Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Georgia State Legislature
October 30, 2012
By Ballotpedia's State legislative team
| Georgia's State Legislative Elections in 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Senate seats | Contested senate seats | House seats | Contested house seats |
| 56 | 12 (21.4%) | 180 | 41 (22.8%) |
Atlanta: Georgia: There are 236 total legislative seats with 2012 elections in Georgia, where polling places are open from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM Eastern Time on Election Day. Any voter who is waiting in line to vote at 7:00 PM will be allowed to vote.[1]
The Senate is solidly Republican with a 36-20 majority and in all likelihood will not change hands. Of the 180 seats in the House, Republicans hold 115, Democrats hold 63, one is vacant, and one is held by an Independent.
In Georgia, there are five state senate districts where the partisan registration of Democratic and Republican voters is less than 10 percentage points apart. These districts are considered "competitive" when looked at strictly with respect to vote party affiliation. The five districts in Georgia are District 5, 7, 13, 20 and 23.
Of the 236 incumbents up for election in 2012, 210 (88.98%) of them are running for re-election. A total of 53 of 236 (22.5%) districts will see more than one major party candidate in the general election.
Here are a few races to watch:
Senate
- District 26: Democrat David E. Lucas, Sr. faces Republican Bobby Gale. Lucas defeated incumbent Miriam Paris after both advanced to a runoff primary on August 28, 2012.[2] The race was initially too close to call, but eventually Paris conceded the race to Lucas.[2]
- District 30: Incumbent Bill Hamrick resigned from his seat after the primary election in order to serve as a Superior Court Judge. A special primary election will be held on November 6, 2012 for the district seat.
House
- District 1: Republican candidate John Deffenbaugh will take on Democrat Thomas McMahan for the open seat. Deffenbaugh and fellow Republican candidate Alan Painter advanced to a runoff election, where Deffenbaugh narrowly defeated Painter in a race that was initially too close to call.[3]
- District 41: Democrat Phil Daniell will face Michael Smith (R) in the general election. Smith defeated Justin O'Dell in the primary election to advance with Diana Eckles to the runoff primary. Smith defeated Eckles in the runoff to advance as the Republican nominee.[2]
| Georgia State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 5, 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 20 | 18 | |
| Republican Party | 36 | 38 | |
| Total | 56 | 56 | |
| Georgia House of Representatives | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 5, 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 63 | 60 | |
| Republican Party | 114 | 119 | |
| Independent | 1 | 1 | |
| Vacancy | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 180 | 180 | |
Articles
- 2012 elections review: Georgia voters send incumbents packing August 1
- 2012 elections preview: Georgia voters to select winners in congressional, legislative primaries July 30
See also
- Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Georgia Congressional Seats
- Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Southeast Regional State Executive Officials
- State legislative elections, 2012
- Georgia elections, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Voting Information 2012"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 News Central GA "Miriam Paris Concedes District 26 Race to David Lucas" accessed August 22, 2012 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "runoff" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Times Free Press, "John Deffenbaugh wins Georgia state House race" accessed October 26, 2012
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