Having recently wrapped up the November elections, it is time to look forward to next year’s midterm elections. Several viable candidates have entered the prominent races, and there will be many tough decisions for voters come next fall.

The gubernatorial election is one of the most important elections for which voters will cast their ballots. It is no secret on Grady’s campus that our adviser’s husband, state Sen. Jason Carter, has entered the race. Despite our close tie to this race, The Southerner staff has striven to remain balanced and fair.

Whether you agree with Mr. Carter’s policies or not, however, as an editorial board, we believe there is something on which we all can agree: Kate Carter would be a fantastic First Lady of Georgia.

As an award-winning reporter with a master’s degree from Columbia University, Ms. Carter has spent years keeping ‘em honest as an educational reporter at The Athens Banner-Herald. Before coming to Grady to teach journalism, she was the adviser at The Red and Black, the independent student newspaper at the University of Georgia. She also has experience with businesses and the economy after serving as an editor at The Atlanta Business Chronicle and on the Metro Atlanta Chamber board that selects the Atlanta Small Business Person of the Year.

Though her career achievements are extremely impressive, Ms. Carter’s intangible qualities make her truly special. Georgia would be served well by Ms. Carter’s deep empathy and her refusal to accept injustice in the world. Outraged by unfairness and an advocate for the truth, accuracy and justice, Ms. Carter has taught us the power of reporting to make what is wrong with the world right. She has a consistently cheery, indiscriminately friendly personality that will serve her well as First Lady, but she also has extremely high standards of excellence, professionalism and ethics. She holds our staff to those standards, but she also lives by them. That’s why we believe, in fact, we know, that Georgia needs Ms. Carter (almost as much as we do).

This message was NOT paid for or approved by Kate Carter for Georgia. (In fact, we had to sneak it into the paper.)