ATLANTA — The grandson of the late Georgia Governor Zell Miller is running for lieutenant governor. Bryan Miller of Watkinsville announced Thursday he will seek the Democratic nomination for the second-highest office in the state. He hopes to succeed Republican Geoff Duncan, who is not seeking reelection.
Miller recently stepped down as executive chairman of the Zell Miller Foundation, a nonprofit he launched in 2016 to build on the elder Miller’s legacy by focusing on education, leadership, and public service. A political newcomer, he’s running on a platform that includes restoring full funding of the HOPE Scholarship program that his grandfather started.
The younger Miller grew up in Young Harris. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business and public policy from Young Harris College, he earned a law degree at Mercer University.
“My grandfather taught me how to use government to make a difference in peoples’ lives,” he says.
Two other Democrats – state Reps. Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone – already have entered the race for lieutenant governor.
Republican candidates for the post include Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller of Gainesville and Jeanne Seaver, a GOP activist from Savannah.
Zell Miller, who died in 2018, was the driving force behind the Georgia Lottery, which voters approved in a 1992 referendum to raise money to start the HOPE Scholarship program and state-funded pre-K. Before being elected governor in 1990, he served four terms as lieutenant governor and was later appointed to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell.
