Georgia's 8th Congressional District election, 2024

	2026 → ← 2022
Georgia's 8th Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: March 8, 2024
	Primary: May 21, 2024; Primary runoff: June 18, 2024; General: November 5, 2024; General runoff: December 3, 2024
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Voting in Georgia
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Solid Republican; DDHQ and The Hill: Safe Republican; Inside Elections: Solid Republican; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
	Georgia's 8th Congressional District; 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th; Georgia elections, 2024; U.S. Congress elections, 2024; U.S. Senate elections, 2024; U.S. House elections, 2024; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Georgia 2024 elections

U.S. House • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Recalls • All other local • How to run for office

All U.S. House districts, including the 8th Congressional District of Georgia, held elections in 2024. The general election was November 5, 2024. The primary was May 21, 2024, and a primary runoff was June 18, 2024. A general runoff was December 3, 2024. The filing deadline was March 8, 2024.

This race was one of 75 races in 2024 that was a rematch of the 2022 election. In 2024, Democrats won 39 of these matches, while Republicans won 36 of them. Democrats won 38 of those districts in 2022, and Republicans won 37.

The outcome of this race affected the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 119th Congress. All 435 House districts were up for election.

At the time of the election, Republicans held a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.^[1] As a result of the election, Republicans retained control of the U.S. House, winning 220 seats to Democrats' 215.^[2] To read more about the 2024 U.S. House elections, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Republican candidate won 68.6%-31.4%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Donald Trump (R) would have defeated Joe Biden (D) 63.3%-35.7%.^[3]

Georgia conducted redistricting between the 2022 and 2024 elections. As a result, district lines in this state changed. To review how redistricting took place in Georgia and to see maps of the new districts, click here. For a list of all states that drew new district lines between 2022 and 2024, click here.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Georgia District 8

Incumbent Austin Scott defeated Darrius Butler in the general election for U.S. House Georgia District 8 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Austin Scott (R)	68.9	231,547
	Darrius Butler (D)	31.1	104,434

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 335,981
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Justin Laster (D)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 8

Darrius Butler defeated Vinson Watkins in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 8 on May 21, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Darrius Butler	71.6	15,755
	Vinson Watkins	28.4	6,236

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,991
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Justin Laster (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 8

Incumbent Austin Scott advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 8 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Austin Scott	100.0	59,537

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,537
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Darrius Butler

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography: "I have always seen politics as an opportunity to fight for my community. It’s a calling that has become more clear with each passing year. The death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 sparked a fire within me. I became an organizer with the NAACP, and threw myself into service. As a history teacher I kept hearing how my students and their families were struggling with the cost of groceries, gas, and rent. So I jumped in to serve. I joined the board of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club and got into the family business – ministry. I’ve been an associate minister for almost a decade, preaching at churches across Georgia. I co-founded a non-profit with my mother, which helps families find affordable housing in rural Georgia."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Our communities are full of stories of people who have reached out to the congressional office for help and never heard back. Our families and neighbors get left hanging by the person we elected to stand up for us. Instead of disappearing into the swamp of Washington DC, I will focus on showing up, listening to the people of South Georgia, and finding resources to solve our problems.

Life is getting more expensive, and good paying jobs are harder and harder to find. Grocery prices and housing costs are rising. Parents are watching their children leave town to make a life somewhere else because it’s too hard here. We are a region of working class families who are tired of being screwed by corporate criminals, international special interests, and politicians who make special deals for them but think it’s “too political” to stand up for us.

There are counties in our district with no primary care doctor or no emergency room. Average emergency response times are between 11 and 20 minutes (it should be 4-8 minutes). Addiction and mental health disorders are on the rise. There have been 8 mass shootings in Georgia in the last decade alone. Instead of taking money from insurance companies, drug companies, and gun lobbyists, I will tackle these harms head on.

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Georgia District 8 in 2024.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Georgia

Election information in Georgia: Nov. 5, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

In-person: Oct. 7, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Oct. 7, 2024
Online: Oct. 7, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

Yes

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: Oct. 25, 2024
By mail: Received by Oct. 25, 2024
Online: Oct. 25, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: Nov. 5, 2024
By mail: Received by Nov. 5, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Oct. 15, 2024 to Nov. 1, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (EST)

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Expand all | Collapse all

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/darriusbutler2024.png

Darrius Butler (D)

Our communities are full of stories of people who have reached out to the congressional office for help and never heard back. Our families and neighbors get left hanging by the person we elected to stand up for us. Instead of disappearing into the swamp of Washington DC, I will focus on showing up, listening to the people of South Georgia, and finding resources to solve our problems.

Life is getting more expensive, and good paying jobs are harder and harder to find. Grocery prices and housing costs are rising. Parents are watching their children leave town to make a life somewhere else because it’s too hard here. We are a region of working class families who are tired of being screwed by corporate criminals, international special interests, and politicians who make special deals for them but think it’s “too political” to stand up for us.

There are counties in our district with no primary care doctor or no emergency room. Average emergency response times are between 11 and 20 minutes (it should be 4-8 minutes). Addiction and mental health disorders are on the rise. There have been 8 mass shootings in Georgia in the last decade alone. Instead of taking money from insurance companies, drug companies, and gun lobbyists, I will tackle these harms head on.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Darrius Butler (D)

Infrastructure

Voting Rights and elections Civil rights Worker protections and wages Small businesses Agriculture Green economy and the environment Education Housing Healthcare Public safety Senior rights and protections

Veterans rights and protections

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Darrius Butler (D)

In my family, service was not optional. Being raised in a family of pastors and law enforcement, I learned early on that our highest duty is to help others. When I passed someone shivering on the street, I was taught to give my coat. When I saw a person struggling to hold it together, I was raised to share their burden. And that’s how I’ve lived my life – with a spirit of ministry. When I see a situation where I can help – I help. And while we all have our own vision’s for our community, I know I’ll never be callous in the face of suffering, and I’ll never turn my back on someone who needs my help. I promise to serve my community with an open heart and a helping hand for everyone who calls the 8th District home. From Macon to Moultrie, from Valdosta to Milledgeville, know that I will fight for you with everything I have.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

Darrius Butler (D)

I met with a family that desperately needed housing. They’d been living in a roach-filled single motel room since the parents had lost their jobs in the COVID pandemic. Even with part time work, they were struggling to find a place for them and their three children. And they weren’t the only ones. This motel was so full of needy families that the school even put a bus stop in front of the motel to take the kids to school. So many families hit hard times and kept sliding downwards, with no support system. I jumped to help, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I knew I needed more help, and started reaching out to government officials. I met with government agencies and representatives from the city council on up, all the way to our current Congressman. Exhausted and at my breaking point, I begged his office for a lifeline. I told them how this family was suffering, they couldn’t afford to wait any longer and asked what options I had to help them. What I heard back shocked me. They told me this wasn’t Congressman Scott’s problem, because he was “too busy fighting Joe Biden…” And that was it. I went back to that family, and had to tell them their Congressman didn’t give a damn about them. I’ve never felt more powerless, or more angry. Our public officials have resources, they have connections. A simple phone call from Congressman Scott could have changed this family’s life. But he simply didn’t care. He was too busy playing partisan politics.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Darrius Butler (D)

Virgil Watkins, Jr. Macon-Bibb County Commissioner District 8. Angelyne Butler, Forest Park Mayor. Jack Ellis, Former Macon Mayor. John Howard, Former Forsyth Mayor. Willie Burns, Former Washington Mayor. Olivia Coley-Pearson, Former Douglas City Commissioner Ward 3. Mary Ann Whipple Lou, Former Mayor of Gordon. American Youth for Climate Action. Vote Pro Choice.

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Austin Scott	Republican Party	$1,239,045	$989,842	$980,166	As of December 31, 2024
Darrius Butler	Democratic Party	$16,292	$16,292	$0	As of December 31, 2024
Vinson Watkins	Democratic Party	$5,433	$5,253	$181	As of May 1, 2024
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[4]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Race ratings: Georgia's 8th Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 5, 2024	October 29, 2024	October 22, 2024	October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican	Solid Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican	Safe Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Georgia in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Georgia, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Georgia	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party	N/A	$5,220.00	3/8/2024	Source
Georgia	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	27,992^[8]	$5,220.00	7/9/2024	Source

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district before and after redistricting ahead of the 2024 election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below is the district map used in the 2022 election next to the map in place for the 2024 election. Click on a map below to enlarge it.

2022

2024

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Georgia.

Georgia U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Year	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	14	14	1	54	28	8	4	42.9%	3	23.1%
2022	14	14	2	82	28	8	9	60.7%	8	61.5%
2020	14	14	3	77	28	8	8	57.1%	5	45.5%
2018	14	14	0	48	28	8	5	46.4%	5	35.7%
2016	14	14	1	44	28	2	7	32.1%	5	38.5%
2014	14	14	3	49	28	3	8	39.3%	5	45.5%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Georgia in 2024. Information below was calculated on April 2, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Fifty-five candidates ran for Georgia’s 14 U.S. House districts, including 30 Democrats and 25 Republicans. That’s 3.9 candidates per district, lower than the 5.9 candidates per district in 2022 and the 5.5 in 2020.

This was the first election to take place after Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) signed revised congressional maps into law on Dec. 8, 2023.

The 3rd Congressional District was the only open district in 2024, meaning no incumbents filed to run. That’s one less than in 2022, when two seats were open. There were three open seats in 2020, none in 2018, one in 2016, and three in 2014.

Incumbent Drew Ferguson (R-3rd) did not run for re-election because he retired from public office.

As a result of redistricting in Georgia, two incumbents ran for re-election in different districts than the ones they represented. Lucy McBath (D-7th) ran in the 6th Congressional District and Rich McCormick (R-6th) ran in the 7th Congressional District.

Nine candidates—seven Democrats and two Republicans—ran for the 13th Congressional District, the most candidates that ran for a seat in 2024.

Twelve primaries—eight Democratic and four Republican—were contested in 2024. Seventeen primaries were contested in 2022, 16 primaries were contested in 2020, and 13 were in 2018.

Three incumbents—two Democrats and one Republican—were in contested primaries, the fewest this decade.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all 14 districts, meaning no seats were guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+16. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 16 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Georgia's 8th the 70th most Republican district nationally.^[9]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Georgia's 8th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
35.7%	63.3%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.^[10] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
33.9	65.1	R+31.2

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Georgia, 2020

Georgia presidential election results (1900-2020)

20 Democratic wins
10 Republican wins
1 other win

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	AI^[11]	R	D	D	R	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	D

See also: Party control of Georgia state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Georgia's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Georgia
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	5	7
Republican	0	9	9
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	14	16

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Georgia's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Georgia, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Brian Kemp
Lieutenant Governor	Burt Jones
Secretary of State	Brad Raffensperger
Attorney General	Chris Carr

State legislature

Georgia State Senate

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	23
	Republican Party	32
	Other	0
	Vacancies	1
Total		56

Georgia House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	78
	Republican Party	100
	Independent	0
	Other	0
	Vacancies	2
Total		180

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Georgia Party Control: 1992-2024
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.