Brad Raffensperger focuses on business growth, voting in Secretary of State race

TIFTON — Brad Raffensperger, Republican candidate for Secretary of State, visited South Georgia in early May.

Currently a State Representative for the 50th District, Raffensperger is spending time visiting various areas and sharing his conservative message.

“I’ve always worked hard to protect taxpayers and seniors,” he said. He said he also focuses on protecting business owners, life and the second amendment.

He said he has been endorsed by Georgia Right to Life and is the only person in the race for Secretary of State who has a 100 percent rating from the Faith and Freedom Coalition of Georgia.

Raffensperger said that the oversight areas of the Secretary of State’s office, charitable organizations, financial, business and occupational licensing and elections, are “in (his) wheelhouse.”

“I’m a business owner,” he said. “I would like to make sure, as it relates to elections, that only Americans vote in our elections.”

He wants to update the voting system, making it secure and efficient. He would also want to get more young people involved in the elections process.

Raffensperger would also want to bring consistency and common sense to business licensing.

He said that professions such as engineering and nursing should be licensed, but that he would like to look at some other professions and see if they really need to be.

“At the end of the day you want people to get out there and start making money,” he said. “They have a passion. We want them to start putting food on the table, providing for themselves and their families.”

“As a business owner I would like to bring that perspective to make sure Georgia is a great place to find a job, a great place to build a business.”

Raffensperger said he has had a high-strength steel product manufacturing plant in Columbus since 1988.

“I’ve worked in over 35 different states all over the country so I’ve seen how some states make it easy to do business and other states make it hard,” he said. “My job is to make it easy to do business in Georgia.”

He said that his focus would be on making sure all of Georgia is successful and prosperous by encouraging business growth to start in Georgia and then branch out to other states.

“We want to see that (business) based in Georgia,” he said.