An election year in 2018 has already seen, as expected, a great deal of maneuvering in the state legislature as candidates seek to move up to higher office. Major names including Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp throwing their hats into the governor’s race ring set off a chain reaction of prominent legislators looking to move up to fill those positions, as well as a scramble to advance to leadership positions in the House and Senate.
Already this process has had a major impact on the state Senate, where the vacancy left by former Senator Hunter Hill was filled by a Democrat in a 2017 special election, ending the GOP’s supermajority.
Perhaps less newsworthy are the seats being opened up by retirements and the races to fill them.
In Paulding County’s HD-17, longtime state Rep. Howard Maxwell (R-Dallas) is retiring at the end of his session, ending a career that has included over 30 years of public service. Thus far Martin Momtahan is the only declared candidate to replace him in the red leaning district, but others, including Kerstin Liberty, who ran against Maxwell in 2016, are expected to join him in the Republican primary in May.
To the north, Gwinnett’s state Rep. David Casas (R-Lilburn) of HD 107 has announced his retirement following the legislative session. The only Hispanic Republican in the state legislature served for 16 years, and his seat, which he has held since 2002, is expected to go to a Republican. The vacancy will be the third left open by Gwinnett Republicans this year, joining state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) and state Rep. Buzz Brockway (R-Lawrenceville) who are running for Lt. Governor and Secretary of State, respectively.
Closer to Atlanta, the retirement of longtime state Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) in HD 51 will leave empty a seat likely to be filled by Alex Kaufman of Roswell, who has an impressive list of endorsements and a war chest filled from a campaign which he began all the way back in 2016. Willard’s retirement will also leave open the chairmanship of the powerful House Judiciary committee.
Further south, state Rep. John Pezold (R-Columbus) is leaving his Columbus area HD-133 seat that he first won in 2012. Two Republicans, (the district leans hard to the right) have already declared; Christopher Gyening, a 27 year old bank employee, and presumed frontrunner Vance Smith, a former state legislator who served as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation from 2009 to 2011.
