All of Georgia's members of the House of Representatives appear poised to return to Congress in 2017, according to early election returns.
Few of the 13 House incumbents on the ballot today -- Republican or Democrat -- faced competitive challengers and all appeared to have punched their tickets back to Washington as of 11 p.m. The only race that had yet to be called at that point was Lawrenceville Republican Rob Woodall's in the 7th District northeast of Atlanta.
Two of those incumbents faced no opponents and three only faced write-in challengers. Others benefited from gerrymandered districts and underfunded opponents.
Read why congressional challengers in Georgia have such a hard time competing.
The Republicans whose races were called were: Buddy Carter of Pooler; Tom Price of Roswell; Austin Scott of Tifton; Doug Collins of Gainesville: Jody Hice of Monroe; Barry Loudermilk of Cassville; Rick Allen of Evans; and Tom Graves of Ranger. The Democrats were: Sanford Bishop of Albany; Hank Johnson of Lithonia; and John Lewis and David Scott, both of Atlanta.
Those incumbents will be joined by one Republican newbie on Capitol Hill in January.
Dentist and former West Point mayor Drew Ferguson, who emerged from a crowded primary field in May and defeated conservative state Sen. Mike Crane in a July runoff, easily bested Democrat Angela Pendley Tuesday to succeed the retiring Lynn Westmoreland in Georgia's 3rd congressional district.
Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson also cruised to reelection on Tuesday.
Check out our other election night coverage:
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/11/08/david-perdue-if-theres-a-president-hillary-clinton-im-going-to-find-a-way-to-work-with-her/
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/11/08/georgia-too-close-to-call-in-presidential-race/
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/11/08/the-polls-are-closed-in-georgia-heres-what-to-expect/
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