Two Democrats and a Republican secure seats in the Georgia Legislature
Voters elected two Democratic state representatives and one Republican state senator Tuesday in special election runoffs across the northern half of the state.
The results did not change the partisan mix in the Republican-majority General Assembly, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s office.
Senate District 53
Republican Lanny Thomas handily won the race to fill former state Sen. Colton Moore’s vacant deep-red northwest Georgia state Senate district seat after the Trenton Republican ran for Congress.
Moore resigned his Senate post earlier this year to run in the special election to fill former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.
Thomas, former mayor of Trion, has been on the mend from a life-threatening aortic dissection all while running for the state Senate. He said he couldn’t have won without his campaign staff.
“The team that has surrounded me has been phenomenal,” said Thomas. “The work they put in to help my campaign.”
But the work isn’t over for Thomas with the May primaries ahead.
“We’re going to finish this drill today, and we’re just going to start another one,” the former high school basketball coach said.
Thomas has said he aims to eliminate the state income tax, support law enforcement and work to improve literacy among children.
Thomas received about 69% of the vote to beat Democrat Jack Zibluk with almost all the returns in.
House District 94
Democrat Venola Mason is poised to fill a vacancy in the district seat formerly held by state Rep. Karen Bennett, who resigned earlier this year before pleading guilty to lying to collect federal unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mason held a significant lead over Democrat Kelly Kautz, an attorney and former Snellville mayor, late Tuesday in the safely Democratic district that spans parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties.
“I’m ready to get to work, focused on strengthening our public schools, expanding economic opportunity and ensuring access to affordable health care for every family in our district,” said Mason.
It comes after Mason led Kautz in last month’s special election by about 21% of the vote in the four-person race, where no candidate won outright.
With nearly all returns in, Mason led with 68% of the vote to Kautz’s 32%.
House District 130
In the Augusta area race for House District 130, former Democratic state Rep. Sheila Clark Nelson beat Republican Thomas McAdams late Tuesday. Nelson led with 71% of the vote with nearly all returns in.
Nelson came in first in the six-way race last month. McAdams secured his position in the runoff, taking second place in the March special election, narrowly beating the third-place contender by seven votes.
Nelson will take a seat in the House after former Democratic state Rep. Lynn Heffner resigned from her seat in January. Heffner said her home was unlivable after it sustained damage from Hurricane Helene and that she could no longer meet legal requirements to live in her district.
Nelson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
For the candidates who won or didn’t, there’s still work to be done. All the candidates in the runoff have qualified to run again in the May primaries next month, giving them another opportunity to run for a seat in the state Legislature.
About the Author
Caleb Groves is a general assignment reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's politics team and a Kennesaw State University graduate.
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