2020 Georgia's 5th congressional district special election

Last updated

2020 Georgia's 5th congressional district special election
Flag of Georgia (U.S. state).svg
  2018 September 29, 2020
December 1, 2020 (runoff)
November 2020  

Georgia's 5th congressional district
  Kwanza Hall (GA-05).jpg 3x4.svg
Candidate Kwanza Hall Robert Michael Franklin Jr.
Party Democratic Democratic
Popular vote13,45011,332
Percentage54.27%45.73%

2020 Georgia's 5th congressional district special election runoff - Results by county.svg
Runoff county results
Hall:     50–60%     60–70%

U.S. Representative before election

Vacant

Elected U.S. Representative

Kwanza Hall
Democratic

A special election filled the remainder of the term in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district in the 116th United States Congress. Incumbent representative John Lewis, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2019, died on July 17, 2020, during his 17th term. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Background

As established by the Constitution of Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp ordered a special election to fill out the remainder of Lewis's term for September 29, 2020. [4] Since no candidate reached 50% on September 29, there was a special runoff election on December 1. [5] This meant that the runoff election took place four weeks after the regular election for a full two-year term. The runoff winner would thus serve for just one month covering the holiday season.

On July 20, 2020, the state Democratic Party announced that State Senator Nikema Williams would replace Lewis on the November ballot, [6] which she won with over 300,000 votes (85%). Williams did not run in the special election to serve the remainder of Lewis's term. [7]

Candidates

Democratic Party

Advanced to runoff

Eliminated in blanket primary

Declined

Libertarian Party

Eliminated in blanket primary

Independent

Eliminated in blanket primary

  • Steven Muhammad, community organizer [8]

General election

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report [9] Safe DAugust 21, 2020
Inside Elections [10] Safe DAugust 21, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball [11] Safe DJuly 23, 2020
Politico [12] Safe DJuly 6, 2020
Daily Kos [13] Safe DAugust 17, 2020
RCP [14] Safe DJune 9, 2020
Niskanen [15] Safe DJuly 26, 2020

Results

Georgia's 5th congressional district special election, September 29, 2020 [16]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Kwanza Hall 11,104 31.75%
Democratic Robert Michael Franklin Jr. 9,987 28.55%
Democratic Mable Thomas 6,69219.13%
Democratic Keisha Waites 4,25512.17%
Democratic Barrington Martin II1,9445.56%
Libertarian Chase Oliver 7122.04%
Independent Steven Muhammad2820.8%
Total votes34,967 100.00%

Runoff

2020 Georgia's 5th congressional district special election runoff, December 1, 2020 [17]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Kwanza Hall 13,450 54.27%
Democratic Robert Michael Franklin Jr. 11,33245.73%
Total votes24,782 100.00%
Democratic hold

See also

References

  1. Veronica Stracqualursi (July 19, 2020). "What happens to John Lewis' vacant US House seat in Georgia". CNN. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  2. Perrett, Connor. "How Democrats plan to find a replacement for John Lewis on November's ballot by Monday". Business Insider. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  3. "The process of replacing Rep. John Lewis in the US House". 11Alive.com. July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  4. "Atlanta lowering flags indefinitely to honor Rep. John Lewis". KSTP. July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  5. Raymond, Jonathan (July 31, 2020). "Here's who qualified to run in the special election to fill John Lewis' seat". WXIA-TV – "11 Alive" . Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  6. Alex Rogers (July 20, 2020). "Georgia state Sen. Nikema Williams picked to replace Lewis on November ballot". CNN. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  7. Panetta, Grace. "Nikema Williams is selected as the Democratic nominee to replace Rep. John Lewis on the ballot for November". Business Insider. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Raffensperger, Brad (August 13, 2020). "United States Representative District 5 Qualifying Candidate Information". Elections Secretary of State Georgia Government .
  9. "2020 Senate Race Ratings for April 19, 2019". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  10. "2020 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  11. "2020 Senate race ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  12. "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
  13. "Daily Kos Elections releases initial Senate race ratings for 2020". Daily Kos Elections. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  14. "Battle for White House". RCP. April 19, 2019.
  15. "2020 Negative Partisanship and the 2020 Congressional Elections". Niskanen Center. April 28, 2020. Archived from the original on June 21, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  16. "Results Summary". Georgia Secretary of State. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  17. "Results Summary". Georgia Secretary of State. Retrieved December 14, 2020.