CIVPAC endorses Chris Harden, the Democratic nominee, for the U.S. House of Representatives in Georgia’s 11th Congressional District.
We make this endorsement with some reservations about Harden. But we have much deeper reservations about his Republican opponent, John Cowan—reservations that go less to ideology than to character and political independence.
There is an unusual history here: CIVPAC endorsed Cowan in the Republican primary.
In retrospect, we increasingly think we were endorsing the old John Cowan, not the politician John Cowan has become.
We Liked the Old John Cowan
There was a great deal to like about him.
Cowan, a neurosurgeon, challenged Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2020 and openly rejected some of the conspiracy-minded politics surrounding her and Donald Trump. He mocked QAnon as “the religion of Trump devotees.” In 2022, reacting to Trump supporters chanting against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Cowan wrote that what he was watching was no longer conservatism but a “cult movement to stroke the ego of one man.” He also wrote that Trump and Greene could not “go down in political flames fast enough” and contributed to Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger after Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump.
That kind of independence is exactly what CIVPAC has been looking for in Republican candidates.
Unfortunately, Cowan appears to have misplaced it.
During this year’s Republican runoff debate, Cowan was confronted directly with his earlier statements about Trump. He did not dispute them. Instead, he declared: “I’m 100% behind President Trump” and called Trump “the most transformational president of my lifetime.”
Trump subsequently rewarded the conversion. On July 13, he endorsed Cowan as an “America First Patriot” and gave him his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”
People are entitled to change their minds. CIVPAC would be a peculiar organization if we objected whenever a politician reconsidered a position.
But this is different.
Cowan did not merely change his mind about a tariff, a tax rate or an immigration bill. He had reached a judgment about Donald Trump’s character, fitness for leadership and effect on the Republican Party. It was a harsh judgment, but an unusually clear-eyed one.
Now that Cowan wants a political career in a heavily Republican congressional district, those convictions seem to have vanished.
The transformation reminds us uncomfortably of Vice President JD Vance, another intelligent and ambitious politician who once expressed grave doubts about Donald Trump and subsequently reinvented himself as one of Trump’s most devoted defenders.
Cowan is a neurosurgeon. We assume he appreciates the importance of a functioning spine. Unfortunately, his political one appears to have proved remarkably flexible when confronted with the demands of ambition.
That matters to CIVPAC.
We want members of Congress who will sometimes tell a president of their own party no. Cowan once gave every indication that he could be such a Republican. His 2026 campaign gives us little confidence that he still is.
Had the old John Cowan been running in this general election, CIVPAC might very well have endorsed him. We cannot endorse the new one.
Chris Harden Is a Work in Progress
Harden presents almost the opposite problem.
He is not yet an especially polished politician or policy thinker. We think there are subjects on which he has considerably more learning to do.
He does, however, have an appropriate educational and professional background for governing. Harden earned his undergraduate degree at Georgia State University in political science with a minor in history, followed by a law degree from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. He has practiced law for more than a decade and owns a law firm in Woodstock.
That training and experience also seem to have left a useful imprint. Harden’s strong emphasis on due process, equal protection, civil rights, constitutional protections and the rule of law is one of the more developed parts of his political thinking. In the Democratic primary debate, he identified due process and equal protection among the principles on which he would not compromise. His campaign likewise places protecting the Constitution and the rule of law near the center of his case for office.
His politics are also somewhat harder to pigeonhole than the party labels might suggest. Harden describes himself as a moderate Democrat. He is socially liberal, but he has also been quite explicit that he “believe[s] in market solutions.” He argues that government should provide stability and fairness while allowing markets to do much of the work.
That is broadly compatible with CIVPAC’s approach.
Still, we would not pretend that Harden arrives fully formed.
His economic thinking sometimes strikes us as more intuitive than rigorous. He recognizes many of the right problems, particularly affordability, but his proposed solutions do not always reflect the economic sophistication we would prefer.
We are more concerned about foreign policy. Harden’s thinking about America’s role in the world appears underdeveloped. Members of Congress will make decisions involving Ukraine, NATO, China, Iran and American military power. These are not peripheral responsibilities, and good intentions are no substitute for understanding how American power, alliances and deterrence work.
Harden has homework to do.
But knowledge can be acquired.
A freshman member of Congress can hire good staff, listen to people who know more than he does, study unfamiliar issues and revise his views when the evidence warrants it. Indeed, recognizing that one still has things to learn is preferable to the Washington habit of pretending expertise on everything.
And Harden brings something else to the race that we should not undervalue.
He comes across as a decent and principled person.
That counts for something in our eyes.
We do not assume that decency substitutes for competence, or that good intentions necessarily produce good public policy. But character matters in representative government—particularly at a moment when too many members of Congress appear willing to subordinate their own judgment to the demands of a president or a political movement.
That distinction ultimately decides this endorsement.
Chris Harden may be something of a diamond in the rough. He needs seasoning, particularly on economics and international affairs. But we would rather send to Washington someone who still has things to learn than someone who appears to have learned that deeply held principles can be discarded whenever they interfere with political ambition.
CIVPAC endorses Chris Harden for Congress in Georgia’s 11th Congressional District.