Ten seats away from history: Georgia Democrats are flipping the state House

In 2011, Stacey Abrams was the newly elected House minority leader in a state national Democrats had abandoned.

Instead of accepting this fate, she traveled the country to raise money for and awareness of Georgia’s potential. That’s how we met.

We worked together with a small team in 2012 and won four critical seats that denied Republicans the supermajority they had drawn for themselves. Democrats have been chipping away at the GOP’s lock on power since.

Now, in 2026, we are within striking distance of flipping the state House chamber. And the stakes are high. Gov. Brian Kemp is ready to gut Black and brown Georgians’ political power.

With the John Roberts Supreme Court having gutted the Voting Rights Act with the Callais ruling, Republicans could draw districts that prioritize white and Republican representation over the state’s majority-minority population.

But this is the year Democrats have momentum, with voters repelled by a toxic Trump administration and a MAGA state GOP that’s wrecking the economy and trampling Georgians’ rights. Democrats have strong candidates everywhere, starting with Sen. Jon Ossoff, all the way down the ballot where we’re running the most state legislative candidates in recent memory.

Democrats have the wind at their backs

As someone who ran high-profile statewide midterm races, I am bullish on all levels of the ballot. Much attention goes to the statewide races, but the state House is where the decisions that hit your kitchen table get made: public school funding; whether hospitals stay open; who has reproductive freedom; and if elections are funded or voter suppression reigns.

Democrats hold 81 seats and need just 10 to take the majority. New polling from Fair Fight, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Georgia House Democratic Caucus tested 13 battleground districts.

In 12, Democratic candidates finished ahead or tied once voters learned who was on the ballot and the Republican’s track record. On average, those races swung 11 points toward Democrats.

As someone who ran high-profile statewide midterm races, I am bullish on all levels of the ballot. Much attention goes to the statewide races, but the state House is where the decisions that hit your kitchen table get made: public school funding; whether hospitals stay open; who has reproductive freedom; and if elections are funded or voter suppression reigns.

Democrats hold 81 seats and need just 10 to take the majority. New polling from Fair Fight, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Georgia House Democratic Caucus tested 13 battleground districts.

In 12, Democratic candidates finished ahead or tied once voters learned who was on the ballot and the Republican’s track record. On average, those races swung 11 points toward Democrats.

The swing has been building for years. In 2018, Democrats picked up 11 House seats, and they’ve gained ground every cycle since. Georgia’s Black, Latino and Asian American Pacific Islander communities have grown, especially across metro Atlanta, allowing Democratic support to grow even against Republican mid-decade redistricting efforts.

Last year told the same story. Democrats flipped two Public Service Commission seats, a Democratic win for the first time in two decades, and won a state House seat in a plus-12 Donald Trump dominated district. Even in Republican strongholds like Forsyth, Paulding and Columbia counties — where Trump cleared 60% in 2024 — Democrats gained ground. Georgia is the most competitive it has been in modern midterm history.

Hugley could make history as speaker of the house

Candidates win elections, and ours are strong across the state. They range from veterans and service members like Renita A. Duncan (House District 147), James “Ethan” Wolfe (HD 151) and Titus Nichols (HD 34), to educators and small business owners like Cynthia Starke-Jones (HD 19) and Mishael White (HD 81). They know their neighbors because they are your neighbors, and they carry the same worries that Georgians carry to work.

Win these races and Georgia will feel the impact. Republicans lose the power to rig Georgia’s maps in 2027. Democrats gain a real hand in the budget that shapes our healthcare, schools, housing and the cost of living.

Georgia also makes history, with Democratic House Leader Carolyn Hugley positioned to lift the speaker’s gavel as the first African American woman to ever to hold it — a testament to the progress our state can make.

None of this is guaranteed. It takes strong candidates, real money behind them, volunteers who knock on the extra door and voters who show up.