Georgia Elections 2010
Follow developments in the 2010 Georgia races from Governor on down
2010 is election year in Georgia! All statewide constitutional officers, one PSC commission seat, one Supreme Court Judgeship, all 56 Senate seats and all 180 House seats, as well as lots of local elected offices are on the ballot. This page of the Common Cause site will track developments pertaining to the 2010 election.
We'll try and point out the serious and the silly as we track progress throughout the year.
August 9, 2010 Primary runoff in one day
Our August 10 runoff will allow statewide voters to choose party candidates for four statewide offices. Four Republican and one Democratic statewide runoff race will be decided tomorrow. In addition, four congressional primary contests have runoffs along with thirteen legislative races Of all those on the 8/10 statewide ballot, gubernatorial candidates Deal and Handel have both said Yes to Common Cause Georgia's 2 question ethics poll along with both Democratic Secretary of State candidates Bruckner and Sinkfield, and Republican A/G candidate Sam Olens. To see all candidate responses, click here.
August 3, 2010 Primary runoff is just around the corner
Going back to the polls on August 10th? Don't expect long lines. Turnout is usually dismal, but maybe there will be some excitement around this year's race that will get voters back. Handel vs. Deal is the high profile run-off race, anm there are four congressional races with run-offs, all Republican contests. The race for The 9th Congressional (Deal's old seat) features Tom Graves trying to knock off Lee Hawkins for the 4th time in three months. (Hawkins deserves the prize for persistence!) A few Georgia legislative races have runoffs. We encourage you to go back to the polls on August 10. Don't let a small minority decide who runs.
In Georga, you must vote in the same party runoff as you voted in the primary (if you did vote in the primary). Georgia is not a state where you can switch over between primary and runoff, like you can in Alabama, where analysts say orchestrated Democratic crossover votes in their runoff helped underdog Robert Bentley win the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
Click here to see the full slate of runoff candidates around Georgia.
July 21, 2010 Change at the top? Maybe, but not in the Legislature
Primary day has finally come and gone, but the TV ads continue. Barnes will face Handel or Deal in November, and the field has narrowed for all the statewide races with so many candidates. In addition to the Governor's race, run-offs will be needed to choose Republican candidates for Insurance Commissioner, Attorney General, and Public Service Commissioner. Democrats running for Secretary of State will need a run-off to decide that candidate.
While competition for statewide office seems robust, that's not true in the General Assembly. Gerrymandered districts means very little competition between the parties, so we must look to challenges within the party if we the voters are to have the opportunity to unseat a member of the Georgia Legislature. When measured in that light, we must think they are doing "a heckuva job." Here's a report card on in-party challenges for seats in the Georgia General Assembly.
- Out of 180 House districts, there were 29 primary challenges to incumbents.
- Twenty five of those incumbents won re-nomination yesterday.
- Three other incumbents got the most votes, but will face an August run-off.
- One sitting Rep, Democrat Don Wix of Cobb County, lost to newcomer David Wilkerson.
- Eight incumbent Senators (out of 56 districts) faced a primary opponent yesterday.
- Seven won re-nomination.
- John Wiles (R-Cobb County) lost to Lindsey Tippens, who will face no Democratic opponent in November.
Be it tea party anger or other often-quoted voter frustration with government, none of that seems to have been expressed in turnover. There will be no significant change in makeup of the Georgia General Assembly next year.
To see all election results from the 7/20 primary, click here.
May 25, 2010 Open seats in General Assembly with only one candidate?
While it's understandable that the candidates relish a race without opposition, we like to see competition. It forces the candidates to engage with the people, and ask for their vote. Even with all the wackiness in campaigns, at the end of the day, a challenged campaign delivers a public official to office whose steel has been tempered on the forge of the election process, and that strengthens representative democracy. Over half the Georgia House seats are gong unchallenged this year. Even with some open seats, we see only one candidate. Former Atlanta City Councilwoman Gloria Bromell Tinubu is the only candidate who qualified to take the House District 60 seat being vacated by Georganna Sinkfield, who is running for Secretary of State. In a really weird development, Kevin Levitas, HD 82 incumbent, qualified to run and withdrew a few days later. As we reported earlier, that left no one on the ballot. Scott Holcomb, who ran for Secretary of State in 2006, has qualified for a special primary for HD 82 and will likely be elected without opposition unless an independent candidate comes in later. For more on HD82, click here. Both of these districts are considered safe for Democrats.
There are a few districts where there is actual competition between the two major parties. One of those is HD 34, where Republican Rich Golick always faces a Democrat in November. This year it's a celebrity of sorts. Democrat Maryline Blackburn was Miss Alaska in 1984, edging out none other than Sarah Palin for the crown. Blackburn, who is African-American, has lived in Georgia for over twenty years and is, like Palin, an attractive woman. Her candidacy may add some interest to an otherwise low-key House race. To read more about that, click here.
Over in the Georgia Senate, veteran Don Balfour faces opposition for the first time in years. He pulled a Now-I'm in-now-I'm-out routine with the 7th Congressional District race (John Lindner's seat). He said at one point not only was he withdrawing from the federal race, he wasn't even going back to the State Senate. That caused several people, including state Rep David Casas, to jump in, so Balfour, chair of the powerful Senate Rules Committee, will have to fight for his seat this time. His war chest of over $700, 000 should be of some help in that respect. To see where Balfour and all the candidates get their money, go to Common Cause's Money Watch site
May 18, 2010 And then there was one
Another shocker on Monday, May 17, when Georgia State School Superintendent Kathy (with a K) Cox announced that she is dropping out of the race for re-election to a third term. Cox had paid her filing fee and qualified on April 29th. Apparently, only a few days later she got an offer she couldn't refuse from the private sector. On July 1, Cox will become head of the Washington-based U.S. Education Delivery Institute, a new company that will advise states on ways to improve student achievement. While she didn't say it, part of her motivation must be financial. Cox and her husband John have filed for bankruptcy as a result of the failure of his home-building business. See the AJC story for more detail on Cox's withdrawal.
Cox's departure leaves Lt. Governor Casey Cagle as the only elected incumbent statewide officer seeking re-election this year. Cagle had announced for Governor and raised $1.4 million in donations for that office, but later withdrew, citing a bad back as the reason. He has no Republican opponent in his race for Lt. Governor, but will face either Democrat Carol Porter of Dublin (wife of House Minority Leader and gubernatorial candidate DuBose Porter) or Tricia McCracken of Augusta in November.
Cox's withdrawal comes on the heels of another unexpected withdrawal the week before. Two term Democratic House Rep. Kevin Levitas of DeKalb County paid his qualifying fee and and withdrew within two weeks. That one presents a bit of a dilemma, as there are no Republicans or Democrats on the primary ballot for that seat. Perdue is required to appoint an interim School Superintendent to complete Cox's term. but House Seat 82 goes unfilled if no independent candidate comes forth next month. To read more on that story click here. All this makes us wonder why so many elected leaders are either choosing not to finish their terms or changing their minds.
May 12, 2010
Special elections held on Tuesday for General Assembly seats produced clear winners in all three contests. Rick Jasperse is now the district 12 Rep (Bartow, Gordon and Pickens Counties). Jason Carter is the new Senator from District 42 (City of Decatur and other parts of DeKalb County). Cecil Miller is the new Senator from District 49 (Hall and Jackson Counties). All three won by wide margins. Carter and Miller dwarfed their opponents in fundraising with big war chests. Jasperse raised just over $20K for his race. Even though there is very little for them to do in their new official capacity, they have earned the right to be the incumbents in the upcoming primary and general elections. In some cases, they may need to beat their special election opponents again to get elected and actually serve. The race for Congressman Deal's seat will require a runoff between former state rep Tom Graves and former Senator Lee Hawkins. One of them will get to go to Washington for a few months until the "real election" in the fall decides who will serve the full term. Consult Common Cause Georgia's Money Watch to see who's funding state races.
May 10, 2010
Special Elections are being held tomorrow for two State Senate posts (the 42nd, David Adelman's old seat and the 49th, Lee Hawkins' old seat) plus one House seat (the 12th, Tom Graves' old seat). Both Hawkins and Graves resigned their legislative posts to run for Nathan Deal's Congressional seat, which is also on the ballot tomorrow. Six Republicans, One Democrat, and one independent are vying to succeed Deal, who resigned Congress to run for Governor. Look for at least run-off in the congressional race. Whoever wins these four races will only serve through year end, so in parallel, all four races are queued up to be on the primary ballot in July, with many of the same candidates running then as well. Of all the players in this round robin office swapping rodeo, only Adelman is leaving elected office for sure. He's going to Singapore, where the elections are probably easier to understand than they are in Georgia. If you wanted an argument for changing the law to allow some seats to be left vacant for a while or interim appointments, this story makes the case.
May 5, 2010
Happy Cinco de Mayo! The qualification period for candidates for the two major parties closed at noon last Friday. It's been a long time since so many constitutional offices were up for grabs. Of all the statewide offices, only three offices have incumbents running, and one of those, Brian Kemp, was never elected to his job as Secretary of State. Perdue appointed Kemp late last year when Secretary of State Karen Handel stepped down to devote full time to running for Governor. State School Superintendent Kathy Cox (she of Are you smarter than a fifth grader? fame) and Lt. Governor Casey Cagle are the only true incumbents in the race for constitutional office. Attorney General Thurbert Baker and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine are both running for Governor. Labor Commissioner Mike Thurmond is challenging Johnny Isakson for the US Senate seat. and Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irwin is finally retiring after ten (that's right - ten) terms. Governor Perdue is term limited, so his seat is open, and it has created a virtual stampede for the job. Seven Republicans, seven Democrats, one Libertarian and some Independents are all expected on the ballot. Lt. Governor Cagle, who would have been Perdue's logical successor, announced earlier that he was running for Governor, then announced that because of back surgery he was pulling out of that race, but staying in the race for Lt. Governor. That caused confusion as long time Senate Republican leader Eric Johnson had jumped into the race for Lt. Governor, but changed his mind when faced with running against Cagle, and opted instead to run for the big job. There were a few late game changes before qualification. Rep Austin Scott pulled out of the Governor's race, and is instead challenging Jim Marshall for his Congressional seat. Ray Boyd was denied ballot access by the Republican Party because he would not sign their loyalty oath. He is now busy collecting over 50,000 signatures to run as an independent. Confused? We can understand. To see who's running for what, all in one place, plus how much money they have raised, and who is giving to the campaigns, consult Common Cause Georgia's Money Watch throughout the long campaign slog.