Lance Bottoms to face Jackson-Jones runoff winner for governor's office

By Steve Schwartz | News editor

One of the big results from the May 19 primary election in Georgia was former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms winning the the Democratic nomination with 56 percent of the vote.

Lance Bottoms, daughter of R&B star Major Lance, was well over the 50-percent threshold to earn a spot in November’s general election. Thus, she was able to start her general election campaign that night while the top two Republican candidates, Burt Jones and Rick Jackson, will slug it out for another four weeks.

Jones received 38.4 percent of the vote, and Jackson was not too far behind at 32.5 percent. Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger was a distant third at 15 percent, and that was not enough to get him into the runoff.

“Republicans most likely have an advantage in the gubernatorial race in Georgia, especially given that a Democrat has not won the governor’s office in the state since 1998,” said AU political science and public policy professor Will Hatcher. “And Republicans have dominated statewide offices over the past twenty years. However, this is going to be a tough year for the Republican Party, given the unpopularity of the president and how national issues are influencing state elections.”

Hatcher said it is not a given that Lance Bottoms has an advantage based on her winning the primary outright.

“It is unclear if the runoff on the Republican side will benefit Bottoms,” the Department of Social Sciences chair said. “Research isn’t clear on if competitive primaries help or harm political parties. Still, most Republicans would say that they would prefer having a candidate for their party now as the Democrats already have their choice and can move into campaigning for the general election.”

For the U.S. Senate seat, incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff was unopposed. The top two Republicans at the top were Mike Collins and former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley. Collins received 40 percent of the vote, while second-place Dooley finished with 30 percent.

Republican incumbent Rick Allen easily won his primary for the 12th District of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives. On the Democratic side, Ceretta Smith will face Traci George in the runoff.

In the Augusta mayor’s race, the incumbent, Garnett Johnson, received 43 percent of the vote. Runner-up Steven Kendrick polled 35.5 percent. Johnson and Kendrick will not compete in a runoff.

Meanwhile, the timeline for Georgia Senate Bill 189 makes the current voting method illegal on July 1.  SB 189 requires the removal of QR codes from ballots by July 1 of this year.

To comply with SB 189, equipment will need to be purchased for polling sites across the state, election officials will need to be trained and new ballots may need printing.

Georgia lawmakers have introduced a bill to move the deadline back to 2028. It passed the Georgia House of Representatives, but the Senate never took up the bill. Now the state faces the potential for a last-minute upheaval of the voting process.

In terms of party enthusiasm for this primary, Democrats drew 1.1 million votes, while Republican had 940,000. A total of 2.1 million votes were cast—just 28 percent of active voters.

“The higher turnout among Democrats may indicate that the party’s base is more energized about politics this year, especially when you take into account that there were more competitive races on the Republican side in last week’s primary,” Hatcher said.

The runoffs are scheduled for Tuesday, June 16.

Contact Steve Scwartz at stschwartz@augusta.edu.