This district, spreading from south Cobb across Buckhead into Sandy Springs, was surprisingly won by Hillary Clinton last November even though its popular Republican state senator, Hunter Hill, won it by 3 points. Hill later resigned, however, and there is a crowded field of Democrats and Republicans vying to replace him. If Republicans lose this seat, it would break the GOP two-thirds supermajority in the state Senate, which allows the upper house to certify constitutional amendments for the ballot and override gubernatorial vetoes.
Republicans Leah Aldridge and Charlie Fiveash seem to be competing for a strong finish, with GOP candidate Matt Bentley of Cobb County struggling to make the necessary inroads in the Fulton County part of the district. (The Cobb section turned Democrat last November; it was the Fulton County GOP vote that re-elected Hill over Democrat Jaha Howard.)
Howard is now running again but another Democrat candidate, ultraliberal Jen Jordan, is attacking Howard for somehow being too conservative and for once holding traditional Christian beliefs.
The big question: Will two Republicans make the runoff? Or will it be a Republican and a Democrat in a runoff?
