Qualifying began this morning at the Georgia Secretary of State's Office in Atlanta to replace state Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton.

Bethel, 40, won reelection to the state Legislature last Tuesday. A day later, Gov. Nathan Deal announced his appointment to the Georgia Court of Appeals, effective Jan. 1.

Bethel, an attorney who served as chairman of the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee, then resigned Friday, ending a six-year legislative career during which he served as Deal’s floor leader in the Senate chamber.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has called a Dec. 13 special election to fill Bethel’s former seat, which includes parts or all of Gordon, Murray, Pickens, and Whitfield counties in north Georgia.

Eligible candidates have until 2 p.m. Thursday to sign up.

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Former Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman talks to her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker, after she testified before the U.S. House Select Committee at its fourth hearing on its Jan. 6 investigation on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

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Former Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman talks to her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker, after she testified before the U.S. House Select Committee at its fourth hearing on its Jan. 6 investigation on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

Credit: TNS