Newsource reporters gathered information on each candidate in Northeast Georgia to prepare local voters for the midterm elections in this 2026 Election Guide.
Trey Rhodes (incumbent)
Office Sought: Georgia House of Representatives District 124
Party: Republican
Occupation: Financial planner
Years in Community: 21 years
Candidate’s Election Priorities
Handling exponential growth in rural counties, relieving property taxes, bipartisan compromise
More Info for Voters
Website: Official Georgia General Assembly Website | Social media: @TreyRhodesGA (Facebook)
Candidate FAQs
Q: Why are you running?
“I do it for my kids and my grandkids to try to keep Georgia the same Georgia as I’ve known my whole life,” Rhodes said in an interview.
Q: What experiences have prepared you for this office?
“I come from a small town where I was on the city council for nine years before I got here, and in small towns you see each other at the ball field, at church, at school, and you have to be able to get along,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said he believes compromise and bipartisan efforts are effective ways to find solutions.
Q: What are the most important issues facing District 124 (Clarke, Greene, Oglethorpe, Putnam and Taliaferro counties) and what would you do to address them?
Issue #1: Handling rapid growth in rural counties.
“Growth is happening so fast, especially down around Lake Oconee, and Greene and Putnam County right there. Growth in infrastructure and handling that is some of the main problems we have,” Rhodes said.
Issue #2: Relieving property taxes
“Some of my counties are even more rural than we are, such as Oglethorpe and Taliaferro, and there is property taxes, and the new floating local option sales tax, and things of that nature, that we’re trying to do to help relieve property owners from property tax,” Rhodes said. “Working with them because they’re not in high volume sales tax generating counties, so we’re having to try to come up with things to help them with sales tax issues for property tax.”
Q: What is one thing you want voters to know about you? What is your message to younger voters, such as UGA students?
“They’ve got to be able to sit down and listen to the other person, instead of just shouting about their position and their ideas all the time, and if they’ll slow down and listen, then they might get something from the other person that they can deal with,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said he encourages young voters to discover their political leanings and opinions independently through self-reflection.
Melanie Miller
Office Sought: Georgia House of Representatives District 124
Party: Democratic
Occupation: Paralegal, educator, nonprofit owner
Years in Community: 23 years
Candidate’s Election Priorities
Medicaid expansion, education reform, increase minimum wage
More Info for Voters
Website: melaniemiller4ga.com | Social media: @melaniemillerforga (Instagram), @melaniemillerforga (TikTok), @MelanieMiller4GA (YouTube), Facebook
Candidate FAQs
Q: Why are you running?
“Well, I am running to make sure that all of the constituents in District 124 has a voice, a say-so, in what’s going on or would be going on in their lives, daily living,” Miller said in an interview. “That’s why I’m running.”
Q: What experiences have prepared you for this office?
“Everyday life. As I said, I am a mother. I’m an educator,” Miller said.
Miller has served as a paralegal, substitute teacher, nonprofit business owner, activist and commissioner of the City of Greensboro Housing Authority Board.
“I pride myself on trying to make sure I know what’s going on personally on the local level, as far as things going on in the county level,” Miller said.
Q: What are the most important issues facing District 124 and what would you do to address them?
Issue #1: Medicaid expansion
Miller supports expanding Medicaid to ensure families in rural Georgia can access medical care.
“The fact that people have to go miles to another county to get medical attention is very disturbing to me,” Miller said. “I think everybody should have the opportunity to be allowed to get health coverage.”
District 124 represents all of Oglethorpe, Taliaferro and Greene counties, and a portion of Clarke and Putnam counties. Oglethorpe, Putnam, Greene and Taliaferro counties are considered rural for purposes of the rural physician credit, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue.
Taliaferro does not have an urgent care center, Miller said. Wills Memorial Hospital, located in Wilkes County, serves those residents. Miller said she drafted an act to establish an urgent care for Taliaferro County. It has not been released publicly.
“No matter how small the population is, they still need, at least, an urgent care, and it shouldn’t have to come from the taxpayers to build it,” Miller said.
Issue #2: Education reform
Miller supports fair funding, better teacher support and updated resources for public schools. Miller said she wants to implement incentives for teachers and substitute teachers to work in the public school system to address the shortage of teachers.
“We need more incentives for that, to get people more involved, to want to be part of the education system and help. I can’t reiterate enough, stress enough. There’s a shortage of teachers,” Miller said. “Not only that, if we could get more incentive for teachers to be able to work in counties where they live and not have to travel so far, that would help a lot.”
Issue #3: Increasing minimum wage
“Daily living has increased. Housing has increased. Mortgage, rent increased. Groceries, increased. Childcare, skyrocket,” Miller said. “So it’s a lot that needs to be done and worked on when it comes to minimum wage.”
Miller said she drafted a policy where the state of Georgia can increase minimum wage starting up to $18 per hour in the next four years. Miller said she wants to give small business owners incentives to pay their employees more.
Q: What is one thing you want voters to know about you?
“I meet people where they are. Meet people where they are, and, above all, I put people over politics,” Miller said. “I am not a politician. I am a public servant.”
