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Michael Ford (Georgia)
Michael Ford (Democratic Party) (also known as Mike) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Georgia's 9th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Ford completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Michael Ford was born in Macon, Georgia. Ford served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1968. His career experience includes working as an attorney at law. Ford has been affiliated with the ACLU, NRA, and Georgia Sport Shooting Association.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Georgia's 9th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Georgia District 9
Incumbent Andrew Clyde defeated Michael Ford in the general election for U.S. House Georgia District 9 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Andrew Clyde (R) | 72.4 | 212,820 |
 | Michael Ford (D)  | 27.6 | 81,318 | |
| Total votes: 294,138 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 9
Michael Ford advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 9 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael Ford | 100.0 | 21,434 |
| Total votes: 21,434 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 9
Incumbent Andrew Clyde defeated Benjamin Souther, Michael Boggus, J. Gregory Howard, and John London in the Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 9 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Andrew Clyde | 76.4 | 90,535 |
 | Benjamin Souther | 15.1 | 17,922 | |
 | Michael Boggus | 3.6 | 4,230 | |
| J. Gregory Howard | 2.9 | 3,463 | ||
| John London | 2.0 | 2,359 | ||
| Total votes: 118,509 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Tyler Tolin (R)
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Ford completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ford's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Mike is an attorney. His practice has included the State Courts of Georgia, Federal District Courts, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Mike is now retiring and winding down his practice.
Mikes active political involvement in Hall County started in 2016. In 2021 he was elected Chair of the Hall County Democratic Committee. He is a longtime member of the ACLU, a voting member of the NRA, and Life Member of the Georgia Sport Shooting Association. He has had a carry license since 1969 and received a Gold Medal at the CMP competition. Mike writes on civil rights and Second Amendment issues, collects military and other firearms, and is a shooting enthusiast.
- Congressmen must find the courage to do what’s right – even if all those around them are doing wrong. I will do what's right, even if difficult.
- Truth matters. Facts matter. I get the truth from the facts and I will report the truth and the facts, not political hype, nonsense or illusion.
- A representative must represent all the people, must do what's best for all the people and must protect the interests of all the people.
Leaders must not mislead us, must not deceive us, and must not lie to us. Leaders must protect us and not abuse the trust that we give to them. Ensuring that with authority comes responsibility is what we teach our children and what we deserve in our leaders. We must make certain that our leaders are always responsible to those who elect them and that they work for the best interest of us all and not themselves.
expedience. What do you have if you sacrifice good to evil? Half good or half evil? What is that? Another way to look at it is: if you make a "compromise" of good food and poison, what happens if you eat the result? Sometimes a compromise can be fatal.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Ford's campaign website stated the following:
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Defending Our Democracy Defending our Democracy from the right-wing slide into authoritarianism is the cornerstone of the most serious challenges we face as a nation. It is the very foundation of what makes us the United States of America, and every issue below hinges on our collective ability to hold our Democracy together. We must strengthen our Democracy to stand strong, for the people and by the people, for another 250 years. I ask everyone, of all political stripes, to please vote Democratic this election to protect and defend our American Democracy.
The personal, private rights over your own body are the most fundamental rights of all Americans, as they are even more important than personal property rights. In this regard, women's rights over their own bodies should be no different than men's rights over their own bodies. The Government cannot force a man to donate blood, bone marrow, or a kidney against his will to save another person's life or go to prison, so how can the Government force a woman to donate her blood, nutrients, and uterus against her will or go to prison? Solutions to non-viable pregnancy and unwanted pregnancy are inseparable from the freedom and liberty rights of the living and born pregnant female. Concern for the unborn fetus must give way to the moral concern for pregnant woman. Decisions about non-viable pregnancy and unwanted pregnancy, are private, personal decisions between a pregnant woman and her healthcare provider. This is because the rights of freedom and liberty of the living pregnant woman must not be forced to be sacrificed by the US Government to serve anyone else. Life on earth began 3 or 4 billion years ago and the river of life flows unbroken to every living thing today. A living cell does not become “more alive” when joined with another living cell in fertilization. It is a life cycle that is started, which may, under the right circumstances, be capable of sustained life separate and apart from the mother. With pregnancy, fifty percent of the time, this cycle fails. Our cultural, religious and philosophical beliefs about interrupting the human life cycle have limits and exceptions. Many accept the right to take a life in self defense and to take a life in wartime – and many favor the death penalty. All of these involve taking the life of an independently functioning human being. The Bible is unhelpful because it does not mention pregnancy termination. If a non-viable pregnancy will kill the mother and the fetus, we cannot morally sentence both to death. If we can save the life of the mother, morally, we must do so. It is immoral to force the victim of rape or incest to carry the rapist’s embryo. If a pregnant female is so young that the pregnancy may damage her future ability to give birth or even potentially cause her death, the moral decision is obvious. We also have a moral duty to consider what will happen to an unwanted child. These difficult moral decisions must be left to the pregnant woman and her health care experts because they understand all the facts and circumstances. We are now experiencing the disaster of heavy handed, one size fits all, government intrusion into these crucial and deeply personal pregnancy decisions. When it comes to a pregnant woman, she and her health care providers are in the best position to make these difficult decisions. The rights of the pregnant woman to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are promised to her in our Declaration of Independence.
Let's start by stating the indisputable facts about inflation. Due to the convergence of a number of global factors including the fallout from a two-year global pandemic, global supply-chain issues, and the global impact on oil and gas prices due to Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin's unprovoked war on Ukraine, Americans, like people in every other country worldwide, are facing serious inflation. This inflation has been made even worse by big, greedy, multi-national corporations who have been raking in record profits and record CEO bonuses, through price gouging and profiteering off everyday consumers. Some have dubbed this corporate price gouging problem as "greed-flation" and I think the term fits. I support common sense legislation being moved forward by Democrats in Congress to help combat inflation, tax corporate windfall profits, and rein in price gouging. Inflation and price gouging negatively impact everyone, no matter your political affiliation. I believe that it's the role of good Government to work in a bipartisan manner to solve the problem rather than block legislation that addresses the problem, then sit back, cynically point fingers and play the "blame game" just to score disingenuous political points as Republicans have done. The good news is that gas prices continue to rapidly fall back to normal levels, prices on goods are stabilizing, and food prices are slowly coming back down. There is still more to do but unlike my opponent, I am committed to work across the aisle in Congress to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
Hard working Americans pay our taxes every year and it's way past time for the growing number of American mega-millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes just like the rest of us. It's always been hard for me to understand why everyday, wage-earning, paycheck-making Republicans support elected Republicans who refuse to change our tax laws so the ultra-mega-rich have to pay their share of taxes. It's common sense that the richest people among us can certainly afford to pay their fair share of taxes. Small business owners across Georgia pay their corporate taxes every year but multi-billion dollar corporations like Amazon, Tesla, FedEx, Nike, just to name a few, get away with paying almost zero in federal corporate taxes as they rake in billions in profits annually. It defies common sense and is simply just not right. When I'm in Congress, I will work with Democrats to help shift the tax burden off of the working class, middle class, and upper middle class Americans and close the special loopholes so the wealthiest people, the mega-millionaires, the billionaires and their corporations finally have to pay their share of taxes.
For over 87 years, Social Security has been one of the most successful, most popular, most effective, most enduring Government programs ever implemented. Democratic President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, FDR, passed Social Security in 1935 and it has benefited generations of millions of seniors, disabled people, widows, widowers and their children for 87 years. Unfortunately, since inception, Republicans have been trying for those same 87 years to undermine, privatize, cut, gut, dismantle, and flat out destroy Social Security. Their attacks continue today as multiple Republicans in both the House and Senate have publicly announced their intent to gut and dismantle Social Security if and when they get control of Congress. We can't let that happen. Social Security is not an "entitlement", it is an earned benefit that you paid into over the course of your career and the money is yours to receive back starting in your 60's. That is the guarantee that must be honored. Monthly Social Security payments are a financial life-line for many seniors, retirees, widows/widowers and their children, and disabled Americans, regardless of their political affiliation. When I'm in Congress, I will work with Democrats to shore up and strengthen Social Security so all workers, no matter if you are in your 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, will have the peace of mind that your earned Social Security benefits will be there for you when you reach your 60's. I could go on at length about Social Security because it's such a great program, but I will close with this, never, and I mean never, trust Republicans to manage your Social Security benefits. Moreover, when Republican leaders have plainly and publicly told Americans that they plan to "sunset" Social Security, to raise the age to receive your benefits that they plan to reduce, believe them.
I believe that access to affordable healthcare is a human right and should be available to everyone in the US, not just the wealthy, well-connected and well-insured. As you read this, Republicans are laying out their plans to gut and cut Medicare, putting millions of our seniors and soon-to-retire population at grave risk. The Medicare program was signed into law in 1965 by Democratic President, Lyndon B. Johnson, LBJ, to provide healthcare coverage and increased financial security for older Americans who were not well-served by employment-based insurance plans. Similar to Social Security, Medicare is not an entitlement but is an earned benefit you pay into over the course of your career and then you qualify for the medical coverage at age 65. Also similar to their plans to gut Social Security and consistent with their position for the last 55+ years, Republicans in both the House and the Senate have publicly announced their intent to dilute and dismantle Medicare, forcing seniors to pay more out of pocket for their medical care when they need it most. While I support Democratic initiatives to expand Medicare by reducing the age requirement so people can qualify for Medicare coverage sooner, I am also open to backing smartly-written universal healthcare legislation. Far too many Americans and their families are financially ruined and bankrupted every year by huge medical bills from illness, injury, or chronic medical conditions. Prescription drug prices are too high and I support ongoing Democratic efforts in Congress to cap Insulin at $35 per month and reduce the prices overall for all prescription drugs. Rep. Clyde voted against reasonable costs for insulin. In our Democracy, our representatives are supposed to represent all the people, not just special interests. It is time for us to elect Representatives that put the American people over the profit interests of their millionaire donors and big pharma.
As a combat Vietnam War Veteran, I am proud of my military service and I commit to uphold our nation's solemn oath to honor our military members, past, present, and future. The myriad of tough issues that face our veterans, active-duty military, and military families are deeply personal for me and when I am in Congress you can count on me to advocate on behalf of our brave men and women who wore and wear the uniform to protect and defend our nation. From timely access to VA medical care, homeless veterans, high rates of suicide, untreated mental health issues, to struggling to reacclimate to society after multiple deployments, continuing education, find good job opportunities, being targeted by predatory lenders, our veterans and military families need our ongoing support. Our female Veterans face a number of unique and often overlooked issues related to their military experiences. I am committed to advocate on behalf of all veterans, active-duty military, and military families. You can count on me to have your back and vote to pass legislation to make your lives better. Recent votes in both the US House and Senate proved yet again that far too many Republican politicians, including my opponent, give nothing but empty lip service when they say, "We support our Veterans" or "We support the troops". It is shocking and infuriating that 174 Republicans in the US House voted AGAINST the Honoring our PACT Act which guarantees coverage for the long-term medical care desperately needed by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans suffering devastating illnesses from their exposure to toxic burn pits. Only when comedian and activist, Jon Stewart, helped shine a spotlight on this outrageous Republican betrayal of our Veterans did enough Senate Republicans finally get publicly shamed into joining all the Democrats to pass the bill. Republicans in Congress betrayed our Veterans again this September when 49 Republicans, including my opponent, Andrew Clyde, voted against a simple, single-issue bill to help address food security for homeless and disabled Veterans. It is unconscionable that these Veterans bills are not passed in US Congress with unanimous support, but time and again, Republicans are the only ones voting “Nay”. Veterans, active-duty military, and their respective family members should not forget how elected Republicans continue to fail them and vote accordingly for Democrats when Election Day comes this November 8th.
Free and fair elections are vital to the survival of our Democracy. Those who spread lies about election results and security are engaged in anti-American activities – they are anti-patriotic. Their lies can destroy the freedom and liberty that make our nation the envy of the world. Their vote and the right to vote is the voice of every American citizen. We must not allow extremists to silence the voices of Americans. Safe, secure, free, and fair elections are the cornerstone of any Democracy, particularly in the United States of America. From vote by mail and expanded polling places, to adding (not removing) voter drop-boxes, and making Election Day a national holiday, elections should be made more accessible for all citizens rather than less accessible for marginalized groups of people or less accessible and longer lines to vote in "certain counties". There are many of our fellow Americans who harbor deep beliefs that the last election was somehow corrupt or stolen. Deep division of Americans was caused by those who voiced election lies and those who enabled and supported them. It has become obvious that election lies were spread by those who actually knew they were lies and that they mislead their supporters willfully and intentionally for anti-Democratic purposes. To those who were misled, we offer understanding and concern. Leaders who mislead, who engage in disinformation, and who are false to those they lead are not worthy of support or of the elected offices that they might hold. The essence of Democracy is the right to vote – the right to elect those who will lead our nation and who will make decisions about policy and laws for us all. The right to vote must be protected. It is malicious mischief when our elected officials restrict access to the polls in the name of election security. Those who claim election fraud need to step up and offer their objective proof – or admit that they have only opinions, guesses and supposition. The reason that there have been no court cases supporting these election fraud claims is because the claims cannot survive the requirement of actual proof. Fox News is facing having to pay devastating damages to Dominion Voting Systems. Election fraud conspiracy lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell are facing those damages and disbarment because of their lies. Rudy lied and mislead our Georgia legislators. Judges tossed out the more than 60 lawsuits alleging mass fraud in the 2020 presidential election. There were no facts to support the claims. But the real damage to our democracy came when legislators made voting more difficult because they thought they needed to prevent election fraud – to restore public trust. Rudy Giuliani spread election fraud lies loudly and often, during political rallies and in court filings. He lied about election machines being tampered with. Sidney Powell’s lies were absurd: that Dominion machines switched votes away from Trump using technology she claimed was invented in Venezuela to help steal elections for Hugo Chávez. These and other lies fueled the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol building, leaving five dead and hundreds of officers injured. All the Republican investigations have failed to produce evidence of significant fraud. Congressman Clyde, having a graduate degree, knew that the election lies were lies when he voted against the election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania. Bless his heart, he just can’t seem to understand his duty. It is time to elect representatives that will speak truth and ensure that all Americans have equal access to the ballot box.
The right to keep and bear arms is just as important as and equal to our other Constitutional rights. Like all of our Constitutional rights, we must exercise them responsibly and keep in mind our duty to keep ourselves and others safe. The vast majority of Americans exercise all their Constitutional rights responsibly and understand their duties when they exercise their rights. Naturally, there has been a great deal of visceral reaction to recent horrific acts of violence using firearms. Because of the location of these acts and the nature of the innocent victims, we focus on the results and we focus on the victims – as is reasonable and proper for caring human beings. Still, we must not misunderstand the true nature of the attack: domestic terrorism. We must focus on those who would be future terrorists. Those who are irresponsible, psychotic, criminal, or terrorists, can be found and stopped before they find ways to commit their attacks. The purpose of terrorism is to create terror. If we fail to properly understand and evaluate these terrorist attacks, we can easily confuse the cause with the means. The attacks of September 11 were clearly terrorist attacks. So was the domestic terrorist attack of Timothy McVeigh in 1995 in Oklahoma City. So are these terrorist attacks with firearms. Homeland and all of us must focus on all these domestic terrorists, not just the white supremacists, or the jihadists, or other radicalized Americans.
The science is overwhelming and abundantly clear that the worldwide human activity of burning fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal, wood) on an industrial scale for over 150 years combined with mass deforestation is changing our climate making it warmer. Working together on a global scale we must take swift action to mitigate the worsening impacts of super storms, floods, droughts, fires, and other negative impacts of climate change. I've been around long enough to see these changes with my own eyes right here in Georgia; winters are milder and shorter, summers are hotter and longer and our North Georgia fire season is getting worse with even greater damage to property and our forests. This planet is our only home and collectively, humankind must work together to be better stewards of our planet for the sake of our children, grandchildren, and future generations. From allowing corporations to pollute our air, land, and water, to cutting down our forests and dumping in our rivers, we need to take bolder action against all forms of pollution, and to conserve and protect our environment and last few remaining wild places. This is also where I see new opportunities in solar and wind energy bringing good-paying, green, clean-energy jobs to the 9th District here in suburban + exurban north-metro Atlanta and rural North Georgia. A number of years ago, the discussion of “Global Warming” quietly became “Climate Change.” A secretive political memo wanted the switch because Climate Change sounds less frightening. This change was ushered into our conversations by those who were causing Global Warming. They wanted to avoid responsibility. Our young folks now refer to the “Climate Crisis” or “Climate Emergency.” Congressman Clyde describes Climate Change as: “there are four seasons.” Bless his heart, he wasn’t able to understand that the January 6th Capitol siege was not a normal tourist visit, so we should not be surprised that he doesn’t see global droughts and fires as Global Warming. In Georgia, we now have two new seasons: Fire season and Flood Season. The drought season can be five months long – with catastrophic flooding following right behind. Droughts increase the dried vegetation that is fuel to fires. When we get a wildfire in our Georgia mountains flames that were two feet high can become twelve feet high or larger. Our fire fighters are not trained to fight the towering flames. A small Fireline dug with hand tools is not going to stop them. Fire fighters are going to need to build bigger and wider fire lines, they are going to need equipment and aircraft to fight those 12-foot flames. I would like to bring about a pilot project to get this done before we have a catastrophe. Here is flooding in North Georgia: A flooded street in Summerville, Georgia. Governor Kemp declared a state of emergency after a rain train flooded roadways, knocked down trees and submerged homes. We saw images of flooded playgrounds, washed-out roadways and partially submerged communities. Then, like Jackson, Mississippi, there was no water to flush the toilets and hundreds of cases of water had to be handed out. Most homeowners lack flood insurance because they don’t think they live in a flood plain. Then there are the Fires in North Georgia. Over184 acres went up in smoke in White County – the Unicoi fire.
I believe that in "the land of the free", each adult should have the Constitutional right to marry who they love and live equally under the law free from discrimination and harassment. It's really that simple, folks. It's as American as apple pie and baseball on the Fourth of July. Why on earth in the year 2022 does anyone think that in a free society the Federal or State Government should be able to deny two adults the freedom to get married? The Government has no business being in the bedrooms of consenting adults. Love is love. It's just basic decency, compassion, respecting the differences and the human dignity of our fellow Americans. It is also about letting young people be who they are rather than bullying and forcing them to conform to someone else's personal opinions of who they should and shouldn't be, who they can and can't be. I believe that as a nation, as a state, our kindness to each other matters, our diversity makes us stronger, and to this end, I support our LGTBQ+ youth and adults and their equality under the law.
Our Declaration of Independence promises "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." These are the unalienable rights possessed by all humans and which governments are created to protect. We must understand and uphold the simple truth that all Americans are entitled to these rights and protections, and that no one is “more equal” than any other. This is the essence of our Democracy and what it means to be an American. During my 46 years of law practice, my job has been to defend the rights of Americans. Whether ensuring that a civil wrong was properly addressed or ensuring that the rights of a citizen charged with a crime were respected, it’s always about our protecting our rights. As a long-term member of the ACLU, I believe that we must defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Nobody is entitled to pick and choose. Special interests have no priority. Our Democracy, our Constitution, and our laws must always reflect these principles. We must elect Representatives who will do their duty and support these truths.[2] |
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| —Michael Ford's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 1, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Mike Ford, “On the Issues,” accessed November 4, 2022
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