Warner Robins youth minister announces state Senate run

Warner Robins youth minister Vivian Childs says she is running for a state Senate seat in an upcoming special election.

Childs said she wants to use the office to fight for the people.

“We are the people. This office doesn’t belong to an individual, it belongs to the people,” she said in a written statement after her formal announcement in Warner Robins on Monday morning.

Childs, also an author and a GOP activist, has previously run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

She is the third declared Republican candidate in the race so far. Kathleen businessman Larry Walker III announced his bid last week, as did Perry businessman Michael Reece.

State Senate District 20 covers most of Houston County plus all of Bleckley, Laurens and Pulaski counties.

The winner of the election will fill the roughly one year remaining in the term of state Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry. He will retire at the end of this month due to health reasons.

The state has yet to set the special election date or qualifying deadline.

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 9:57 PM with the headline "Warner Robins youth minister announces state Senate run ."