ms. McKinney’s personality had taken over.

“As an African-American, I am very committed to our people and being strong, but there comes a time when some people overdo it,” Ms. Milton said. “I want her to be a strong black woman, but I don’t want her to be a buffoon.”

Natasha Brown, 25, a law student, voted for Mr. Johnson.”She’s a pariah,” Ms. Brown said of Ms. McKinney. “I’d do anything to vote her out.”


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