Carolyn Bourdeaux

Carolyn Bourdeaux (born June 3, 1970) is an American professor and political candidate from the state of Georgia. She has been a Professor at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University since 2003. In 2018, she ran for Georgia's 7th congressional district, coming within 433 votes of defeating the incumbent Republican, Rep. Rob Woodall, in what was the closest congressional race in the entire country.[2][3] On February 7, 2019, Rob Woodall announced he would retire at the end of his current term, meaning the seat would be open in 2020.[4] That same day, Bourdeaux announced her intentions to once again seek the seat.[5]

Not to be confused with Caroline Boudreaux.
Carolyn Bourdeaux
Born (1970-06-03) June 3, 1970[1]
Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.
EducationYale University (BA)
University of Southern California (MPA)
Syracuse University (DPA)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Jeffrey Skodnick
Children1
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and education

Bourdeaux is from Roanoke, Virginia. Her parents were both teachers, but the family declared bankruptcy when she was in school. She graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in history and economics, aided by Pell Grants and Stafford Loans. She earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a Doctor of Public Administration from Syracuse University.[6]

Career

Bourdeaux worked as a political aide to Ron Wyden for four years, when he served in the United States House of Representatives and then in the United States Senate. In 2003, she became an associate professor at Georgia State University. From 2007 to 2010, she took a leave of absence to be Director of Georgia's Senate Budget and Evaluation Office, where she worked in a nonpartisan role to help the state balance the budget during the Great Recession. The Georgia State Senate later honored her for significant service to the state of Georgia with Senate Resolution 1598.[7] Following her time there, she returned to the Andrew Young School and founded the Center for State and Local Finance.

2018 U.S. House election

In the 2018 elections, Bourdeaux ran for the United States House of Representatives in Georgia's 7th congressional district.[8] She faced a six-way primary for the Democratic Party nomination. She came in first place in the May primary and earned a spot in the July runoff.[9] She then won the primary runoff on July 24 and won the Democratic Nomination.[10] She then faced Republican Rob Woodall in the November 6 general election.

On September 14, 2018, Bourdeaux was added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's highly competitive Red-to-Blue program.[11]

She was endorsed by EMILY's List,[12] End Citizens United,[13] League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, the Georgia State AFL-CIO, Progressive Turnout Project and more.

She was also endorsed by Barack Obama,[14] Congressman John Lewis, Congressman Hank Johnson, Ambassador Andrew Young, Senator Max Cleland, Senator Sam Nunn, Governor Martin O'Malley, Mayor Shirley Franklin, and dozens of other local elected officials and leaders.

The race was considered to be a sleeper race, but it received more attention later in the election as Bourdeaux continued to outraise Woodall and as Democrats picked up momentum nationwide.[15] In the third quarter of 2018, Bourdeaux outraised Woodall by a margin of more than 3-1, raising over $1 million.[16] The election continued to be close all the way through election day. On election night, the race was too close to call, and the winner of this race was still unclear.[17] Just a few hours after it was filed on November 15, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May denied an emergency motion aimed at forcing Gwinnett County to count previously rejected absentee ballots in the razor-thin 7th Congressional District race.[18] On November 21, following a recount, Bourdeaux conceded defeat.[19]

2020 U.S. House election
Main article: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia § District 7

On February 7, 2019, Bourdeaux announced that she would run again for the same seat in 2020.[20][21] She was quickly endorsed by several key Georgia politicians, including Congressman John Lewis.[22] Within the first week of her campaign, she announced raising over $100,000.[23] In the first quarter of 2019, she outraised all other congressional challengers in the country, with a total of over $350,000.[24]

Personal life

Bourdeaux is married to Jeffrey Skodnick, a sales manager at LexisNexis.[25] They live in Suwanee, Georgia, and have one son.[6]

gollark: Having it self-replicate would be useless.
gollark: Flash memory is already ridiculously dense *and* still pretty fast with good I/O.
gollark: It would only really be good to replace long-term archiving things like bluray discs.
gollark: No, probably not.
gollark: And you can copy DNA strands fairly easily using polymerase chain reaction machines.

References
  1. The 7th Congressional District race: What you need to know
  2. Pathé, Simone; Pathé, Simone (November 21, 2018). "Rob Woodall Wins by 433 Votes in Georgia's 7th District". Roll Call. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  3. "50 Interesting Facts About the 2018 Election". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  4. Hallerman, Tamar (February 7, 2019). "U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall will not seek re-election". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  5. Hallerman, Tamar (February 7, 2019). "Carolyn Bourdeaux to seek 7th District seat after razor-thin loss". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  6. "Bourdeaux says commitment to public service drives run for Congress". Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  7. / Senate Resolution 1598
  8. Hallerman, Tamar (July 5, 2017). "GSU professor jumps into expanding 7th District race with health care message". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  9. "Georgia Primary Election Results: Seventh House District". The New York Times. May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  10. "Bourdeaux wins Georgia Dem runoff, in latest win by female candidates". TheHill. July 24, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  11. [DCCC Announces Latest Round of Exciting Red to Blue Candidates, https://dccc.org/dccc-announces-latest-round-exciting-red-blue-candidates/]
  12. [EMILY's List Endorses Carolyn Bourdeaux in Georgia's 7th District, https://emilyslist.org/news/entry/emilys-list-endorses-carolyn-bourdeaux-in-georgias-7th-district]
  13. [End Citizens United Endorses Carolyn Bourdeaux, https://endcitizensunited.org/press-releases/end-citizens-united-endorses-carolyn-bourdeaux-ga-07/]
  14. "Obama makes endorsements in Atlanta-area congressional races". Associated Press. October 1, 2018.
  15. Peterson, Kristina (October 16, 2018). "House Races Tighten as Midterm Elections Near". The Wall Street Journal.
  16. Hallerman, Tamar (October 16, 2018). "Dem challengers show off massive fundraising tallies in Ga's top House races". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  17. "Outcome still unclear in Gwinnett congressional race". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. November 7, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  18. Tamar Hallerman Tyler Estep (November 15, 2018). "Georgia 7th: Judge denies Bourdeaux push for additional absentees". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved November 15, 2018.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  19. Thomsen, Jacqualine (November 21, 2018). "Dem challenger concedes to incumbent Woodall in Georgia's 7th District". The Hill. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  20. Hallerman, Tamar. "Carolyn Bourdeaux to seek 7th District seat after razor-thin loss". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  21. Whitmire, Kelly (February 8, 2019). "Back again: Carolyn Bourdeaux to seek 7th District seat". Forsyth News. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  22. "The Jolt: Gwinnett's MARTA vote and the search for a GOP champion". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. February 14, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  23. Greenwood, Max (February 15, 2019). "Dem raises more than $100k since declaring bid for Georgia House seat". The Hill. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  24. "Georgia candidates set early fundraising bar with millions from donors". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. April 16, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  25. Kassel, Matthew (May 21, 2020). "Carolyn Bourdeaux tries again in Georgia congressional race". Jewish Insider. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
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