Georgia Republicans are within reach of a two-thirds “supermajority” in the state Senate but appear to be one vote shy in the state House.
Following Tuesday’s elections, the GOP is assured of 37 seats in the Senate, one shy of its goal. But that mark will likely still be met following a special election in January. In the House, meanwhile, Democrats won 60 seats while Republicans took 119. But with one independent, Rep. Rusty Kidd of Milledgeville, the GOP is just shy of a two-thirds majority.
A supermajority is one so large Democrats would be unable to block proposed changes to the state constitution.
Republican supermajorities in both the House and Senate could have a profound effect on legislation in Georgia.
Constitutional amendments need two-thirds support in both chambers to get on the ballot. If the majority Republicans no longer need the support of the minority Democrats, they could be freer to pursue stronger limits on spending, taxes and abortion, and creation of private school vouchers. All those issues have been raised in recent years.
Going into Tuesday, Republicans held 115 of 180 House seats and needed five more to meet the two-thirds threshold. In the Senate, Republicans held 36 of 56 seats and needed to pick up two to gain a two-thirds majority.
On Tuesday, 14 Senate seats and 43 House seats were up for grabs in contested races, although observers considered only a handful of those contests close.
Two of those races were in metro Atlanta.
Rep. Scott Holcomb, a DeKalb County Democrat, won a pitched battle against Republican challenger Chris Boedeker in one of this year’s nastiest political battles.
Across town, Republican newcomer Hunter Hill defeated longtime Senate Democrat Doug Stoner of Smyrna for District 6, a district redrawn last year to include Atlanta’s GOP-leaning Buckhead. The lead flip-flopped through the evening, before Hill pulled away.
Other key House races included those of Rep. Barbara Massey Reece, D-Menlo; Rep. Carl Epps, D-LaGrange; and Rep. Pedro Marin, D-Duluth.
Reece lost, while Epps and Marin won, according to unofficial results.
Also Tuesday, former state House Speaker Glenn Richardson fell short of his comeback to the Capitol. One of four Republicans to qualify for a special primary for state Senate District 30, Richardson finished third behind longtime state Rep. Bill Hembree, R-Winston, and Mike Dugan, a Carrollton building contractor. Assuming those results hold, Hembree will face Dugan in a runoff Dec. 4.
The winner will face Libertarian candidate James Camp, a Temple-based information technology worker, in a special general election Jan. 8. That contest, in which the Republican nominee would be the overwhelming favorite, could provide Senate Republicans the 38th seat it needs for a supermajority.
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