Republican Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is officially in the race for Governor. He became the 11th candidate to qualify for that post today at the state capitol.

Amid the bustle of the final day of the session, Oxendine remarked on legislators’ work with transportation funding. Their plan would ask voters during the next presidential election whether they want a penny sales tax for projects in their regions.

"Transportation has been addressed. The solution has been different than a lot of us would have wanted. And I tell you, I’m not going to wait until 2012 and years after that for funding to come in," says Commissioner Oxendine.

Transportation is an issue Oxendine tackled last summer when he publicly revealed his solution to relieve gridlock in the state. It had Atlantans raising their eyebrows because it suggested reviving the very controversial parallel downtown connector considered decades ago. The plan resulted in a legal battle that eventually killed the idea.

Oxendine is one of the leading Republican contenders in the governor’s race, along with US Representative Nathan Deal and former Secretary of State Karen Handel.

Contributors: Susanna Capelouto

Tags: transportation, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, Georgia gubernatorial race 2010