Democratic Party of Georgia | |
---|---|
Chairman | Nikema Williams |
Senate Minority leader | Gloria Butler |
House Minority leader | James Beverly |
Ideology | Modern liberalism |
National affiliation | Democratic Party |
Colors | Blue |
U.S. Senate | 2 / 2 |
U.S. House | 5 / 14 |
Statewide offices | 0 / 13 |
Seats in the Georgia Senate | 23 / 56 |
Seats in the Georgia House of Representatives | 79 / 180 |
Website | |
georgiademocrat | |
The Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is one of the two major political parties in the state and is chaired by Nikema Williams.
As of 2023, Democrats control both U.S. Senate seats, 5 out of Georgia's 14 U.S. House seats, and minorities in both houses of the state legislature.
Former Democratic president Jimmy Carter served one term as Governor of the state from 1971 to 1975.
For over a century, the Democratic Party dominated Georgia state and local politics with a membership largely consisting of conservative Southern Democrats. From 1872 to 2002, the Democratic Party controlled the governorship, both houses of the state legislature, and most statewide offices.
In 1976, former Democratic governor Jimmy Carter (1971−1975) was elected the 39th president of the United States.
After switching to the Republican Party in 1998, Sonny Perdue went on to defeat Democrat Roy Barnes in the 2002 gubernatorial election. In 2004, the Democratic Party lost control of the Georgia House of Representatives, putting the party in the minority for the first time in state history.
The Democratic Party of Georgia entered the 2010 elections with hopes that former governor Roy Barnes could win back the governorship. Polls showed a tight race between Barnes and Republican gubernatorial nominee Nathan Deal, [1] with some predicting a runoff election. [2] However, on election day, Republicans won every statewide office. [3]
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Georgia Democrats have advocated Medicaid expansion in the state, a policy that would provide a federally subsidized healthcare plan to about 500,000 Georgians. [4] [5] [6] At $5.15 an hour, Georgia is one of only two states with a state minimum wage below the federal minimum wage; a priority for Georgia Democrats in the 2010s and 2020s has been increasing the minimum wage. [7] [8]
Since 2016, Georgia Democrats have begun to see better results, with them getting very close to winning the governorship in 2018. In 2020, Joe Biden narrowly won the state, the first time for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992. Not long after that, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won both of the state's U.S. Senate seats in runoff elections in 2021, the first time Democrats won statewide office since 2006.
Warnock would be elected to a full term in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Herschel Walker.
Officers of the Democratic Party of Georgia are elected by the state Democratic committee at a January meeting following each regular gubernatorial election. [9] Officers serve four-year terms, and there is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve as an officer. Below are the current officers: [10]
The officers serve on the Executive Committee, which also includes the DPG's chairs of congressional districts and the DPG's representatives to the Democratic National Committee. The entire executive committee is elected by and from the DPG's State Committee, which consists of over 300 members elected by the DPG's county committees. The apportionment of State Committee members per county is determined by dividing the last census population of the state by the total number of districts in both houses of the Georgia General Assembly (233), and dividing the quotient by the last census population of each county.
Unlike most Democratic state parties where precinct committees and captains constitute the basic unit below the county level, the majority of the DPG's county committees consist of "post seat holders" elected from each county commission district.
The state party holds its state convention in the summer of gubernatorial election years following the gubernatorial primary, one of the few quadrennial Democratic state party conventions in the United States. The state convention consists of both State Committee members and equal numbers of convention delegates, as well as at-large delegates appointed by state party leadership.
Democrats hold five of Georgia's 14 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and both of Georgia's seats in the U.S. Senate.
Democrats have controlled both of Georgia's seats in the U.S. Senate since 2021:
District | Member | Photo |
---|---|---|
2nd | Sanford Bishop | |
4th | Hank Johnson | |
5th | Nikema Williams | |
7th | Lucy McBath | |
13th | David Scott |
The party controls none of the thirteen statewide constitutional offices such as Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Superintendent of Schools, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Labor, or state Attorney General, etc.
Democrats control 23 of the 56 State Senate seats and 78 of the 180 State House seats. Two-year terms of office apply to both chambers, and the entire membership of each body is elected at the same time in even-numbered years.
The following Democrats hold prominent mayoralties in Georgia:
Since 1948, Democrats have won Georgia's presidential electoral votes 9 times, while Republicans have won Georgia 10 times. However, in the last 10 presidential elections, Democrats have won Georgia only twice, in 1992 and 2020.
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The politics of Georgia change frequently and often follow the rest of the United States in major historical landmarks. The state has a long history, starting in the 18th century as a British colony. The cultural makeup of the early colony led to a ban on slavery being overturned soon after its implementation, setting the stage for the many plantations in the state. Rival governments were formed during the Revolutionary War, with the Patriot government surviving and forming a unified state government after the war. Georgian politics then followed the Democratic-Republican Party before the American Civil War and the Democrats afterward. In fact, the state never voted Republican until 1964, making it the last continental state to do so. Since then, Democrats have won the state just four times, for native son Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, Southerner Bill Clinton in 1992, and for Joe Biden in 2020.
The 117th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2021, during the final weeks of Donald Trump's presidency and the first two years of Joe Biden's presidency and ended on January 3, 2023.
The 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2020, and on January 5, 2021, to elect the Class II member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Georgia. Democrat Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue in the runoff election. The general election was held concurrently with the 2020 presidential election, as well as with other elections to the Senate, elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Thomas Jonathan Ossoff is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Ossoff was previously a documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist.
Nikema Natassha Williams is an American politician and political executive serving as the representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district and as Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia. The district includes almost three-quarters of Atlanta. She was a member of the Georgia State Senate for the 39th district from 2017-2021. Williams served as one of 16 electors for Georgia in the Electoral College following the 2020 United States presidential election.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the U.S. Senate to represent the state of Georgia. Incumbent Democratic senator Raphael Warnock won his first full term in office, defeating Republican former football player Herschel Walker. Under Georgia's two-round system, Warnock was re-elected in a runoff election on December 6 after neither candidate received over 50% of the vote on November 8. Warnock's win was the only statewide victory for Democrats in Georgia in 2022.
The 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2020, and on January 5, 2021, to elect the Class III member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Georgia. Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated appointed incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler. The first round of the election was held on November 3, 2020; however, no candidate received a majority of the vote, so the top two candidates—Warnock and Loeffler—advanced to a runoff on January 5, 2021, which Warnock won narrowly.
Several elections took place in the U.S. state of Georgia in 2022. The general election was held on November 8, 2022. A runoff election for one of Georgia's seats in the United States Senate was held on December 6, 2022. The runoff was scheduled because none of the candidates for Senate received 50% of the statewide vote in the general election. In addition to the Senate seat, all of Georgia's seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Also up for election were all of Georgia's executive officers and legislative seats, as well as one seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission. The Republican Party decisively won every single statewide office in Georgia except for the Federal Senate race which narrowly went Democratic in 2022.