CAPE NATIVE WINS GEORGIA SENATE SEAT

A Cape Girardeau native is poised to join the Georgia Senate after toppling a two-term incumbent in a primary runoff election last week.

Mitch Seabaugh, a 1978 Central High School graduate, won the Republican spot on the November ballot in Georgia's 28th Senatorial District, which covers a three-county region just southwest of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Since there is no Democrat candidate, Seabaugh's primary win virtually assures him the seat.

Seabaugh placed second in a field of four in the Republican general primary on July 18. In Georgia, if no candidate captures a majority, a runoff between the top two vote getters takes place. In Missouri, the top vote getter claims his party's nomination regardless of whether he wins a majority.

Seabaugh won 23 percent of the vote for second place, but his opponent state Sen. Rick Price had nearly twice the number of votes to claim 44.5 percent.

Despite the wide margin in Price's favor in the first round, Seabaugh claimed 55.6 percent of the votes in the two-way runoff.

"It was a pretty solid victory," Seabaugh said in a telephone interview from his office in Newnan, Ga.

Seabaugh said his strategy was to target certain areas to ensure a spot in the runoff and then use his resources to go all out against the incumbent, whom Seabaugh said has consistently voted with Democrats despite being a Republican.

Seabaugh, 40, was born in Cape Girardeau and was an all-conference and all-district player for the Central High Tigers' football squad in 1977. Following graduation, he moved to Magnolia, Ark., and attended Southern Arkansas University, where he graduated in 1981 with a degree in accounting. He lived in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana before the company for which he was working transferred him to Georgia in 1993.

His parents, Wayne and Glenda Seabaugh, still reside in Magnolia. He said his parents are happy with his political victory.

"They would much rather me move back to Magnolia, but they are pretty proud," Seabaugh said. "How many parents can call their son senator?"

Seabaugh went into private practice as an accountant three years ago after years of working for large companies. He and his wife, Leah, will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary Aug. 22. They have two children, Karen, 18, and Ryan, 15.

This was Seabaugh's second run for the Senate seat, losing to Price in 1996. Seabaugh will begin his two-year term January.

In addition to his bids for the state Senate, Seabaugh has been politically active since moving to Georgia. He held various positions with his local Republican party, served on party's state committee and was his county's chairman for U.S. Sen. Bob Dole's 1996 presidential bid.

Seabaugh's grandparents live in Fredericktown, Mo., and he still has many friends in Cape Girardeau and visits the area about once a year.

mppowers@socket.net