Georgia has just one toss-up U.S. House race: the 2nd Congressional District contest between incumbent U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop and Republican Chris West.
Bishop, a Democrat, was first elected to Congress in 1992. This year was the Albany Democrat’s toughest reelection campaign in years.
West is an attorney and commercial developer from Thomasville.
Bishop’s tenure in this southwest Georgia seat has been marked by an ability to work across the aisle with Republicans at all levels of government. He is the longest-serving member of the state’s congressional delegation and the only Georgia lawmaker to serve on the House Appropriations Committee.
But with inflation high and President Joe Biden’s popularity low, Republicans are widely expected to retake the U.S. House and the competition for control of the U.S. Senate remains a tossup. A strong turnout of conservatives on Election Day with Gov. Brian Kemp leading the ticket could be enough to push West across the finish line.
Republicans who control the General Assembly made reelection tougher for Bishop this year by drawing the district in a way that made it less solidly Democratic. Just over half of its voters supported Democrats in 2020, and just under half of all voters are Black.
Bishop raised three times as much money as his opponent, and the Democratic Party spent million money on ads and resources to help boost his profile.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party did not spend any money to assist West. Both the party’s campaign arm for U.S. House races and a political committee controlled by GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy stayed out of the race, indicating pessimism about West’s chances of unseating the incumbent.
Read more here on this race and the stakes.
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