Greg Hecht is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and a former member of the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Hecht unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Georgia in 2006. Hecht was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Georgia in 2014.

Biography

Hecht was born in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

and graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1985 and earned a J.D. at the

University of Georgia School of Law The University of Georgia School of Law (Georgia Law) is the law school of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it one of the oldest American university law ...

in 1988

Hecht is a former resident of Lake Spivey near

Jonesboro, Georgia Jonesboro () is a city in and the county seat of Clayton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,235 in 2020. The city's name was originally spelled Jonesborough. During the American Civil War, the final skirmish in the Atlanta ...

Career

As a member of the

Georgia State Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

, Hecht was named Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Council on Aging for his work in authoring and passing

elder abuse Elder abuse (also called elder mistreatment, senior abuse, abuse in later life, abuse of older adults, abuse of older women, and abuse of older men) is a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where ...

prevention laws. He has continued to work in this area as the present Chairman of the Alzheimer's Services Center, where he has served as a board member for fifteen years. During his career in the general assembly, Hecht was honored with the "Speak Up For a Child" award as well as an environmental leadership award for his work to improve education in the state and protect the environment.

Campaign for lieutenant governor

Hecht ran against Jim Martin for the Democratic nomination for the office. Although there were two Republican candidates in the race, Hecht focused his campaign on the presumed Republican frontrunner,

Ralph Reed Ralph Eugene Reed Jr. (born June 24, 1961) is an American political consultant and lobbyist, best known as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition during the early 1990s. He sought the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Gov ...

; Reed, however, was defeated in the Republican primary. In the Democratic primary, Hecht finished second to Martin by a margin of 37 percent to 42 percent and was defeated by Martin in the ensuing runoff election, 38 percent to 62 percent.

References

, - , - Living people University of Georgia alumni Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Politicians from Columbus, Georgia People from Clayton County, Georgia Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Georgia General Assembly {{GeorgiaUS-politician-stub