COVINGTON, Ga. — Three candidates seeking to represent Georgia’s 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives are slated to speak in Covington next week.

The Newton County Republican Women’s Club announced it would host 2022 election candidates Mike Collins, David Curry and Alan Sims for its Tuesday, Jan. 11, meeting inside the Covington Municipal Airport, starting at 5:30 p.m. The trio of candidates are among 16 total men and women vying for the 10th District seat held by Republican Jody Hice, R-Greensboro.

The 10th District spans 25 counties, including a portion of Newton County.

Collins previously ran for the seat in 2014. He went to a runoff with Hice after a close Republican primary election result where Collins received 33% of the vote compared to Hice’s 33.5% — only 365 votes fewer for Collins. In the runoff, Hice prevailed with 54.3% of the vote. Hice went on to win the seat with 66.52% of the vote, defeating Democrat Ken Dious. Hice has held the seat ever since.

Hice announced in March 2021 he would not seek reelection and instead campaign for Georgia’s Secretary of State, challenging incumbent Brad Raffensperger.

Based on campaign contributions, Collins could be considered the favorite to win at least the Republican primary for the 10th District seat, and possibly the General Election. 

At last report, Collins had tallied the most campaign contributions, according to the Federal Elections Commission. The commission’s latest campaign finance report shows Collins with $803,809 in receipts (“anything of value received by a political committee”), $96,797 disbursements (“a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election, plus other kinds of payments not made to influence the election”) and $707,012 cash on hand.

Curry had the third highest amount of contributions among Republicans with $353,072 in receipts, $106,612 in disbursements and $246,460 cash on hand.

Sims followed Curry with $311,622 in receipts, $6,920 in disbursements and $304,702 cash on hand.

Kimberly Reuter was the only Democrat candidate with reported contributions. She had $1,235 in receipts, $747 in disbursements and $488 cash on hand.

Collins is a Jackson native and owner of Collins Trucking.

Curry is a Henry County native and former state revenue commissioner. He led the Georgia Department of Revenue, which is one of the state government’s largest departments, from 2019 to 2021 before stepping down to pursue the congressional seat in 2022. He previously served as Henry County’s tax commissioner for 11 years.

Sims is a former Air Force colonel and currently resides in Winder.

Other Republicans running for the 10th District seat include Andrew Alvey, Timothy Barr, Paul C. Broun, Todd Heussner, Marc McMain, Matt Richards, Charles Rupert, Mitchell Swan, Mary West and Patrick Witt.

Democratic candidates include Phyllis Hatcher, Reuter and Paul Walton.

The Primary Election is scheduled for May 24, and a primary runoff is set for June 21, if needed. 

The General Election will be Nov. 8, and, if needed, a runoff is scheduled for Dec. 6. 

The filing deadline for candidates is March 11.