Chuck Payne

DALTON, Ga. — A state senator representing north Georgia said he plans to run for re-election next year and will not run for the U.S House of Representatives.

“I did have a number of people approach me about running for Congress, and I was very honored and humbled by that,” said state Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton. “But after praying about it for several days and after discussing it, my wife and I decided this is not something I should do at this time.”

Payne — who represents Whitfield and Murray counties and parts of Pickens and Gordon counties in state Senate District 54 — had been mentioned as a possible candidate for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, who has held that seat since 2010, said on Dec. 5 he will not seek re-election in 2020.

Payne was first elected to the state Senate in 2017 to fill the unexpired term of Charlie Bethel, who had been named to the state Court of Appeals. (Bethel was later named to the Supreme Court of Georgia.)

Payne won a full two-year term in 2018.

“The opportunity to serve in the state Senate came just nine days after I retired, and I felt God was leading me to serve in the Senate. I still feel that way,” Payne said.

Payne served in the U.S. Army for four years in the 82nd Airborne Division. After leaving the Army, Payne and his wife Angie returned to Whitfield County, where he began a career with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, first at the Dalton Regional Youth Detention Center as a probation/parole specialist and then as a juvenile probation officer first in Catoosa County and then in Murray County.

Payne attended his first meeting of the Whitfield County Republican Party in 1991. During the following 25 years, he held party offices at the state, congressional district and local levels, including multiple terms as chairman of the Whitfield County Republican Party.