With voters paying attention to the U.S. Senate and governor campaigns, as well as to some down-ballot races for state offices, many Georgians may wonder what the electoral landscape looks like for General Assembly elections.
There are only 33 state House of Representatives seats with two-party competition during the fall campaign, and there is also a three-way race in House District 54 in Atlanta’s Buckhead district for the seat formerly held by GOP Rep. Edward Lindsey. (It is the only legislative district within Atlanta city limits held by a Republican and attorney Beth Beskin is favored to keep it that way.)
Most of these 33 “races” will not be competitive because many include Democrats running in solidly GOP districts and Republicans running in heavily-Democratic districts. A pretty safe bet is that the top targets for the Democrats will be the three GOP-held districts that backed President Barack Obama in 2012— House District 105 represented by Rep. Joyce Chandler, House District 138 held by Rep. Mike Cheokas and House District 151 occupied by Gerald Greene. The most competitive open seat (no incumbent) probably will be House District 132, held by retiring Democrat Rep. Carl Von Epps, which runs between LaGrange and Newnan along I-85. That district was narrowly carried by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2010 but by Obama in 2012.
Republican majority control of the House of Representatives is not in question this fall, just the size of the majority. As for the state Senate, most observers believe it stays under GOP control by the current 38-18 member margin.
BREAKING NEWS: A wary state Republican Party is taking no chances concerning election fraud, especially in light of the Secretary of State’s ongoing probe of voter registration cheating by an organization run by Democrat House Minority Leader Stacy Abrams. A Republican poll watcher force, including many lawyers armed with cell phones who are trained to watch for hanky-panky, has been unveiled that will spread out across the state— especially into DeKalb County and other Democrat strongholds. (If a blatant violation is witnessed, a phone call could immediately be placed to a judge requesting a judicial remedy.)
The volunteer poll watchers are appointed by the GOP State Executive Committee for the advance voting period (beginning October 13) and for Election Day, November 4. The Secretary of State issues them a credential, and then the state Republican Party notifies each election superintendent that they will be appearing in that county as a poll watchdog.
