Atlanta City Council Candidate Jason Hudgins Is Ready To Serve
Jason Hudgins began attending Westview Community Organization meetings well before he moved into the community.
He was house hunting and felt the best way to get an idea of what the community offered was to attend meetings and see firsthand.
“This is how it all started for me,” he told The Reckoning. “There was an older lady, Miss Hattie, who served as the organization chaplain. She stood up in one meeting and mentioned that someone who had recently left the community was supposed to paint her house.”
As Miss Hattie said, “he promised to paint my house,” it took no time for Hudgins to volunteer.
“I said, ‘we can paint her house, we just need someone to do it.”
He rallied support from others in the community, and on a Saturday afternoon they painted Miss Hattie’s house. On this day, Hudgins’ community organizing career was born.
“I am a proud Black, gay man who brings all of me into the room. You will be surprised about who will embrace you when you bring all of you into the room.”
Six years later, just after the 4th of July holiday, Hudgins declared his candidacy for the Atlanta City Council representing District 10. Running against the incumbent Andrea Boone, Hudgins is among a handful of Black gay candidates running for office in the City of Atlanta.
“Me being a member of the LGBT community is part of who I am. I am also the guy who served as the Westview Community president and is responsible for teaching other leaders how to lead a multinational hospitality company,” he said. “I am a proud Black, gay man who brings all of me into the room. You will be surprised about who will embrace you when you bring all of you into the room.”
For years, efforts were made by members in his circle to convince him to run for citywide office. However, as someone more interested in working behind the scenes, solving problems locally in the Westview Community, Hudgins wasn’t completely sold on the idea of citywide leadership. He was more fulfilled being a resource for the older members of the community. However, when Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced her plans to not seek re-election, several colleagues, neighbors, supporters, and friends began applying pressure.
And then a trusted mentor called.
Hudgins had just left a meeting about the Atlanta Comprehensive Plan. As he vented about how voices from the community had been cut out, the mentor stopped him.
“At what point are you going to stop calling for new leadership and silencing your own voice,” Hudgins remembers the mentor saying. “I had done it at the community level. I had been that community leader that others would bounce off ideas. I had spent the past ten years training other leaders, and now it was time to serve. I am now at a place where I am ready to serve.”
A Focus On Equity
There are four overarching issues at the core of Hudgins’ campaign—issues that he believes matter to everyone in his district regardless of how they identify: equity, transportation, public safety, and healthcare.
For Hudgins, equity issues should drive policies, but they haven’t. As far as Hudgins is concerned, equity has often been ignored in Southwest Atlanta, which he wants to correct. Politicians use equity as a talking point but rarely present solutions that are equitable.
“For instance, Atlanta leads the nation in income inequality. If you are born in poverty, you have a four percent chance of escaping poverty in this city, which means you stay in poverty or you must leave,” he said. “Equity says we must figure out the why of an issue and fix those issues.”
Affordable housing is one solution. For example, when he moved into the Westview Community, Hudgins purchased his home for roughly $100,000. Recently, the house across the street from him sold for over $400,000.
“Who are we going to lose in this process? If these had been the prices six years ago, you would have lost me. Westview used to be a bastion for Black excellence. But now, if you do not make a certain income, you cannot live in the City of Atlanta,” he said.
Since housing prices have risen; many must commute into the city for work. However, those commuting are spending an unreasonable amount of time in traffic. And that’s not all. Transportation is also an equity issue when some cannot afford the extra expense of owning a car. They must use public transportation that is not the most convenient and effective.
“For young, Black gays, income and housing security cause many within the community to make survival choices. We have to care about that and a city like Atlanta should be leading on these types of issues.”
As it pertains to public safety, two issues are present for Hudgins. One of them is policing, which he believes needs to be rethought.
“I am not anti-police,” he said. “But the spike in crime is not due to a lack of money.”
He also points out the plans of the police department to build a new training facility.
“I am thinking of this from the perspective of a professional corporate trainer,” he said. “Yes, the police department needs a new training facility, but do they need a campus bigger than the size of Georgia Tech? And do they need to clear out a historic forest when what makes Atlanta different is our canopy? There is a budgeting issue. There is a policing issue. There is an environmental issue.”
When it comes to the Black gay community, HIV/AIDS is usually the health issue that comes to mind first for most—which Hudgins admits he hates. There are a plethora of health issues, including HIV/AIDS, that are concerns in District 10 from asthma to obesity to HIV/AIDS to now COVID-19.
“Chronic asthma is off the charts in southwest Atlanta. There are no hospitals south of I-20 from Grady Hospital to East Point. High rates of obesity and hypertension. And the pandemics of COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS,” he points out. “All of these issues are connected. For young, Black gays, income and housing security cause many within the community to make survival choices. We have to care about that and a city like Atlanta should be leading on these types of issues.”
On Tuesday, November 2, Hudgins will learn if he won his campaign. Through community events, like neighborhood cleanings and trash pick-up, as well as door-to-door canvassing, Hudgins intends to continue to spread the word about his platform and the skills he will bring to the council if elected. In the meantime, he wants those in the community to get more engaged.
“As queer people all these issues impact us, and we do not dial in the way we should. Some people are overwhelmed; some are apathetic,” he said. “And rightfully so. Our very own government keeps people from participating. They limit public comment during council meetings, holding them at 1 p.m. on Mondays when most people are working and incapable of participating. Even if you are not a political nerd, look for ways to get involved. Find something that makes you passionate.”
Editor’s Note: The Reckoning will profile several Black openly LGBTQ+ candidates running for office in the city of Atlanta during this election season. Be sure to check back to learn more about the candidates and their platforms each week leading up to November 2.
Mashaun D. Simon is an equity and inclusion advocate who centers his preaching, writing, and scholarship on cultural competency, identity, and equity.
He has written for NBC News and the Atlanta Daily World, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Black Enterprise, Bloomberg News, TheGrio.com, Ebony Magazine, BelieveOutLoud.com, and Essence Magazine. He has also created and managed cultural competency and affirmative action programming and training and in 2018, Mashaun organized and facilitated Kennesaw State University’s Faith and Sexuality Symposium on behalf of KSU’s Presidential Commission for LGBT Initiatives. In 2021, Mashaun was selected as a member of the inaugural cohort of the Rising Leaders Fellowship.
He holds a professional writing degree from Georgia Perimeter College, a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Kennesaw State University, and a Master of Divinity from Emory University's Candler School of Theology.