Casting himself as a genuine American conservative, Chatham County Commissioner Patrick Farrell signaled Sunday that he plans to enter the race for Coastal Georgia’s seat in U.S. Congress.
“I’m the authentic candidate for this position,” Farrell told the Tybee Island Republican Committee, newly renamed One Tybee. With that self-portrait, he likened himself to the seat’s current holder, Earl “Buddy” Carter, who earlier this month announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate and attended the meeting.
“Most people are not as authentic as Buddy is, and I’m that guy — what you see is what you get,” Farrell told the gathering of some 60 people at Tybee’s Memorial Park. “I’ve lived the same life as everybody in this room just about, and I’m the authentic candidate for this position.”
Farrell, first elected to the commission’s District 4 seat in 2004, said Monday he would make a formal announcement of his candidacy next month. But Sunday, it appeared a foregone conclusion.
“I’m running because President Trump needs more pro-MAGA conservatives to forward his agenda,” Farrell said. “I will be behind our president 100% and it’ll be such a breath of fresh air to be working under the leadership of Donald Trump that I would truly appreciate the opportunity to get elected to that position.”
The 64-year-old Farrell could become the second Republican to announce a bid for what is expected to be a large field of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Coastal Georgia’s seat in Congress in next year’s primary elections to be held in May or early June.
Former gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor of Baxley announced her candidacy in March. Also, Bryan County Commission Chairman Carter Infinger has formed an exploratory committee to weigh a run for the seat.
In his remarks Sunday, Farrell tied his all but certain candidacy closely to the future of the conservative movement headed by Trump.
One of three Republicans on the nine-member Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Farrell was born in Wilmington, Delaware, raised in Savannah and earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Georgia Southern University. He has owned and operated a thousand-acre cattle ranch and farm in Jenkins County since 2012 — an experience, he said, that has served him well in life and politics.
“I understand how to balance a budget, how to make a payroll, and how to feed my family and how to provide great service to our community.”
Along with Carter, state House Speaker Pro-Tem Jan Jones also attended, as did state Reps. Ron Stephens, and Jesse Petrea; Tybee Mayor Brian West; GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Yasger; and Joel Boblasky, who ran unsuccessfully last year for chair of the Chatham County Commission.
In his remarks, Carter said the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term were “the most productive 100 days of any administration ever.” The president, he said, had secured the border and set the U.S. on the “path to energy dominance.”
Frustrated and angered by Carter’s refusal to hold open town halls to discuss their concerns about the administration’s “unconstitutional” direction, a group of some 25 area residents quietly holding signs gathered near the meeting hall in Tybee’s Memorial Park to protest.
“I’m very disappointed and dismayed at the policies of Donald Trump and his administration and how it’s affecting people all over our country and all over the world,” said Robin Montgomery, 55, of Savannah, who led the protest.
As the last of the meeting’s attendees left the meeting hall Sunday afternoon, one protester remained, holding handmade sign reading, “Democracy means due process — No dictators here” and featuring two masked agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ushering a detainee.
Asked why she was protesting, Kelly Lawson of Tybee Island addressed those she called her “friends and neighbors.”
“I’m here in solidarity with prisoners who have been disappeared off the streets of the United States and held in a foreign camp. It’s awful,” said Lawson, 47. “I never thought I would have to be protesting against human rights abuses in the United States of America.”
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