Robert Gabriel Sterling (born November 14, 1970) is an American politician and elections official from the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

. He is the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

(COO) in the office of the

Georgia Secretary of State The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records. The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, t ...

. He previously served on the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

for

Sandy Springs, Georgia Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia and an inner ring suburb of Atlanta. The city's population was 108,080 at the 2020 census, making it Georgia's seventh-largest city. It is the site of several corporate headquarters, i ...

Early life and career

Sterling graduated from

Riverwood International Charter School Riverwood International Charter School is a charter school located in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States. Riverwood is one of Fulton County School's four magnet sites, offering International Studies and International Baccalaureate Programs. N ...

in Sandy Springs, and the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. He began working in Republican Party politics as a volunteer for

Mack Mattingly Mack Francis Mattingly (born January 7, 1931) is an American diplomat and politician who served one term as a United States senator from Georgia, the first Republican to have served in the U.S. Senate from that state since Reconstruction. Earl ...

in his unsuccessful 1986 reelection bid to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

. He served as campaign manager for

Charlie Norwood Charles Whitlow Norwood Jr. (July 27, 1941 – February 13, 2007) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until his death in 2007. At the time of his death, Norwood was ...

in his successful election to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

in 1994. In 1998, Sterling ran for the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. ...

in District 43, facing

Dorothy Felton Dorothy Felton ( ''née'' Wood; March 1, 1929 – February 19, 2008) was an American politician who was the first Republican woman elected to the Georgia General Assembly. She was elected to represent District 43 in the Georgia House of Representa ...

in the Republican Party

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

. Sterling lost the election. Sterling was elected to the Sandy Springs City Council, taking office in 2011. In 2017, he did not run for reelection, and instead ran for the chair's seat on the

Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County, Arkansas, named after Governor William Savin Fulton *Fulton County, Georgia *F ...

Commission. He finished in third place, behind

Robb Pitts Robb is a surname of Scottish origin, formed from a diminution (reduction) of the name Robert. Robert was a popular name, especially after its use by three Scots Kings in the fourteenth century. Rob is first recorded as a surname in the mid-15t ...

and

Keisha Waites Keisha Sean Waites (born October 30, 1972) is an American politician from the state of Georgia. A Democrat, she served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2012 to 2017, representing southeast Atlanta, College Park, East Point, Hapevil ...

, both members of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Georgia Secretary of State's office

Brad Raffensperger Bradford Jay Raffensperger (born May 18, 1955) is an American politician, businessman, and civil engineer, serving as the Secretary of State of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia House of Re ...

appointed Sterling the COO of the Secretary of State's office after winning the 2018 election. He became an independent contractor in November 2019, and worked to roll out the use of new voting machines purchased from

Dominion Voting Systems Dominion Voting Systems Corporation is a company that sells electronic voting hardware and software, including voting machines and tabulators, in the United States and Canada. The company's headquarters are in Toronto, Ontario, and Denver, Colo ...

for the

2020 Georgia state elections Several elections took place in the U.S state of Georgia in 2020. The general election was held on November 3, 2020, and the runoff on January 5, 2021. A combined partisan primary for president and all other offices on the ballot was held on Ju ...

. Sterling held a press conference in which he publicly rejected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

's allegations of voter fraud after Joe Biden won Georgia in the 2020 United States presidential election, saying they were "all easily, provably false," and warned that statements by Trump and other leading Republicans would result in innocent people getting killed. Sterling testified in

public hearings In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency or a legislative committee. Description A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and ...

before the

United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (the January 6th Committee) is a bipartisan select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives established to investigate the U.S. C ...

on June 21, 2022. During the hearing, Congressman

Adam Schiff Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who has served as a U.S. representative since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented since 2013. Schiff's district (numbered as the ...

( D- CA) played a recording of Sterling's remarks and asked him what had inspired them. Sterling replied that he had "lost it" after seeing a death threat against a Georgia elections worker written on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

QAnon QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...

supporters spreading the same conspiracy theories about the 2020 election that Trump was espousing, and decided to speak out against such misinformation.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sterling, Gabriel Living people People from Sandy Springs, Georgia Georgia (U.S. state) city council members Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans University of Georgia alumni Year of birth uncertain 21st-century American politicians 1970 births