Jason Dickerson is the latest candidate in Georgia’s 21st Senate District to sign onto a plan that would force Congress to face what many voters have long demanded—limits on how long lawmakers can stay in office.
🧭 Why It Matters: It’s a local race, but it taps into a national frustration. With confidence in Congress hovering near historic lows, the idea of term limits continues to draw bipartisan support from voters—and strategic interest from groups hoping to change the Constitution from the outside in.
🧾 What’s Happening: U.S. Term Limits, a nonprofit that wants to rewrite the rules for Congress, is backing a strategy that bypasses Capitol Hill entirely. Instead of waiting for Congress to impose limits on itself, the group is asking state legislatures to do it for them.
- Jason Dickerson becomes the fifth candidate in the special election for Senate District 21 to sign the U.S. Term Limits pledge. Previously, candidates Stephanie Donegan, Lance Calvert, Brian Will and Steve West also signed the pledge.
- The pledge commits candidates to support a resolution calling for an Article V Convention—a rarely used tool that allows state legislatures to propose constitutional amendments without Congress’ approval.
⚖️ Between the Lines: An Article V Convention has never happened. But it’s written into the U.S. Constitution. If 34 state legislatures call for one on the same topic—in this case, congressional term limits—they could force a national convention to draft an amendment. That amendment would still need to be ratified by 38 states to take effect.
- Backers say Congress won’t police itself.
- Critics worry a convention could open the door to other changes—beyond term limits.
📊 The Big Picture: According to Pew Research, 87% of Americans support congressional term limits. It’s one of the few ideas with broad support across party lines.
📢 The Voices:
Nick Tomboulides, who heads U.S. Term Limits, says the pledge is about shifting power away from career politicians and toward what he calls “citizen leadership.”
“More than 87% of Americans have rejected the career politician model,” Tomboulides said. “The way to achieve that goal is through a congressional term limits amendment.”
🗓 What’s Next: The special general election for Georgia Senate District 21 is set for August 26.
🔗 The Sources:
- Press release from U.S. Term Limits
- Pew Research polling on congressional term limits
- U.S. Constitution, Article V
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B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
