‘Please Sit Down Somewhere!’: Former Georgia Sheriff Who Served Prison Time Over Inmate Abuse Announces Run for Seat Once Held By John Lewis While on Probation
In a weird way, the biggest perceived roadblocks to former Clayton County, Georgia, Sheriff Victor Hill’s just-announced run for Congress could end up being political assets.
The president is a convicted felon, after all. Hill was convicted in 2022 on federal civil rights charges for violating detainees’ constitutional rights by ordering that they be held, without justification, in a restraint chair for hours. Hill was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after being found guilty of violating inmates’ civil rights.
Like the president, Hill blamed his conviction on political opponents. And, also like Trump, Hill remains popular among a significant portion of the electorate.
“When you talk to Clayton County residents, there’s mixed reactions about Victor Hill,” Tharon Johnson, a Democratic political strategist with Paramount Consulting Group, told Fox 5 Atlanta. “A lot of them respect him. A lot of them think that he did a phenomenal job as sheriff and as state rep when he was there. But also, some folks think that he was a distraction and there was some controversy surrounding him. It’ll be very interesting for him to articulate to the public why he wants to now reenter political life as a congressional candidate.”
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Some voters won’t need much convincing.
“He’s a very active and fearless person,” Clayton resident Aso Odus told Fox 5 Atlanta. “That’s what I love so much about him.”
On social media, potential constituents were less open to Hill’s candidacy.
“This isn’t in jail! What is happening here?! Ikyfl Victor Hill, please sit down somewhere,” wrote one woman on X.
Added another, “Victor Hill crazy af lmao he need to gone.”
Hill, who is out of prison and is currently serving the remainder of his sentence on probation, broke the news Tuesday on his podcast, saying he will challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams for the Democratic nomination in the 5th District Congressional seat once held by the late John Lewis.
The veteran lawman said he’ll tack to the middle if elected as part of a yet-unseen “problem-solving caucus” in Congress.
“It’s where Democrats and Republicans sit down together and see what can we agree on, what can we work on,” Hill said. “I think we know what we don’t agree on… but what can we get done? And that’s what I’m interested in accomplishing while I’m there and that’s what I’m interested in being a part of.”
Hill said reforming prisons and criminal sentencing would be a major part of his platform as he runs for one of Georgia’s most traditionally progressive seats. That may play well with Democratic voters, but referencing Donald Trump as “a victim” of politically based prosecutions almost certainly will not.
“I think if there’s ever a time, where we can address these issues, grand juries, convicted felons or whatever. We have people in power now that have been victims of lawfare, up to including the president, who ran as a convicted felon,” Hill said. “And if we can’t agree on anything else, we can at least agree on this and get this done.”
Those comments reflect an apparent shift in philosophy by Hill, who called himself “The Crime Fighter” in his campaigns and was known to run one of the toughest jails in the metro Atlanta area.
Hill previously was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and a $1,000 fine for the 2015 shooting of a female real estate agent at a model home in Gwinnett County. He pleaded no contest; both Hill and the victim described the shooting as an accident.