On December 4th, the runoffs that were an outcome of some of the November 7th special elections in Georgia came to an end. These special elections were necessary to fill several seats from state legislators who left before their terms were completed (in addition to several regularly scheduled local city and county elections). From a state legislative perspective, an overview of the four state runoffs:
- Senate District 6, which was held by Sen. Hunter Hill (R), originally had eight people running. The runoff was between Jaha Howard (D) and Jen Jordan (D), with Jordan successfully securing the election.
- Senate District 39, which was held by Sen. Vincent Fort (D), originally had five people running. The two individuals battling in the runoff were Nikema Williams (D) and Linda Pritchett (D), with Williams successfully securing the seat.
- Representative District 60, which was held by Rep. Keisha Waites (D), originally had three people running, and had the runoff between Kim Schofield (D) and De’Andre Pickett (D), with Pickett winning the election.
- Representative District 89, which was held by Rep. Stacey Abrams (D), originally had four people running, with a runoff between Bee Nguyen (D) and Sachin Varghese (D) – and Nguyen successfully securing the seat.
While the above have a short reprieve (as these as well as the other state legislative seats are up for election in May), there’s one more special election which will produce a race earlier. State Sen. Rick Jeffares (R-McDonough) announced on December 1st that he will be vacating his seat to focus on his campaign for lieutenant governor. This singular move has produced two special elections that will be held on January 9th. State Rep. Brian Strickland (R-McDonough) had indicated to GCUA earlier this year that when Jeffares resigned, he would pursue this Senate seat and vacate his House seat. Credit unions will know Strickland from his work and support of the industry in the House, engaging on the issues in hearings and connecting with credit unions in his district. And like the individuals listed above, whoever wins this January race will jump right back into campaign mode for the May primaries!
