First-term Georgia House Dem defeats colleague in incumbent faceoff
A first-term Democratic state representative appears defeated her Georgia House colleague in the state’s only intraparty matchup between incumbents.
The new House District 90 pitted first-term state Rep. Saira Draper against state Rep. Becky Evans, who was seeking her fourth term.
The Associated Press called the race Tuesday night.
Draper was considered the favorite to win the primary since she currently represents about 70% of the voters in the new district.
No Republican candidates signed up to run for the DeKalb County seat, meaning Draper will head back to the Statehouse in January for another term.
The new maps, passed by the Republican-led Legislature last year and upheld in court, were drawn in response to a federal judge’s ruling that the state’s political boundaries drawn in 2021 illegally weakened Black voting power.
Draper, an attorney, and Evans, a retired health care executive and co-founder of a nonprofit, are two of eight lawmakers who were drawn into the same districts with colleagues from their own party under the new maps — six of them Democrats and two Republicans. Evans and Draper were the only “paired” incumbents where neither one retired.
About the Author
Maya T. Prabhu covers the Georgia Senate and statewide issues as a government reporter for The AJC. Born in Queens, New York, and raised in northern Virginia, Maya attended Spelman College and then the University of Maryland for a master's degree. She writes about social issues, the criminal justice system and legislative politics.
