Voters will decide Nov. 2 the race for the 8th Congressional District — a race that could decide whether Democrats will continue to hold the majority or give it up to the Republicans.

Jim Marshall, a Democrat from Macon, is serving his fourth term in Congress. He is being challenged by Austin Scott, a Republican from Ashburn who served 14 years in the Georgia General Assembly.

Both Marshall and Scott are considered moderately conservative and polls are indicating it’s a tight race.

Georgia’s 8th Congressional District is mostly rural and covers 21 counties that stretch south through middle and south Georgia from Atlanta’s suburbs.

Marshall, who is serving his fourth term in Congress, is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam tour. He graduated from Princeton in 1972, attended law school at Boston University and graduated from law school in 1977. He worked several jobs before joining the Mercer University Law School faculty in 1979. He served as mayor of Macon from 1995 until 1999.

He serves on the House Armed Serves and Agriculture committees and previously on t he Financial Services Committee.  Marshall, 62, and his wife, Camille, reside in Macon. The couple have two children, Mary, who is a recent graduate of Princeton University, and Robert, who attends Princeton University.

Scott graduated from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and opened an independent insurance brokerage in Tifton, which he continues to operate today. He has served as chairman of the House Governmental Affairs Committee, the Appropriations Committee, the Rules Committee and the Ways and Means Committee.

Scott, 40, and his wife, Vivien, live in Ashburn. Scott has a son, Wells, who is 10.

Marshall said in a recent interview that he is seeking re-election to the seat for the same reason he ran initially “to help people and the country.”

“We deal with very important issues for the country, both now and in the future,” Marshall said. “It is a privilege for me to have the opportunity to do that.”

Scott said he wants to win the seat and serve because he can relate to the difficulties people are facing in a tough economy.

“I share people’s frustrations,” Scott said. “I want to make sure we leave a better America for our children.”

Scott announced last year that he was running for governor. In late April, he announced that he would seek Marshall’s seat in Congress. When asked why he changed races, Scott said that it was important for Republicans to pick up 39 seats to “serve as a back stop for Obama’s agenda.”

“Vivien and I made the decision that Congress was the right race,” Scott said.

Scott said that his “Walk Across Georgia” was worth it because he talked with people of all walks of life and heard various opinions on topics of concern and interest to constituents.

Scott has criticized Marshall for voting for Democrat Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House in 2007. Marshall said recently during an interview that  “Pelosi has never been my choice” and that in each instance he did vote for her, his candidate of choice withdrew because Pelosi already had the votes.

“It would make absolutely no sense for me to stick my thumb in her eye,” Marshall said. “She had the votes already.”

Marshall denies having anything to do with Macon Attorney Carmel Sander’s request on behalf of Amy Morton, a Democratic Party activist and blogger from Macon, to have Scott’s 2001 divorce papers unsealed. He said the action did not come about on his or his staff’s instruction. Scott’s divorce from Annette Leigh Scott was final in 2001. Scott has called the request to unseal the records of the divorce “an act of desperation by a person who is getting beaten on his voting record.”

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.