Greg Hecht is an American politician, a member 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 ...

, 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 directly ...

in the U.S. state of Georgia. 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. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

and graduated from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1985 and earned a J.D. at the University of Georgia School of Law in 1988

Hecht is a former resident of Lake Spivey near Jonesboro, Georgia.

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. Legal provisions The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia ...

, 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 rela ...

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 the office of Li ...

; 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 People from Columbus, Georgia People from Clayton County, Georgia 21st-century American politicians Year of birth missing (living people) {{GeorgiaUS-politician-stub