Michael Thurmond
Michael Thurmond (Democratic Party) is running for election for Governor of Georgia. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on May 19, 2026.[source]
Thurmond (Democratic Party) (also known as Mike) was the DeKalb County Executive in Georgia. He assumed office in 2016. He left office on January 1, 2025.
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the May 19, 2026, Democratic primary as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Seven candidates are running in the Democratic Party primary for governor on May 19, 2026. Four candidates—Keisha Bottoms, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, and Michael Thurmond—lead in polling, fundraising, and media coverage ahead of the primary.
Roy Barnes (D) (1998) was the last Democrat elected governor in the state.[1] The Current's Craig Nelson wrote that at a January 8, 2026, forum, "The candidates hoping to help end that ignominious streak ... gained needed exposure outside the capitol Atlanta, even as most voters are still paying no attention to the race and few even know who they are."[2]
Bottoms was the Mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022.[3] She was also a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden (D) and a member of the Atlanta City Council.[4][5] According to her campaign website, Bottoms is running for governor "to deliver for working families and bring steady leadership to Georgia in the midst of uncertainty and chaos coming from Washington."[5]
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bottoms said her goals as governor would include expanding Medicaid, improving public education, eliminating state income taxes for teachers, offering free technical and community college, and helping small businesses.[6]
Duncan was a Republican lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023. On August 5, 2025, he announced in an op-ed that he was switching to the Democratic Party, stating, "My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican."[7] Duncan told Axios, "And quite honestly, I'm the only Democrat in this race that can beat a Republican because I've got Democrats, independents and disgusted Republicans that will show up and vote for me."[8]
Duncan's campaign website stated, "As governor, Geoff will fight for Georgia families in all 159 counties — bringing down the cost of childcare, healthcare, and housing while ensuring our state rejects extremism and embraces the values of fairness, opportunity, and love thy neighbor."[9]
Esteves was a public school teacher, lawyer, and Georgia state senator.[10] He was also a member of the Atlanta Public Schools school board.[11] Esteves said, "I’m running for Governor to make Georgia the number one place to work, start a business, and raise a family."[12]
Esteves' campaign website said his priorities included lowering the cost of living, expanding access to healthcare, investing in small businesses, increasing public education funding, and overturning Georgia's abortion ban.[13]
Thurmond is a former DeKalb County executive, state representative, state labor commissioner, and interim DeKalb County School district superintendent.[14] In a statement announcing his candidacy, Thurmond said, "I’m running for Governor to fight for working families, protect and expand access to healthcare, and build an education system that creates multiple pathways to success."[15]
Thurmond is running on his public service record. According to his campaign website, "Today, Mike Thurmond is ready to add a new chapter to Georgia’s story as our next governor. At a time of rising costs and declining trust Mike is exactly what our state needs to grow faster, stronger, safer and more equitable."[16]
Olu Brown, Derrick Jackson, and Ruwa Romman are also running.
Elections
2026
See also: Georgia gubernatorial election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Governor of Georgia
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for Governor of Georgia on May 19, 2026.
| ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Governor of Georgia
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for Governor of Georgia on May 19, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Chris Carr | |
 | Clark Dean | |
 | Rick Jackson | |
 | Burt Jones | |
 | Gregg Kirkpatrick | |
| Leland Olinger II | ||
 | Brad Raffensperger | |
| Kenneth Yasger | ||
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[17] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[18] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.
Below we provide results for polls from a wide variety of sources, including media outlets, social media, campaigns, and aggregation websites, when available. We only report polls for which we can find a margin of error or credibility interval. Know of something we're missing? Click here to let us know.
| Poll | Dates | Bottoms | Brown | Duncan | Esteves | Jackson | Romman | Thurmond | Don't know | Sample size | Margin of error | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
– | 40 | -- | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 40 | 1000 LV | ± 3.1% | Atlanta Journal-Constitution | |
– | 43 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 2 | -- | 25 | -- | 1513 LV | ± 2.5% | Center for Strong Public Schools | |
– | 38 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 2 | -- | 12 | 36 | 620 LV | ± 3.9% | Keisha Bottoms | |
| Note: LV is likely voters, RV is registered voters, and EV is eligible voters. | ||||||||||||
Election campaign finance
The tables below contain data from financial reports submitted to state agencies. The data is gathered and made available by Transparency USA. Transparency USA tracks loans separately from total contributions. View each candidates’ loan totals, if any, by clicking “View More” in the table below and learn more about this data here.
Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Click here to view satellite spending reports filed with the Georgia State Ethics Commission.
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.[19]
- 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.[20][21][22]
| Race ratings: Georgia gubernatorial election, 2026 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| 2/24/2026 | 2/17/2026 | 2/10/2026 | 2/3/2026 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | Toss-up | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Tilt Republican | Tilt Republican | Tilt Republican | Tilt Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean Republican | Lean 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. | |||||||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2020
See also: Municipal elections in DeKalb County, Georgia (2020)
General election
General election for DeKalb County Executive
Incumbent Michael Thurmond won election in the general election for DeKalb County Executive on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michael Thurmond (D) | 100.0 | 324,819 |
| Total votes: 324,819 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for DeKalb County Executive
Incumbent Michael Thurmond advanced from the Democratic primary for DeKalb County Executive on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael Thurmond | 100.0 | 146,189 |
| Total votes: 146,189 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Thurmond has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Michael Thurmond asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Michael Thurmond, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
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You can ask Michael Thurmond to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing info@mikethurmond.com.
Campaign website
Thurmond's campaign website stated the following:
The experience we need
Mike Thurmond
is a turn-around expert ready to add a new chapter to Georgia’s story as our next governor.
At a time of rising costs and declining trust Mike is exactly what our state needs to grow faster, stronger, safer and more equitable.
CEO of one of Georgia's Largest Counties
School Superintendent
Statewide Office-Holder
State Legislator
Small-Business Owner
— Michael Thurmond's campaign website (February 11, 2026)
Campaign ads
View more ads here:
2020
Michael Thurmond did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Axios, "Geoff Duncan: "I'm the only Democrat" who can beat Republican in governor's race," September 16, 2025
- ↑ The Current, "Dems aim to end 27-year gubernatorial losing streak," January 10, 2026
- ↑ The Albany Herald, "Georgia gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms talks with farmers during Albany campaign stop," September 24, 2025
- ↑ The Augusta Chronicle, "Who is running for Georgia governor in 2026? These 7 Democrats have entered the race," November 7, 2025
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Keisha Bottoms 2026 campaign website, "About Keisha," accessed February 3, 2026
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Keisha Lance Bottoms 'Politically Georgia' candidate forum full interview," December 8, 2025
- ↑ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "From Republican lt. governor to Democrat: Loving my neighbor is easier now," August 5, 2025
- ↑ Axios, "Geoff Duncan: "I'm the only Democrat" who can beat Republican in governor's race," September 16, 2025
- ↑ Geoff Duncan 2026 campaign website," accessed February 3, 2026
- ↑ Jason Esteves 2026 campaign website, "Meet Jason," accessed February 3, 2026
- ↑ Linkedin, " Jason Esteves," accessed February 3, 2026
- ↑ Associated Press, "Georgia Democrat Jason Esteves says he’s running for governor in 2026," April 21, 2025
- ↑ Jason Esteves 2026 campaign website, "Priorities," accessed February 3, 2026
- ↑ Georgia Recorder, "Former DeKalb County CEO and Georgia labor commissioner launches campaign for governor," August 6, 2025
- ↑ Facebook, "Thurmond on August 6, 2025," accessed February 4, 2026
- ↑ Michael Thurmond 2026 campaign website, "Meet Mike," accessed February 4, 2026
- ↑ For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
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