Raymond O. Boyd is one of eight candidates seeking the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination. The primary is July 20. Boyd is a newcomer to politics and he has already put $2,000,000 into his campaign account. Under Georgia campaign finance laws, even if he should drop out of the race, he could only recover $250,000 of his own money back.
The Georgia Republican Party requires candidates in its primaries to sign an oath that says, “I do hereby swear or affirm my allegiance to the Republican Party.” Boyd says he won’t sign the oath. The party says he can’t run if he doesn’t sign the oath. See this story. UPDATE: on Monday, April 26, Boyd made a personal appeal to the Republican Party to let him run in its primary without signing the oath, but the party refused. See this story.
It is conceivable that Boyd will choose to run as an independent candidate for Governor. He would need 44,089 valid signatures by July 13. This earlier story about Boyd suggests that running as an independent has crossed his mind. Georgia hasn’t had an independent candidate on the ballot for Governor since 1942. Back in 1942, any independent could get on the general election ballot just by filing a declaration of candidacy and a filing fee. In 1943, Georgia started requiring petitions of 5% of the number of registered voters for independent candidates, and no independent for Governor has ever met that test. Thanks to Kyle Bennett for these links.