Souther Announces Candidacy for 9th Congressional District

A Former UGA Football star and FBI agent Ben Souther is the first challenger to throw his hat into the ring for the 9th District U.S. Congressional Seat in the 2022 General Election in November.

The 29-year old Souther is running on the Republican ticket and announced his candidacy last week for the newly redrawn 9th Congressional District. The new 9th no longer includes Jackson County where current 9th District Congressman Andrew Clyde lives.

Jackson County has been moved into the 10th Congressional District. Clyde, however, announced his decision to run for re-election for the 9th District in November.

In a video on his Facebook page, Souther said he’s running to combat the current “cancel culture” and ineffective government in Washington.

“We are going to bring common sense back, but we need new leadership to do it,” he said.

According to his campaign website, Souther is a 7th generation North Georgian and a former FBI Special Agent and says in his video that he’s seen first hand how what he calls, the poor decisions in Washington, have affected Georgians.

“This is a battle for our conservative American values. This is a fight for our kids and our way of life,” Souther said. “Together, we will leave this country a better place than we found it.”

Other issues in his platform can be viewed at https://www.southerforcongress.com/issues

As an FBI Agent, Souther was one of the youngest Agents ever selected to the FBI SWAT team in Atlanta.

He aided in locating and recovering a murder victim in Boston, arrested an infamous subject of hit TV series “The First 48”, aided FBI Director Chris Wray’s Protection Detail, and was tapped to join an elite Resident Agency as the lead Special Agent for Violent Crimes Against Children & White-Collar Crimes.

Since leaving the FBI, Souther has started The North Georgia Company with a focus on innovative land and business development.

He has also served on the Emerging Professionals Board at Peach State Bank & Trust in Gainesville, Georgia

Souther graduated from UGA’s Terry College of Business with a degree in Business Administration & a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management & Leadership.

He is also a former University of Georgia football player and was a Graduate Assistant in the University of Georgia Athletic Association. In UGA’s Athletic Association, he worked with the “The Georgia Way program.”

Ben is married to his middle school sweetheart, Kristen, who is a pediatric ICU nurse.

They are former foster parents in the North Georgia Community and have three children: their oldest is Ben Souther II (4-years-old), whom the couple adopted, along with Parks (3-years-old) and Kate (9-months-old).