Kathy Palmer of Swainsboro has announced her candidacy for Georgia’s Fourth Senatorial District. The district was served by Jack Hill prior to his passing last week.

Kathy served the Middle Judicial Circuit for 20 years as Superior Court judge. She had decided to retire from the bench when her term expired at the end of this year. According to Palmer, “ the citizens of the fourth district lost a senator who was passionately devoted to representing the interests of the district. It will be difficult to replace him. Our district and our state face serious economic and social challenges as a result of the virus that has plagued us. Our citizens need a Senator who can approach these issues with an ability to solve problems and persuade people to adopt common sense solutions. Throughout my career, I have been doing just that.”

Palmer graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1979 after receiving her undergraduate degree from UGA in Family and Consumer Sciences. She is very familiar with the legislative process and has worked extensively monitoring and advocating for legislative issues since her first legal job. She has served many leadership positions with the Council of Superior Court Judges including serving as President of that organization where she was responsible for leading the legislative agenda.

She has also served as a member of the Judicial Council of Georgia, both as an administrative judge for the Eighth Administrative District of Georgia and as a CSCJ officer. Other service includes the Judicial Council’s Workload Assessment Committee, the Georgia Board of Court Reporting Matters, the Chief Justice’s Statewide Committee on Professionalism, and the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia and it’s Legislative Policy Committee and Bench and Bar Committee.

Palmer stated that she plans to bring her experience as an attorney and a judge to bear in reaching practical conservative solutions to the economic and social issues facing the state. Kathy believes she has the practical experience to build coalitions that will support and implement those solutions.

Palmer and her husband, Danny, reside in Swainsboro and have two adult sons and two grandsons. She is an active member of the First United Methodist Church of Swainsboro and has been a lifelong supporter of Georgia 4-H including serving as chair of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia 4-H Foundation.