Welcome to the Wednesday, May 15, Brew.
By: Mercedes Yanora
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Busy election month continues with Georgia primaries on May 21
- Join the Ballotpedia Society today
- Upcoming candidate filing deadlines: New York and U.S. Virgin Islands
Busy election month continues with Georgia primaries on May 21
Continuing our preview of May’s busy primary season, today we look at Georgia, which is holding primaries for congressional, state legislative, and local offices on Tuesday, May 21. State and local judicial offices are also on the ballot on May 21 but as general elections.
In Georgia, congressional and state legislative candidates must receive a majority of votes in order to win a primary election. If no candidate wins an outright majority, a runoff primary between the top two vote-getters will be held on June 18.
Now, let’s take a closer look at what’s on the ballot.
U.S. House
Currently, the 14-member congressional delegation has nine Republicans and five Democrats. Fifty-four candidates are running for those 14 districts, including 30 Democrats and 24 Republicans. That’s an average of 3.9 candidates per district. An average of 5.9 candidates per district ran in 2022 and 5.5 in 2020.
This is the first election to take place after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed revised congressional maps into law on Dec. 8, 2023.
Here are some other highlights from this year’s filings:
- The 3rd Congressional District is the only open district, meaning no incumbent is running. There were two open district races in 2022, three in 2020, none in 2018, one in 2016, and three in 2014.
- Third District incumbent Rep. Drew Ferguson (R) is retiring from public office.
- As a result of redistricting, two incumbents are running for re-election in different districts than the ones they currently represent. Seventh District incumbent Rep. Lucy McBath (D) is running in the 6th Congressional District and 6th District incumbent Rep. Rich McCormick (R) is running in the 7th Congressional District.
- Nine candidates — seven Democrats and two Republicans — are running for the 13th Congressional District, the most candidates running for a seat this year.
- Twelve primaries — eight Democratic and four Republican — are contested this year. Seventeen primaries were contested in 2022, 16 primaries were in 2020, and 13 were in 2018.
- Three incumbents — two Democrats and one Republican — are in contested primaries, the fewest this decade.
- Candidates are running in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all 14 districts, meaning no seats are guaranteed to either party. The same was true in 2022 and 2020. In 2018, one district was guaranteed to a Democrat. In 2016, four districts were guaranteed to Republicans, while one was guaranteed to Democrats. And in 2014, four districts were guaranteed to Republicans, while three were guaranteed to Democrats.
There are no U.S. Senate elections in Georgia this year.
Let’s move on to state-level primaries, beginning with the Georgia Legislature.
Georgia Legislature
There are 236 state legislative seats up for election this year: 56 in the Senate and 180 in the House. Across those, 16 incumbents (10 Democrats and six Republicans) did not seek re-election. That’s the fewest number of retirements in a decade. From 2010 to 2022, there was an average of 28 retirements per election cycle. In 2022, 48 incumbents (23 Democrats and 25 Republicans) did not seek re-election.
The total number of contested primaries is also a decade-low. In 2024, there are 70 contested primaries (39 Democratic and 31 Republican) out of a possible 472, a rate of 14.8%. This is the lowest number since 2014 when 13.1% of primaries had more than one candidate. In 2022, there were 104 primaries (51 Democratic and 53 Republican) for a rate of 22% contested primaries.
So far this year, 17% of the nation’s state legislative primaries have been contested.
Georgia Supreme Court
Three of the four justices on the nine-member Georgia Supreme Court are running uncontested for re-election. Incumbent Andrew Pinson and John Barrow are running for the fourth seat. Georgia held 12 consecutive uncontested races for its state supreme court between 2012 and 2018. A Republican governor appointed all current justices except John Ellington, who joined via nonpartisan election.
Georgia Court of Appeals
Similarly, all but one of Georgia’s Court of Appeals seats is uncontested this year. Seven seats are up for election. Only one seat is contested and does not feature an incumbent running for re-election: Judge Yvette Miller’s seat. Jeff Davis and Tabitha Ponder are running for the seat.
State executive
Before we move on to local elections, we should note that elections for Georgia Public Service Commissioner were initially scheduled for Tuesday. However, on March 6, 2024, the Georgia Secretary of State announced that the election for two of five seats on the public service commission would not be held due to an ongoing lawsuit challenging how commissioners are elected.
Fulton County residents filed a lawsuit arguing that “electing the commissioners statewide [versus by district] diluted Black voting strength in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, making it more difficult for Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice.” The lawsuit is ongoing.
Local primaries
- Municipal: We are covering elections in DeKalb and Fulton counties.
- DeKalb County – Chief executive officer, chief magistrate, district attorney, sheriff, solicitor general, tax commissioner, county commission, superior court clerk, probate court judge, and superior court judges.
- Fulton County – District attorney, sheriff, solicitor general, tax commissioner, county commission, superior court clerk, probate court judge, and superior court judges.
- School board:
Ten school districts within our coverage scope are holding elections for school boards: Cherokee County School District, Clayton County Public Schools, Cobb County School District, DeKalb County School District, Forsyth County Schools, Fulton County Schools, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Henry County Schools, Muscogee County School District, and Savannah-Chatham County Public School System.
As part of our drive to expand our local elections coverage, we’ve added local elections that go beyond our current coverage of the nation’s biggest cities, school districts, and state capitals. Georgia is one of 20 states with this added coverage in 2024. On Tuesday, there will be 2,275 local races with 3,173 candidates running.
California, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, New York, and Oregon are also holding elections on May 21. To view more upcoming election dates, see our elections calendar.
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Upcoming candidate filing deadlines: New York and U.S. Virgin Islands
We are well into the 2024 election cycle, so it is a great time to take a look at important upcoming filing deadlines that candidates need to be aware of to run in their state’s elections.
In order to get on the ballot, candidates must meet a variety of state-specific filing requirements and deadlines. These regulations, known as ballot access laws, determine whether and how candidates appear on an election ballot. These laws are set at the state level and apply to candidates running for state or federal offices.
At this point, 100% of filing deadlines have passed for partisan candidates running in presidential primaries. For statewide primaries, 63% of filing deadlines have passed for partisan candidates. Filing deadlines for independent candidates will happen in the fall.
One state and one U.S. territory have upcoming candidate filing deadlines in the next two weeks. The map and bulleted list below show which states have candidate filing deadlines scheduled between May 15 to May 29.
- New York: May 28 (filing deadline for unaffiliated candidates, including presidential).
- U.S. Virgin Islands: May 21 (statewide filing deadline for all candidates).
Looking back
The three states and U.S. territory listed below had candidate filing deadlines scheduled in the past two weeks.
- Guam: May 3 (candidate filing deadline).
- Massachusetts: May 7 (statewide candidate filing deadline).
- Texas: May 13 (presidential filing deadline for unaffiliated candidates).
- Washington: May 10 (statewide candidate filing deadline).
Looking ahead
We’ll bring you all the information you need to know to run in next month’s contests as well, so stay tuned!