GA-HD48: Swing voters in this competitive Georgia district have candidates campaigning from the middle

PEACHTREE CORNERS — Almost as soon as state Rep. Scott Hilton sat down at Darlene Penner’s dining room table, he was faced with a question that has dogged him and fellow Republicans even before news that a 14-year-old had allegedly used an assault-style rifle to kill four people at a Barrow County high school 45 minutes away.

“There has to be a better way to get automatic weapons out of the picture. What are we doing about that?” asked Penner, 54, whose neighborhood is in Georgia House District 48, which includes parts of Roswell, Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Peachtree Corners.

Hilton, who was elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 2016 and 2022, pieced together a response that could satisfy Penner and her husband Ken while sticking to his conservative beliefs. He told them he cosponsored a bill that would have provided a tax credit to gun owners who buy storage devices that keep their guns securely held, but Senate Republicans failed to move it forward.

Hilton is in the middle of an intense campaign to retain his House seat after the most recent round of redistricting made the voters in these geographic boundaries more politically competitive. His Democratic challenger, Laura Murvartian, is a business executive who became a U.S. citizen three years ago.



https://www.ajc.com/politics/swing-voters-in-this-competitive-georgia-district-have-candidates-campaigning-from-the-middle/KBLI7TGONZH3JPQ74MRCOOENKE/