November 5, 2026
ATLANTA — Georgia voters delivered major Democratic gains Tuesday, along with several historic firsts.
Keisha Lance Bottoms is the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, but Georgia could also see a Black woman leading the state House.
Voters put a Democrat in every statewide elected office, from attorney general to agriculture commissioner, ousting four Republican incumbents in the process.
They also appeared to have handed the state House to Democrats while putting a Democrat in the presiding seat of the Senate — and second in line of succession to the governor.
State Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, defeated state Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, for the open lieutenant governor’s seat by more than 10 percentage points, according to the unofficial tally by the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
Bentley Hudgins became the first openly transgender person elected to the Georgia General Assembly.
The incoming House member from DeKalb County defeated a Republican challenger, an outcome that was expected in the Democratic stronghold. Hudgins won by more than 80 percentage points, according to the unofficial tally, taking nearly 28,000 votes to the Republican nominee’s more than 2,000.
Democrats in the General Assembly say voters gave them a mandate on affordability and said they intend to focus on the issue, in part by working with Republicans who share those priorities.
Democratic leaders of the House expect to take control when new members are sworn in in January, but Republicans appear to have kept control of the Senate by the slimmest of margins.
The performance by Democratic House candidates had Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, the minority leader, considering a bid to replace House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington.
If her prospective Democratic majority chooses her, she would become the first Black woman to lead the House, after serving 34 years in that chamber.
Hugley said Wednesday that she was surprised by the results and that affordability would be a priority if Democrats take control.
“What Georgia citizens have told us is affordability is the No. 1 issue. And so you can expect the issues that we put forth in this first legislative session are going to be focused on meeting that challenge of affordability,” she said.
Bottoms campaigned on expanding access to Medicaid as most other states have done. It is also a top goal for McLaurin.
Democrats will need help from Republicans to pass legislation, though.
McLaurin said Republicans appeared to have kept 29 Senate seats, which is a majority of the 56-member chamber with no votes to spare. A majority is needed to pass legislation.
Gov. Brian Kemp has opposed Medicaid expansion, and so have Republican leaders in the General Assembly. Few Republican lawmakers have publicly supported Medicaid expansion, but McLaurin said he knows several who have privately told him they would vote for it.
McLaurin said hospital closures in rural areas could influence some Republican lawmakers’ views on the issue.
McLaurin could also enter office with reduced authority if Senate Republicans choose to limit the powers of the lieutenant governor.
Twice since Republicans took control of the Senate in 2003, they have reduced the authority of the lieutenant governor, the first time when the occupant was a Democrat and the second time when he was a Republican.
“There’s quite a bit of precedent for that,” said Charles Bullock, a longtime political science professor at the University of Georgia.
Republicans took control of the governor’s office and the Senate from Democrats in 2003, but they did not take the House until 2005.
Aside from that two-year period, control of the two chambers has not been split between the parties since at least the 1870s, according to Bullock.
Bullock said bipartisanship is possible under Georgia’s Gold Dome, in part because lawmakers from both parties sit together rather than on opposite sides of a center aisle as they do in Congress.
“You get to talk to the person beside you about whatever the latest sporting event was or congratulate them because they have a new child or grandchild or whatever else,” Bullock said. “So you get to know them as individuals and therefore you can disagree without being disagreeable. So, this makes it easier, I think, to get things done.”
Kemp urged Republicans in a message posted on X to respond to the election results and return to what he described as the party’s conservative principles.
“Republicans now have the opportunity, and responsibility, to heed the will of voters and learn from last night’s results,” Kemp’s post said. “I firmly believe the conservative principles of our party lead to greater freedom, security, and prosperity for all Americans — and it’s time we get back to those principles in the months and years to come.”
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