Garrett Michael Hayes

Who is Garrett Michael Hayes?

Garrett Michael Hayes is a U.S. politician from Georgia. He was the Libertarian Party of Georgia's candidate for governor in both 2002 and 2006.

He was born in California to screenwriter John Michael Hayes and Mildred "Mel" Hayes. Garrett was raised in Maine and moved back to California in 1969, where he later attended Beverly Hills High School and California State College at Bakersfield. He moved to Georgia in 1991 and currently serves as the secretary of the Cobb County Libertarian Party.

After serving in a number of roles with the both county and state Libertarian organizations in Georgia, Hayes sought and won the party nomination for governor in 2002 and again in 2006. Hayes received 2.3% of the vote in 2003 and 3.8% of the vote in 2006.

In his second run at office, Hayes set several benchmarks for third party politics in the state, beginning with being the first Libertarian to run twice for governor. Hayes’s campaign was the first Libertarian gubernatorial campaign to produce and run television advertisements in Georgia.