COVINGTON, Ga. — Kacy Morgan is not one to sit around and wait for voters to come to him.

The Democratic nominee for the District 17 State Senate seat already has walked 34 miles to ask for votes in-person despite suffering from spinal stenosis that forces him to move with a cane.

Yet, he is not averse to walking along the side of an area highway, where he discovered a potential major traffic hazard, or meeting with the chief of the Social Circle Police Department about the department’s needs after walking around the town’s historic downtown.

Morgan is not even afraid to take a ride from a stranger to get back to his vehicle, which he parks before setting out on foot.

“I wanted to meet the people,” he said.

He admits he has relatively little money to work with in his effort to unseat incumbent State Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, for the Senate seat that includes Newton, Henry, Walton and Morgan counties.

“Maybe word will get around,” Morgan said.

Morgan County Democratic Party chairwoman Ann Clarke said she was “in awe” of Morgan’s willingness to literally hit the campaign trail in spite of his injury.

“I don’t know if I could do it,” she said of Morgan’s campaign style.

She said she had followed some of his Facebook postings, such as the one highlighting the problem with soil wearing away from the side of a “He is driven by his faith,” Clarke said.

“He’s running on no political experience,” she said. “It’s just because he cares about his state and community.”

Morgan still lives in Madison where he was born and raised. He has pastored Bethel Bara Baptist Church in Union Point since 2015.

He spent 20 years in the Army before retiring in 2015 because of a spinal injury suffered following an explosion while serving in Iraq, Morgan said.

Morgan also worked as an equipment operator for GDOT for 10 years and earned associate’s degrees from American Military University and the Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service.

While stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta in 2012, he lost his first wife when she died from an allergic reaction to a blood pressure medicine she was taking, he said.

Earlier this year, Morgan said his daughter died when she did not wake from a diabetic coma while he searched for available hospital beds in the midst of a COVID-19 surge.

Morgan said when he told his church members he was running for office, they were skeptical because many were against a pastor using religion to gain politically.

“They were at kind of a standstill at first,” Morgan said.

However, he said he explained that he was running in an effort to try to help people and not mix “church with state.”

After he began his campaign earlier this year, he said he about the the reception he may receive from those with strong political beliefs.

However, he said he has been pleasantly surprised.

“In the (political) climate we’re in, I didn’t think people would be as nice and respectful as they are,” Morgan said.

He said he has found people of all political stripes have more in common than they think.

“People just want a comfortable life,” Morgan said. “They just want to live and they want an honest chance.”

Morgan said he first began to consider running for office after hearing about the deaths of young, unarmed Black men such as Ahmaud Arbery in early 2020 in Brunswick.

He also objected to Brian Kemp in 2017 purging more than 100,000 voters from the rolls because they had not voted in recent elections — despite already becoming a candidate for governor. 

Kemp was serving as Secretary of State overseeing Georgia’s elections at the time. He later oversaw the 2018 election in which he narrowly defeated Stacey Abrams for governor.

Another issue Morgan said prompted him to run was the current system of posting a cash bail to go free pending a trial. Those without the means to pay must remain in jail indefinitely, he said.

“That’s why I want to do this — to help people,” he said.

Strickland said he respects Morgan “and anyone that steps up and puts his or her name on a ballot.”

But the incumbent senator also knows Morgan is determined to take his Senate seat.

“I hope we are able to meet and have a discussion about the issues that he values and that the citizens of the newly-drawn District 17 in Henry, Newton, Walton and Morgan counties will get the chance to hear from both of us and decide who best represents their values and is best equipped to fight for this region,” Strickland said.