Republicans swept to victories in all the statewide offices Tuesday’s ballot except U.S. senator, keeping Democrats shut out for the fourth straight four-year cycle on the state level, despite Democrats’ breakthrough on the federal level in 2020.
Republicans also maintained their majorities in Georgia’s legislature on a day when all 180 House seats and all 56 Senate seats were up for election. Republicans won 33 Senate seats, while in the House, they won 98 seats and were leading in three other races that The Associated Press had not yet called Wednesday.
Republican incumbents defended four statewide offices. Attorney General Chris Carr beat Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan and Libertarian Martin Cowen. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger beat Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen and Libertarian Ted Metz. State School Superintendent Richard Woods defeated Democrat Alisha Thomas Searcy. Insurance Commissioner John King beat Democrat Janice Laws Robinson.
Three Republican state senators won the other downballot statewide offices. Burt Jones will preside over the state Senate as the next lieutenant governor after overcoming Democrat Charlie Bailey and Libertarian Ryan Graham. Tyler Harper was elected agriculture commissioner against Democrat Nakita Hemingway and Libertarian David Raudabaugh. Bruce Thornton will be the next labor commissioner after defeating Democratic state Rep. William Boddie and Libertarian Emily Anderson.
Democrats recruited their strongest statewide field in a decade, with nominees that drew national notice, including state Nguyen, who sought to leverage her party’s outrage over Georgia’s restrictive voting law to raise money nationwide, and Jordan, who ran for attorney general after a raising her profile as a defender of abortion rights.