Nahmias leads early returns in contested state Supreme Court race
Georgia Supreme Court Justice David Nahmias was leading Tuesday night in his bid to win his first statewide election.
Nahmias, the former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, led Lawrenceville lawyer Tamela Adkins, who chose not to campaign at all in the race for a seat on the state's highest court. Atlanta lawyer Matt Wilson, who invested heavily in his campaign, trailed far behind in third place.
It was too early to tell if Nahmias could get enough votes to avoid a runoff. "We're still watching," he said Tuesday night, referring to the returns.
The race for an open seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals also was too close to call. Marietta lawyer Toni Davis, a former staff attorney for the state Supreme Court, held a slight lead over Christopher McFadden, president-elect of the Atlanta Bar Association, in a crowded field of six candidates. The race appeared headed to a runoff on Nov. 30.
Davis, who was at home checking returns, declined to comment until it was clear which two candidates had made the runoff.
Last year, Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed Nahmias, 46, to the state Supreme Court to replace former Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who stepped down before her term expired. Since joining the court, Nahmias has tilted its ideological leanings to the right.
Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Nahmias clerked for Laurence Silberman, a federal appeals court judge, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and he worked at a Washington law firm with John Roberts, now the high court's chief justice. All three conservative jurists wrote glowing recommendations to Perdue in support of Nahmias' appointment.
After his appointment, Nahmias expected he would face opposition. He quickly nailed down endorsements from some of the most prominent members of the state's legal community, including past presidents of the State Bar of Georgia and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. Sears, who was one of the most liberal members of the state Supreme Court, also endorsed him.
Adkins, 47, shut down her family law practice two years ago and campaigned hard in an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Court of Appeals. This time, she registered as a state Supreme Court candidate, kept practicing law and neither sought nor accepted campaign donations. Yet in early returns, Adkins was in second place.
Wilson, 59, had raised more money than Nahmias heading into the final week, largely because he financed his race with more than $166,000 in personal loans. During the campaign, Wilson criticized Nahmias for some of his votes on court rulings and for not recusing himself when hearing a case argued by the co-chair of his campaign committee.
In the state Court of Appeals race, the winner will succeed Judge Edward H. Johnson, who is retiring at the end of the year.
Trailing Davis and McFadden were: David Schaeffer of Atlanta, past president of the Atlanta Bar Association; Stan Gunter, district attorney of the four-county Enotah Judicial Circuit in North Georgia; Adrienne Hunter-Strothers, an Atlanta family law attorney; and James Babalola of Atlanta, the CEO and legal counsel of a real estate company.
About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
