Cynthia McKinney received 51% of the vote yesterday in the Democratic primary out of a field of six candidates. Because she got over 50% of the vote there will not be a runoff.

There have been two A.N.S.W.E.R. activists from Chicago down in Georgia working on her campaign for the past month. Cynthia McKinney pointed out in the phone scripts she gave to volunteers that " she had questioned the war prior to being defeated in 2002 and she planned to support the troops by working to bring them home NOW if re-elected".

The following is a statement from A.N.S.W.E.R. issued prior to the primary yesterday:


ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS SUPPORT CYNTHIA MCKINNEY
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition supports the work of all those activists who are standing in defense of Cynthia McKinney. McKinney's ouster from Congress was the direct result of a violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was enacted with the intent of allowing Black voters their candidate of choice. Cynthia McKineey today is running in the election to reclaim her seat in Congress. A primary is scheduled for July 20. Grassroots anti-war organizers and activists from around the country are standing with Cynthia McKinney, who in the recent years has been an outstanding spokesperson in the mass anti-war movement against the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and in support of the riights of the Palestinian people.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has received the following statement from Bill Massey, a volunteer organizer with A.N.S.W.E.R. and one of the leaders of the anti-war movement in Chicago, who is currently in Georgia. Massey was a participant in the Civil Rights movement, and was jailed with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Albany Georgia in 1962.

Massey writes: "Cynthia McKinney has filed a lawsuit challenging the results of the 2002 elections that forced her out of Congress. It maintains that the block vote of white voters in her Congressional primary election was tatamount to the "white primaries" (outlawed by the Supreme Court in the 1940s), and in clear violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, denying Black voters their candidate of choice.

"McKinney was ousted from her Congressional seat in an unprecedented storming of the Democratic primary by 48,000 Republican voters, who by Georgia's law are allowed to crossover and vote in the Democratic primary. It was these 48,000 overwhelmingly white voters who determined the recent election.

"I came here to support Cynthia McKinney because she has been the anti-war voice in Congress that has called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. She has stood up for the government of Zimbabwe against U.S. and British imperialism, and has been a voice of support for the needs of the Palestinian people. Another reason for my support and presence here is to fight against the bigotry of white racism. Cynthia McKinney has been a leader of the anti-war movement both nationally and internationally, and her election will be seen as a victory by all progressive forces around the world."

"Cynthia McKinney has been a supporter of the reparations movement for the victims of the African slave trade, both here and abroad. She also has the endorsement of the Georgia AFL-CIO for her aggressive support for the rights of unions and all working people. As a member of the House's Armed Services Committee, she has been a longtime opponent of militarism and military spending, demanding instead that that money be used for poor and working people."