ATLANTA — Republicans were seeking to hold their majorities in Georgia's legislature and maintain their lock on statewide offices as voting concluded Tuesday, even as Democrats competed heavily for races at the top of the ballot.
Republicans won the majority in the Senate when several Democrats switched parties after the 2002 elections and won the majority in the House in 2004. Heading into Tuesday's election, Republicans have a 103-76 majority in the House after Democrat Henry “Wayne” Howard of Augusta died in October. In the Senate, Republicans hold a 34-22 majority.
All 180 House seats and 56 Senate seats were up for election. In the Senate, 15 Republicans and 14 Democrats were unopposed. In the House, 49 Republicans and 42 Democrats were unopposed.
Republicans also hold all seven of the other statewide offices besides governor and U.S. senator that are on the ballot Tuesday.
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Republicans had incumbents defending four statewide offices. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger successfully won reelection against state Rep. Bee Nguyen and Libertarian Ted Metz. State School Superintendent Richard Woods faced Democrat Alisha Thomas Searcy. Insurance Commissioner John King was running against Democrat Janice Laws Robinson.
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 state Sen. Jen Jordan, who ran for attorney general after a raising her profile as a defender of abortion rights.
Republicans also nominated state senators for the three other statewide positions. Burt Jones was running for lieutenant governor against Democrat Charlie Bailey and Libertarian Ryan Graham. Tyler Harper was running for agriculture commissioner against Democrat Nakita Hemingway and Libertarian David Raudabaugh. Bruce Thornton was running for labor commissioner against Democratic state Rep. William Boddie and Libertarian Emily Anderson.
Democrats were hoping to gain in the General Assembly after redistricting. Fair Districts Georgia, a group that opposes gerrymandering, projected that Republicans had the advantage in 98 of the new state House districts drawn by a Republican majority last year, while Democrats had the advantage in 82 districts.
In the Senate, Fair District Georgia predicted that Democrats might be able to trim the Republican majority by a seat, to 33-23.
Republicans, though, were trying to maintain their majority by holding or taking over several districts that favored Democrats.