Ray McKinney is a true son of Southeast Georgia.

Raised in Effingham County, Ray’s father, a blue-collar truck driver, taught him the rural American tradition of hunting and fishing. After restoring an old pickup to use as his first car, Ray learned to drive when there were just two lights in Springfield, Georgia, and one of them only blinked. There he learned the value of hard work and was acquainted with traditional values such as love for God and country.

Ray met his wife of 26 years, Lisa, in Florida, but they chose to make their home in Effingham County when he took a job at Gulfstream Aerospace. With humble beginnings as a fork-lift driver, Ray left Gulfstream as a skilled craftsman in 1985 to become a machinist at a nuclear and chemical servicing company, where he was rewarded for his work ethic, climbing the ladder to become the multi-million-dollar company’s vice president.

Ray’s success took him to the big city. He and Lisa became Chatham County homeowners and taxpayers in 1989, and they became a part of the success of west Chatham County — the fastest-growing area in all of Georgia. Ray saw first-hand that the American dream is attainable and hard work does pay off.

Witnessing out-of-control government spending and soaring federal deficits in 2007, Ray began what would be a two-year mission to bring grassroots concerns to the attention of the Republican Party. Local leaders asked Ray to step up and declare his candidacy in the 2008 congressional GOP primary in Georgia’s 12th district.

After finishing a notable second in a three-way primary, in which Ray was outspent by a large margin and had no establishment endorsements, Ray began working from within the party to affect common sense change. He became a district and state GOP committee member and was elected to represent his peers as a delegate to his district, state and national conventions. When no viable candidates came forward in the race to defeat vulnerable incumbent Congressman John Barrow in 2010, local leaders again asked Ray to declare his candidacy for Congress.

Answering the call of service of his country, Ray is ready to get the job done.

Ray, a devoted husband and proud father and grandfather, now resides in Lyons, Georgia, on the McKinney family farm.