Elections in Georgia (U.S. state)

Elections in Georgia are held to fill various state and federal seats. Georgia regular elections are held every even year. The positions being decided each year varies, as the terms of office varies. Special elections are held to fill vacated offices.

History

Following the end of martial law and readmission to the Union during Reconstruction, Georgia was overwhelmingly dominated by the Democratic Party for a hundred years as did many other states of the Confederacy. White voters often perceived the Republican Party as the party of the North standing for Yankee values, growing industrialisation, and an excessively powerful and interfering federal government all arrayed against their localized agricultural society. The abolition of slavery by amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the legacy of an economy damaged by war and social upheaval led many to bitterly oppose a wide variety of national policies.

Elections to the U.S. Congress during this period saw almost exclusively Democratic senators and either totally or almost-totally Democratic House rule. From 1872 to 2002, Georgia voters consistently elected Democrats as governor and Democratic majorities to the state legislature.

Historically, elections at all levels of government in the U.S. state of Georgia was dominated by conservative white Democrats in the period between Reconstruction and the end of the New Deal Coalition. For decades, Republicans were a tiny minority, generally associated with Union military victory at the end of the Civil War. Beginning in the 1950s, the credible enforcement of new laws inspired by the Civil Rights Movement began to steadily erode the preponderance of Democrats in elective office in Georgia. The repeal of Jim Crow laws allowed previously disenfranchised African Americans to vote in elections and be active in politics. As many of these people joined with some white Democrats to work for more immediate liberal and pluralistic policies, a growing number of conservative white Democrats who supported either gradual change or none at all became Republicans, making Georgia politically competitive throughout the late 20th century. By the end of the 1950s, with the strong showing in Georgia by Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1956 presidential race, the Republican Party appeared positioned to gain even more ground in the coming years. The Democratic Party did not carry the state from the 1960 until Jimmy Carter ran for the White House 16 years later.^{[citation needed]}

Beginning with Barry Goldwater's presidential bid in 1964, the Republican Party began making inroads in Georgia. In time, the Republican Party of Georgia would field competitive candidates and win races for seats in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. Widespread migration from northern states to the Atlanta suburbs later permitted Republican candidates to win races for seats in the Georgia General Assembly.^{[citation needed]}

In presidential races, Georgia has given its electoral college votes to the Republican candidate all but four times since 1964: in 1968, segregationist George Wallace won a plurality of Georgia's votes on the American Independent Party ticket; former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter won his home state by landslide margins in 1976 and 1980; and then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton won a plurality of votes in 1992 against incumbent Republican George H. W. Bush and Independent Ross Perot. Republican George W. Bush won Georgia by double-digits in 2000 and 2004, with 54.67% and 57.97%, respectively, of the vote. However, in 2008, John McCain won the state by a narrower margin of only 5 points, winning 52% to Democrat Barack Obama's 47%. In 2012, Mitt Romney won the state with 53% to Obama's 45%.

Jimmy Carter, a politician from Plains and a descendant of Confederate veterans who was elected to the Georgia State Senate twice and later served a term as Governor of Georgia, became the 39th President of the United States after winning the election of 1976.

By 2007, conservative Republicans had become the dominant force in state elections, with Republicans holding the offices of governor and lieutenant governor and significant majorities in both houses of the state General Assembly. U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson are together considered to be one of the most conservative Senate delegations.^{[citation needed]} Since 2005, Georgia's U.S. House delegation has been composed of 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats.^{[citation needed]}

As in many states, Democratic strongholds in Georgia include urban and minority-dominated areas. Democrats typically fare well in cities such as Atlanta, Macon, and Columbus, which have large minority populations, as well as Athens, home of the University of Georgia. The Republican Party dominates state elections through its hold on rural south Georgia, with a very notable exception in the southwestern part of the state; the Appalachian north; and many of Atlanta's suburbs. Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, co-author of the Contract with America and architect of the 1994 "Republican Revolution," was from Cobb County, a conservative suburban Atlanta county.^{[citation needed]}

Modern times

The current Governor of Georgia is Nathan Deal, who was elected as a Republican in 2010, and is now serving his first term of four years. The Lieutenant Governor is Casey Cagle. Other elected state executive officials include Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp, Attorney General Sam Olens, Commissioner of Insurance Ralph Hudgens, and Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox.

The Georgia General Assembly has been controlled by the Republicans since 2002. They have majorities over the Democrats in both the Senate and House of Representatives by margins of 33 to 23 and 101 to 79 respectively as of 2008. In congressional elections, Georgia is now represented in the U.S. Senate by Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, who are both Republicans. The state also sends 13 members to the U.S. House of Representatives, which in 2008 included 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats.

21st century

In the 21st century, many conservative Democrats, including former U.S. Senator and governor Zell Miller, decided to support Republicans.

See also

• Political party strength in Georgia (U.S. state)
• United States Senate election in Georgia, 2010
• Georgia gubernatorial election, 2010
• Georgia gubernatorial election, 1998
• United States Senate election in Georgia, 2008
• United States House of Representatives elections in Georgia, 2008
• Government of Georgia (U.S. state)
• Politics of Georgia (U.S. state)

Presidential elections

• 2004 Presidential Election
• 2008 Presidential Election
• 2012 Presidential Election

Presidential primaries

• 2008 Democratic Primary
• 2008 Republican Primary

References

• Atlas of U.S. Elections

External links

• Elections at the Georgia Secretary of State official website
• Georgia at Ballotpedia