Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey.

Michael Gordon (Georgia)

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
BP-Initials-UPDATED.png
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Michael Gordon
Image of Michael Gordon

Republican Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

May 21, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Rhode Island, 1985

Graduate

University of Rhode Island, 1987

Personal
Birthplace
Rhode Island
Religion
Christianity
Profession
Software engineer
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Michael Gordon (Republican Party) ran for election to the Georgia House of Representatives to represent District 49. He lost in the Republican primary on May 21, 2024.

Gordon completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Michael Gordon was born in Rhode Island.[1] He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1985 and a graduate degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1987. His career experience includes working as a software engineer. He has been affiliated with the Georgia Republican Assembly and the Fulton County Republican Party.[1][2]

Elections

2024

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 49

Incumbent Charles Martin Jr. defeated Grace Demit in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 49 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charles Martin Jr.
Charles Martin Jr. (R)
 
59.5
 
21,944
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Grace Demit (D)
 
40.5
 
14,937

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 36,881
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49

Grace Demit defeated Charles Squires in the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49 on May 21, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Grace Demit
 
63.2
 
1,598
Image of Charles Squires
Charles Squires Candidate Connection
 
36.8
 
932

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 2,530
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49

Incumbent Charles Martin Jr. defeated Michael Gordon in the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49 on May 21, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charles Martin Jr.
Charles Martin Jr.
 
72.4
 
2,610
Image of Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon Candidate Connection
 
27.6
 
995

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 3,605
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Gordon in this election.

2022

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 49

Incumbent Charles Martin Jr. defeated Peggy Gillen in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 49 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charles Martin Jr.
Charles Martin Jr. (R)
 
58.1
 
17,092
Image of Peggy Gillen
Peggy Gillen (D) Candidate Connection
 
41.9
 
12,346

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 29,438
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49

Peggy Gillen advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49 on May 24, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Peggy Gillen
Peggy Gillen Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
3,032

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 3,032
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49

Incumbent Charles Martin Jr. defeated Michael Gordon in the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 49 on May 24, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charles Martin Jr.
Charles Martin Jr.
 
81.6
 
7,095
Image of Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon
 
18.4
 
1,597

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 8,692
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2024

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia
Released January 30, 2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Michael Gordon completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gordon's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I grew up in New England during the 60's and 70's living the American Dream. As a top athlete and scholar in high school, I was inducted into the Noad Webster chapter of the National Honor Society in 1980. I worked multiple jobs to pay for my entire post-secondary education, earning my Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, and my Master of Science degree in Mathematics, specializing in dynamical systems, at the University of Rhode Island in 1987.

I began my career in software engineering in 1988, working for several well-known large corporations, including Science Applications International Corporation, IBM, AT&T, Bellsouth, Kurt Salmon Associates, and Macy's Systems and Technology Inc.

Deeply concerned about the lockdowns and mandates imposed upon Americans soon after the pandemic struck in March 2020, I began to get involved with other conservative activists on the local level to work to protect the American Dream in Georgia. This work includes teaching a free constitution workshop, working on political campaigns to elect conservative public officials on the local level, and working with state legislators to restore election integrity, medical and healthcare freedom, and educational freedom. After realizing the abysmal condition of our state laws and the failure of our state legislators to protect many of our Rights, I decided to run for office myself to protect the American Dream for future generations of Georgians.
  • We still need to fix our election systems in Georgia. From grossly inaccurate voter rolls to no-excuse absentee ballots; from easily hackable machines to suspicious ballots; from grossly incorrect machine vote counts to a profusion of ignored evidence of election fraud; this situation is simply unacceptable. Over the past 20 years in office, my "republican" opponent Chuck Martin has been a major contributor to the problem. He brags that he helped write our election laws to "make it easier to vote and harder to cheat." This is false. While this system does make it easy to vote, it also makes it easy to cheat. We need new leadership if we ever hope to restore confidence in our election systems.
  • The cost of living is skyrocketing due to massive inflation. My "republican" opponent Chuck Martin rightly complains from the rooftops about the scourge of federal spending of new money into existence as the cause of inflation. However, while complaining about federal overspending, my opponent consistently votes to take more and more federal money to spend on unconstitutional programs in Georgia. This is pure hypocrisy. My opponent is no conservative. He consistently votes YES to increase the most insidious tax of all... inflation. We need new leadership if we ever hope to reduce both federal and state level spending to protect families and restore financial integrity in Georgia.
  • Government overreach grows daily. Every year the Georgia budget grows. Our state government subsidizes and regulates our economy more and more each year, while our personal liberties are eroded in the name of social justice for the common good. My "republican" opponent Chuck Martin consistently votes for more spending (which means higher taxes). He has voted YES on 97% of the legislative measures introduced over the past three years. I believe government should be limited to protecting our Rights, not running our lives. We must unleash the free-enterprise system to yield the highest quality products and services at the lowest competitive prices. We need new leadership if we ever hope to restore LIMITED government.
First, we must restore election integrity in such a way that the voters are empowered to ensure that our elections are always honest and secure. Second, we must limit government to its proper function of protecting individual Rights. And third, we must empower the people, securing their God-given Rights, allowing for maximum freedom while promoting greater responsibility, and holding individuals accountable for how they choose to use their God-given Rights. Government is the referee and must not be a player; while the rules must be fair and apply equally to all; and the people (players) must play by the rules or face the consequences imposed by our fully funded properly functioning honest and transparent local law enforcement and courts.
Yes, there is a great and concise document that sums up my political philosophy... the Declaration [of Independence]. I highly recommend it.
I believe there are three key characteristics that a great elected official must possess in spades: (1) patriotism; (2) intelligence; and (3) courage. To be patriotic means a genuine love of country, and in this case, it means devotion to the Declaration [of Independence] and the US Constitution and the Georgia Constitution. Intelligence in this case means to be a good systems thinker, because this is required to deal with large systems of rules (i.e. Georgia Code) to achieve a given purpose. Courage is the willingness to do what is right rather than what is easy all the time. While all three of these characteristics are essential in a great elected official, it has been my observation that courage is the rarest of the three in practice.
I believe there are three basic qualities that are needed for any person to be a really good legislator: (1) first, one must truly LOVE their country; and (2) second, they must be a good SYSTEMS THINKER; and (3) third, they must be BRAVE, to do the right thing all the time, rather than simply "going along to get along" when to go along is simply the wrong thing to do. I have always possessed an abundance of these three qualities, and therefore I believe I will make an excellent state legislator.
I believe the first and foremost responsibility of all elected officials is to adhere to the principles of the Declaration and the limited powers enumerated in the US Constitution and the Georgia Constitution. That being said, the core responsibility of state legislators specifically is to work together as a body to make the laws deemed necessary within the bounds of the US and GA constitutions to preserve the peace, ensure justice, and to promote the happiness of individuals and families by protecting the blessings and enjoyments of liberty for all and for posterity.
I would like to be remembered for having done my best to protect the American Dream for future generations of Americans, especially in my home state of Georgia.
The first Moon Landing... "one small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind." I was 7 years old at the time, and I remember watching this on TV.
As I recall, my first paid employment was during college when I worked as a bus boy at a fancy restaurant. It did not last long because I was fired for hesitating when some lady asked me to help with her table after having been chewed out the previous day by my manager for helping other workers with tables I was not assigned. It turned out the "lady" in question was an owner of the restaurant who had a reputation for being mean. When my manager found out what happened, she apologized and offered to help me find another job since her hands were tied. This was my first experience of "politics" in the business world.
The ideal relationship is collaborative where the state legislature makes the laws with input from the governor, while the governor executes the laws with feedback from the state legislature, and where neither is impeded from doing their job by the other.
The greatest challenges we face in Georgia over the next decade include getting the state legislature and governor to work together to restore true election integrity, and to restoring limited government as per the Declaration and US and GA constitutions, including having our government enforce the laws consistently, and to changing the culture in Georgia from an attitude of entitlement and blaming others, to a culture of greater personal responsibility and citizen engagement in self-government and economic development.
Yes, previous experience can be very beneficial, but only in the case where the state legislators in question are doing their job properly, meaning that they ensure we have true election integrity at all times, and they ensure that the government operates within the bounds of the Declaration and US and GA constitutions, and that the laws are enforced consistently and equally for all.

However, there is nothing more harmful to our state and nation than to keep state legislators, or any elected officials, in office when they have consistently failed to perform their job well. This is precisely why I am running against the 20-year "republican" incumbent Chuck Martin. My opponent claims to be the "hometown voice" of the people, but in truth he is the voice of special interests who does not stick around to answer tough questions from the people at public events. He brags about writing our election laws, but we have the most insecure election system ever, and the people have no confidence in Chuck or our election systems. Chuck has voted YES on 97% of all measures in the past three years, spending more and more taxpayer money, while he claims to be fighting to keep taxes low. Chuck complains constantly about federal overreach and inflation while he keeps voting to take more and more federal money which enables inflation... the most insidious tax of all.

An oath is an oath, and Chuck just does not get it. Chuck is no conservative, and he does not fight to keep taxes low, and he does not represent the people. Chuck is a big spender, special interest legislator who pays lip service to We the People who pay his salary. We need new leadership... not someone who has years of experience serving special interests at the expense of the citizens of Georgia.
Yes, it is beneficial to build relationships with other legislators, but not merely to "go along to get along" with more and more government spending, like my "republican" opponent (97% YES-man) Chuck Martin. We need legislators with the courage to do the right thing, even if it means working against other legislators who serve special interests at the expense of citizens in general. I have been teaching constitution workshops for the past three years, because our state and nation is moving further and further away from our foundation (i.e. Declaration and US Constitution). We do not need to replace the Constitution; we need to re-discover it! I will build relationships with all legislators who are willing to work to restore adherence to the Declaration and Constitution. We need limited government with better law enforcement and more personal responsibility. And we need legislators with the ability and willingness to legislate accordingly.
Yes, Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration [of Independence], a great legislative leader in the state of Virginia, and the leader of the first Republican party.
Not as long as the Georgia House of Representatives needs people like me to use the power of the purse and the power of nullification to restore adherence to the Declaration and US Constitution.
Yes, the state legislature should grant the governor emergency powers under certain very limited situations which constitute existential threats to Georgia. However, such emergency powers should never include infringing on the fundamental Rights of individuals, such as the right of bodily autonomy, and the right to make a living and obtain food and water, the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and the right to peaceably assemble, etc. Current law grants too much power to the governor and is too vague about the means of establishing whether or not a true emergency exists. I will work diligently to remedy this problem through thoughtful legislation.
This is hard to say at this time. It depends on what is going on during my first session in office as state representative for district 49. It could be any number of topics, such as election integrity, medical or healthcare freedom, limiting emergency powers, etc. I plan to introduce whatever legislation is needed to protect the American Dream in Georgia that other legislators have not or will not.

People talk much about bills and the voting records of legislators on bills which is an important metric for evaluating the performance of legislators. However, perhaps even more important is all the legislative needs which never get addressed as bills, or that get introduced but never come up for a vote in committee or on the floor of either chamber. I will review the entire Georgia Code and will introduce whatever legislation is needed to make sure all laws in Georgia are consistent with the Declaration and the US Constitution and GA Constitution. This includes addressing the real needs of the people for areas such as election integrity, medical freedom, protecting individual Rights and state Rights, reducing government spending, restoring free-enterprise, de-militarizing local law enforcement, eliminating property and state income taxes, educational freedom, studying illegal immigration impact and studying food and water quality, addressing agriculture and energy needs, as well as for holding individuals and organizations accountable for harm caused.
The Georgia Republican Assembly, which playfully deems itself the "republican wing of the Republican Party" and also as "The Conscience of the Republican Party" has given me their official endorsement for state house district 49. I have also been endorsed privately by many local elected officials and other influencers, who wish to remain anonymous in order to preserve the appearance of neutrality during the primary.
All the committees interest me, but the committees I would like to be a member of include: agriculture, economic development, small business development, health/public health, education, public safety, and government affairs.
I am for complete financial transparency and full accountability of government. Secrecy breeds corruption, and sunlight is the best disinfectant. Elected and appointed officials are supposed to work for the people, and We the People as a whole are the highest level of government in the Unites States. This is why election integrity, limited government, and a well-educated, well-informed, and actively engaged responsible citizenry are necessary for our American system of self-governance to work properly. All government officials, whether elected or appointed who fail to govern according to the principles of the Declaration or who fail to keep their oath to support the US and GA constitutions should be promptly and lawfully replaced by new leaders who have the confidence of We the People.

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.

Note: Gordon submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on April 19, 2024.

2022

Michael Gordon did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.


Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Michael Gordon campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Georgia House of Representatives District 49Lost primary$4,264 $7,388
2022Georgia House of Representatives District 49Lost primary$3,531 $0
Grand total$7,795 $7,388
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also

2024 Elections

Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
What's on the ballot?
U.S. President
U.S. Congress
U.S. Congress special elections
State executives
State legislatures
State courts
Ballot measures
Municipal government
School boards
Election analysis hub

Government

Seal of Georgia.png
Who represents me?
U.S. Congress
State executives
State legislators
State courts
Ballot measures
Municipal government
School boards

Newsletters

Ballotpedia RSS.jpg
The Daily Brew
The Weekly Brew
The Ballot Bulletin
Checks and Balances
Economy and Society
Hall Pass
Number of the Day
Robe & Gavel


External links

Candidate

Georgia House of Representatives District 49
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
    		•

    Personal

  • LinkedIn
    		•

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 19, 2024
    2. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 25, 2022


    Current members of the Georgia House of Representatives
    Leadership
    Minority Leader:Carolyn Hugley
    Representatives
    District 1
    District 2
    District 3
    District 4
    District 5
    District 6
    District 7
    District 8
    District 9
    Will Wade (R)
    District 10
    District 11
    District 12
    District 13
    District 14
    District 15
    District 16
    District 17
    District 18
    District 19
    District 20
    District 21
    District 22
    District 23
    District 24
    District 25
    District 26
    District 27
    District 28
    Brent Cox (R)
    District 29
    District 30
    District 31
    District 32
    District 33
    District 34
    District 35
    District 36
    District 37
    District 38
    District 39
    District 40
    District 41
    District 42
    District 43
    District 44
    District 45
    District 46
    District 47
    Jan Jones (R)
    District 48
    District 49
    District 50
    District 51
    District 52
    District 53
    District 54
    District 55
    District 56
    District 57
    District 58
    District 59
    District 60
    District 61
    District 62
    District 63
    District 64
    District 65
    District 66
    District 67
    District 68
    District 69
    District 70
    District 71
    District 72
    District 73
    District 74
    District 75
    Eric Bell (D)
    District 76
    District 77
    District 78
    District 79
    District 80
    Long Tran (D)
    District 81
    District 82
    District 83
    District 84
    District 85
    District 86
    District 87
    District 88
    District 89
    District 90
    District 91
    District 92
    District 93
    District 94
    District 95
    District 96
    District 97
    District 98
    District 99
    District 100
    District 101
    District 102
    District 103
    Soo Hong (R)
    District 104
    District 105
    District 106
    Vacant
    District 107
    District 108
    District 109
    District 110
    District 111
    District 112
    District 113
    District 114
    District 115
    District 116
    District 117
    District 118
    District 119
    District 120
    District 121
    District 122
    District 123
    District 124
    District 125
    District 126
    District 127
    District 128
    District 129
    District 130
    District 131
    District 132
    District 133
    District 134
    District 135
    Beth Camp (R)
    District 136
    District 137
    District 138
    District 139
    District 140
    District 141
    District 142
    District 143
    District 144
    District 145
    District 146
    District 147
    District 148
    District 149
    District 150
    District 151
    District 152
    District 153
    District 154
    District 155
    District 156
    District 157
    District 158
    District 159
    Jon Burns (R)
    District 160
    District 161
    District 162
    District 163
    District 164
    District 165
    District 166
    District 167
    District 168
    District 169
    District 170
    District 171
    District 172
    District 173
    District 174
    District 175
    District 176
    District 177
    District 178
    District 179
    District 180
    Republican Party (100)
    Democratic Party (79)
    Vacancies (1)


    Flag of Georgia
    v • e
    State of Georgia
    Atlanta (capital)
    Elections

    What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures

    Government

    Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy


    Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Michael_Gordon_(Georgia)&oldid=9800384"