HOLLY SPRINGS — A three-term veteran legislator is being challenged by a political newcomer for the newly drawn District 22 House of Representatives seat that includes much of the Holly Springs area.

Rep. Sean Jerguson, 40, a former Holly Springs City Council member, is facing off with Scot Turner, 36, a businessman who is seeking political office for the first time. Both candidates live in Holly Springs.

Turner, who is pursuing a bachelor’s in political science at Kennesaw State University, said he spent 10 years with Hewlett Packard in the company’s Atlanta office before joining his present company, Source Direct, and he now wants to put his job experience to work for the people.

“Today, I run a national team of just under 40 people and am responsible for maintaining many of the Fortune 500’s critical computing environments,” Turner said. “My professional skills blend leadership and outside-the-box troubleshooting skills along with the ability to deal with people in tough situations. These skills would be useful in dealing with the problems faced by our state.”

Jerguson, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kennesaw State, says two words sum him up — proven conservative.

“Over the past several years, I have written and helped pass legislation that protected our Second Amendment rights, expanded tax cuts for small business, protected our children from the exploitation of predators, eliminated the marriage tax penalty, and strengthened our immigration laws,” Jerguson said. “Being a lifelong Cherokee County resident, I know the issues facing our community and have spent my career working to improve the lives of my neighbors.”

Jerguson said the biggest issue facing the district is the economy.

“As a small business owner, I like many of my neighbors have felt the damage of over-regulation strangulating business.” Jerguson

said. “As a legislator, I continue to champion initiatives to reduce regulation to free entrepreneurs in our area to do what they do best — grow businesses and grow jobs.”

Turner said battle over the education issues is the biggest problem facing the county.

“I think our community has become polarized over the education issue. Groups have been labeled and pitted against each other, and it has caused a rift in our community,” Turner said. “We need our leadership to recognize the common ground between differing views. Our legislators have been misplaced priorities regarding spending programs, and as a member of the legislature I will fight wasteful spending to free up dollars for the necessary roles of government.”

Turner is married and the father of two children.

Jerguson is also married with two children.