On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle made his second stop in LaGrange in the last four months. Cagle, who appears to be the frontrunner to be the next governor of Georgia, spoke to a group of supporters about his platform and background.

Just about every poll has Cagle at a double-digit lead in the Republican primary. 

With early voting set to start in the next week, it appears as if he’s destined for a run-off, at worst, in the seven-way battle to represent the Republican Party in November’s general election.

Obviously, that can change quickly. Three years ago at this time, Hillary Clinton appeared to be the front runner for president, and Donald Trump was generally regarded as an afterthought in the Republican primaries. Polls couldn’t have been more wrong on that election.

One thing we can be certain of is Cagle is taking campaigning in LaGrange and Troup County seriously. There’s good reason for that. Troup County has been a Republican stronghold over the last few decades.

Troup County has voted Republican in every gubernatorial election since 1994, including fairly decisive wins for current Gov. Nathan Deal in 2010 and 2014. Trump received 58 percent of the vote in the 2016 presidential election and Mitt Romney received an equal 58 percent of the vote in 2012. 

While we’ve heard a lot from Cagle, we haven’t heard or seen much from other candidates in either of the two parties in Troup County. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp spoke at LaGrange Rotary Club in March, but outside of that, we’ve heard little locally about gubernatorial candidates making a stop in Troup County.

We understand there are 159 counties in Georgia, but we think residents would enjoy a chance to hear from other gubernatorial candidates — from both parties — as well.