Editor’s Note: This is the second story in a series to ask local candidates seven questions as they run for office. John Barrow is a Democrat running for reelection from Georgia’s 12th Congressional District.

Q: Why are you running for office?
A: I’m running for Congress because I’m concerned about the direction in which our country is headed, and because there’s no better place to make a difference – or a place where a difference is more needed – than in the United States Congress.

Q: Looking back on your time at the University, what are your fondest memories?
A: Between the hedges at Sanford Stadium.

Q: What do you think about Georgia being dropped to number two in all the major polls?
A: I’m always nervous about being number one at anything. It’s better to be number one and other folks not know it than to be rated number one and have everyone gunning for you. As long as we’re number one come the end of the season, that’s the most important thing.

Q: What are your top three goals, if elected?
A: The issues I want to address in the next Congress are: (1) Making America energy independent; (2) making sure that everyone has access to quality, affordable health care; and (3) continuing my support for world-class, accessible public education.

Q: Why should University students vote for you?
A: College students should vote for me because I’m tackling the high cost of higher education to make it more affordable to all. That’s why I voted for the largest single increase in support for higher education since the G.I. Bill was passed in 1944. That’s also why I introduced legislation that will quadruple the amount of the federal HOPE tax credit, increasing it from $3,000 spread out over just two years to $12,000 spread out over four years. This will go a lot farther toward reflecting the true cost of higher education, and the length of time that families incur that higher cost, and will reduce (by more than one half) the average debt load that college students end up with when they graduate.

Q: What compelled you to come back to Athens after law school and run for public office?
A: I wanted to be more of a generalist, and the place where I thought that could be done most successfully was in a town or city the size of Athens. That was the legal climate I was looking to practice in, to be able to do a little of a lot of different things … My first job out of law school, though, was not practicing in Athens. It was clerking in Savannah, Ga. for district court Judge Elliot Lawrence, who had the distinction of desegregating the public schools in southern Georgia. Working for him was a real privilege. I was his last law clerk.

Q: What previous jobs have you held?
A: Member of the Athens City Council, representing the city’s fourth district, in 1990 until it became a unified government, after which I served as a member of the Athens-Clarke County Commission.

Q: What’s your family status (single, married, kids)?
A: Single, the father of two children, James and Ruth.

Q: What else should University students know about Barrow?
A: He was born in Athens to Phyllis Jenkins and James Barrow. Barrow graduated from the University with a political science degree in 1976. He was a member of the University’s Demosthenian Literary Society. In 1979, he earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University. He entered private practice as a lawyer after graduation until his election to public office in 1990.

He won reelection in 1996 and in 2000 to the ACC Commission. In 2004, Barrow was elected to Georgia’s 12th district, which was gained as a result of the 2000 United States Census.