Five candidates in Rabun County are running for two contested seats on the local ballot for the November 5 election. One contested race is for the Rabun County Commission Post 1 seat with two candidates. The other is the Rabun County Board of Education Post 5 seat with three candidates.
Rabun County voters have taken advantage of the early voting period over the last three weeks. Rabun County voter turnout has exceeded 68% during early voting with more than 9,100 active voters casting a ballot early.
With just day of voting left, the candidates are optimistic that voters will continue to turnout, even on November 5.
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Rabun County Commission Post 1
Maria Loveless
Background/experience
Loveless is the Democratic challenger for the Post 1 seat.
She has two adult children and has lived in Georgia for 35 years, of which, the last 25 years have been in Rabun County.
Loveless is an entrepreneur and owns the Good Life Foods Corporation that is headquartered in Lakemont.
What prompted her to run for office was she felt she had reached a point in her life to take on a leadership role in her county. Loveless adds, “I felt there was a need in our county for a fresh perspective, another voice, and a voice for the people.”
Some of her accomplishments she would like to pursue, if elected, is hold monthly “walk and talks,” hold coffee house meetings, and set office hours so she can be accessible to the people. She would like to engage young adults in the county and find solutions to provide affordable homes and housing. “I would definitely would like to be the voice for the people of Rabun County,” Loveless said.
Message to voters
Her distinct reason for running for office is her tagline, “I want to be your voice.” She feels it’s time for a new perspective in the county. “It’s time for a new perspective of leadership in Rabun County,” Loveless said. She feels that she can be “a leader who focuses on the voices of the people in Rabun County that’s going to work for a sustainable, positive future.”
Will Nichols
Background/experience
Nichols is the Post 1 incumbent and is seeking his fifth term as commissioner, after serving in that capacity for 16 years.
He has been self-employed for more than 30 years working in the construction, agriculture, and timber industries. Nichols is married with two children and three grandchildren. He is a native of Rabun County. Nichols says that his family goes back at least four generations.
Nichols says what prompted him to run for re-election is freedom. “I love my county and I want to keep it as free as possible,” he said. He added, “I want to keep government to a minimum and allow people to be free on their own property.”
He still has a few things he wants to accomplish if re-elected to the Rabun County Commission. Recently, the city of Clayton and Rabun County accomplished consolidating their water and sewer systems. “Now we got to figure out how to pay for it,” he said. He wants to make the water and sewer system available to everyone in the county.
Another issue he wants to work towards is keeping Rabun County affordable. Nichols wants to “make it a place where young people can make a living, continue to live, and raise their children.”
Message to voters
Nichols doesn’t consider himself a partisan politician. “I’m not really a Republican and I’m really not a Democrat. I consider myself an American,” he said. As far as what voters need to look for in a candidate, he said, is “freedom.”
“That’s what we need to look for when we walk in the voting poll, what’s best for our people and our children, long term,” he said.
Rabun County Board of Education Post 5
The Rabun County BOE Post 5 race is unique for a November election. Incumbent Molly Lima qualified for the Post 5 seat last February. A month prior to the May primary election, she resigned her seat from the board of education. There was no Democratic challenger in the race.
Her resignation opened the door for an appointment to the board and the opportunity for candidates to qualify as “write-in” candidates for the November election.
Voters will not see any names listed on the ballot for this seat, only a “write-in” blank, requiring voters to type in the candidate’s name they wish to vote for.
Rick Story
Background/experience
Story is technically the incumbent for the Post 5 seat having been appointed in May of this year to the Rabun County Board of Education after Lima’s resignation. He has experience in education policy at all three levels of government.
Story was an aid to Congressman Nathan Deal in Washington, D.C. where Deal was on the Education Committee. When Deal became governor, Story assisted with appointments to the State Board of Education and worked on education policy at the state level. In Rabun County, Story has worked with local youth through Forward Rabun with the youth leadership program, that is juniors in all three high schools in Rabun County.
He worked for the University of Georgia that exposed him to the collegiate level of education. He also worked for North Georgia Technical College for a period time that exposed him to the technical level of higher education.
What prompted him to run for office was not only his experience but that his parents were teachers and many friends are teachers. “I just feel pretty plugged in at every level of education,” Story said. He added, “I just want to able to serve and give back to the system that has given me so much.”
Story didn’t give any specific accomplishments he would like to see if elected. However, he said that Rabun County has a great school system with a great school superintendent and administrators. He mentioned that school safety was a concern but feels that measures are in place now to continue making the school system safe. “I want to do everything I can for the teachers and the students,” Story said.
Message to voters
His message to the voters is simple. “I just appreciate their consideration and confidence that they will hopefully place in me as their candidate. I will do the best job I can,” he said.
Jason Streetman
Background/experience
Streetman is currently the city manager for the town of Sky Valley in the north end of Rabun County and has held local government management positions. He is a former school teacher and coach. Streetman is married with three children (triplets) that are sophomores at Rabun County High School. His wife is a teacher in the Rabun County school system. He has lived in Rabun County for the last 10 years.
Several factors played into prompting him to run for the Post 5 seat. With his knowledge of being a former school teacher, he can relate to what school teachers and administrators have to go through.
He said that he has a good understanding of public sector finance that would be beneficial. “I just felt like it was a way to give back,” Streetman said.
He said that currently the school system has good administrators and teachers and would like to be part of it. “I just want to continue the good work they are doing,” Streetman said. He also recognized that the county has a new Sheriff and wants to continue the good relationship that currently exists with the school system and the Sheriff’s Office. His overall accomplishment he would like to see is “help make Rabun County Schools be the best they can be.”
Message to voters
Streetman’s motto during his campaign has been that he is doing it “for the kids.” He said that he would be very honored for voters support and “I pledge to give my best effort to look out for the best interest of the school system.”
Eric Thurmond
Background/experience
Thurmond is a native of Rabun County and moved back to the area in 2020. He is married with four children. He is a licensed professional councilor in the mental health profession and owns a practice in Mountain City.
He was prompted to run for the school board seat through friends and family that felt that he would a good fit for the position. After praying about it, he decided to run for office. After considering his skill sets, “I felt it was the right thing to do,” Thurmond said.
One accomplishment he would like to achieve is to ensure school safety through mental health screening. Thurmond explains that in many cases, school systems are reactive rather than proactive with kids. “We need to have a much better program in place where we are identifying kids that are presenting concerning anti-social behaviors early on and getting them appropriate intervention,” he said. He also said that resources needed to be in place to assist in this program to ensure the system is more proactive rather than reactive.
Thurmond is concerned about HB 581 that will limit local governments tax collections. The bill, if approved, will limit how much property valuations can go up each year. Should the bill pass, he wants to put something in place that protects the taxpayers and the schools. “We need to have a good way of threading that needle between protecting our taxpayers and making sure the schools are well funded,” he said.
Message to voters
He does not want the small town feel to be lost in the school system. Thurmond says that he saw how smaller schools in the Athens/Clarke County area become overwhelmed and he does not want to see that in Rabun County. He moved back to Rabun County for that reason. Thurmond said that he wants the school system to remain a system where parents know the teachers and feel like they are genuinely involved and their interests are heard in the school system.
