Former Fulton County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson says that he plans to challenge longtime U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a pioneer in the civil rights movement, in next year’s Democratic primary.
Johnson, who stepped down from his judicial post on Friday, is expected to pose the first serious challenge to the thirteen-term congressman since 1986 when Lewis defeated fellow civil rights leader Julian Bond to win the state’s fifth congressional district seat, a predominantly African-American district encompassing most of Atlanta.
Lewis, who turned 71 in February, has already indicated that he plans to seek reelection in 2012.
Lewis, the son of sharecroppers who gained national prominence during the height of the civil rights movement in 1965, hasn’t faced opposition for the Democratic nomination since 2008 when he easily brushed aside dual challenges from 31-year-old Rev. Markel Hutchins, a Baptist preacher, and feisty state Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas to win a twelfth consecutive term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to that, Lewis hadn’t faced a primary challenge in his heavily-Democratic district since 1992.
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