Georgia Superintendent of Schools election, 2026

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← 2022
Georgia Superintendent of Schools
Election details
Filing deadline: March 6, 2026
Primary: Pending Primary runoff: Pending General: November 3, 2026 General runoff: Pending
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in Georgia
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2026 Impact of term limits in 2026 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
Georgia executive elections
Governor Lieutenant Governor Attorney General Secretary of State Agriculture Commissioner Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Labor Commissioner Superintendent of Public Instruction Public Service Commission (2 seats)

Georgia is holding an election for superintendent of schools on November 3, 2026.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Fred Longgrear is running in the general election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Fred Longgrear (R)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Candidate profiles

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Voting information

See also: Voting in Georgia

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Past elections

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2014.

2022

See also: Georgia Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2022

General election

General election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Incumbent Richard Woods defeated Alisha Searcy in the general election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Woods (R)	54.2	2,115,728
		Alisha Searcy (D)	45.8	1,788,671

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,904,399
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Alisha Searcy defeated Jaha Howard, James Morrow, and Currey Hitchens in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Alisha Searcy	57.0	382,792
	Submit photo	Jaha Howard	15.0	100,675
		James Morrow	14.6	97,821
		Currey Hitchens	13.5	90,514

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 671,802
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Everton Blair Jr. (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Incumbent Richard Woods defeated John Barge in the Republican primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Woods	72.6	802,260
		John Barge	27.4	302,681

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,104,941
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Georgia Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2018

General election

General election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Incumbent Richard Woods defeated Otha Thornton in the general election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Woods (R)	53.0	2,048,003
		Otha Thornton (D)	47.0	1,814,461

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,862,464
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Otha Thornton defeated Sid Chapman in the Democratic primary runoff for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on July 24, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Otha Thornton	59.1	86,704
	Submit photo	Sid Chapman	40.9	60,006

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 146,710
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Otha Thornton and Sid Chapman advanced to a runoff. They defeated Sam Mosteller in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Otha Thornton	43.9	208,407
✔	Submit photo	Sid Chapman	36.5	173,270
	Submit photo	Sam Mosteller	19.7	93,402

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 475,079
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Incumbent Richard Woods defeated John Barge in the Republican primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Woods	60.1	324,848
		John Barge	39.9	215,431

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 540,279
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2014

See also: Georgia down ballot state executive elections, 2014

Superintendent of Georgia, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Richard Woods	55.1%	1,391,005
	Democratic	Valarie Wilson	44.9%	1,132,886
Total Votes				2,523,891
Election results via Georgia Secretary of State

Election analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this state's elections when those are available.

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Georgia superintendent of schools official website

Footnotes

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