2020 Georgia state elections

Several elections took place in the U.S state of Georgia in 2020. The general election was held on November 3, 2020, and the runoff on January 5, 2021. A combined partisan primary for president and all other offices on the ballot was held on June 9, 2020, with a primary runoff held on August 11.

To vote by mail, registered Georgia voters must have requested a ballot by October 30, 2020.^[1] By early October some 1,589,147 voters requested mail ballots.^[2] Following the November 3, 2020 general election, voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected could make corrections ("cure") until 5 p.m. on Friday, November 6, 2020.^[3][4]

Federal offices

President of the United States

Georgia had 16 electoral votes in the Electoral College. Democrat Joe Biden won all of them with 49.5% of the popular vote. It was the first time a Democratic presidential candidate had won Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992.

United States House of Representatives

General

Georgia had 14 seats in the United States House of Representatives which were up for election. The Republicans won 8 while the Democrats won 6. Democrats gained one seat, the 7th district.

Special

A special election was held for the 5th district due to the death of the incumbent John Lewis. The first round was held on September 29 and the runoff was held on December 1. Democrat Kwanza Hall won the seat.

United States Senate

General

Incumbent Republican David Perdue, first elected in 2014, lost his reelection bid to challenger Jon Ossoff. Perdue won the first round with 49.73% of the vote, but in the runoff election lost to Ossoff's 50.61% vote share.

Special

Following the resignation of Senator Johny Isakson in 2019, Governor Brian Kemp appointed Kelly Loeffler to serve out the term. Republican senator Loeffler then went on to come second in the first round with 25.9% of the vote while Democratic pastor Raphael Warnock won with 32.9%. Warnock went on to win in the runoff with 51.04% of the vote, becoming the first black senator to represent Georgia.

Public Service Commission

Elections were held for Public Service Commission districts 1 and 4. While Republican incumbent appointee Jason Shaw defeated Democrat Robert Bryant for District 1, Republican incumbent Lauren "Bubba" McDonald was forced into a runoff against Democrat Daniel Blackman for District 4. McDonald defeated Blackman in the runoff held in January 2021.

General Assembly

All 56 seats in the Georgia State Senate and 180 seats in the Georgia House of Representatives were up for election. Democrats filed for the largest number of seats in the State House since 1992 and the largest number of seats in the State Senate since 2004.

Georgia State Senate

Georgia House of Representatives

Judicial elections

Two seats on the Supreme Court of Georgia were up for nonpartisan statewide election to succeed justices Charlie Bethel and Sarah Warren.^[5] Both seats were contested; Bethel was challenged by former state legislator Beth Beskin and Warren was challenged by attorney Hal Moroz.^[6] Both justices won their respective races.

Elections were also held for five seats on the Georgia Court of Appeals to succeed judges Elizabeth Gobeil, Todd Markle, Sara Doyle, Christian Coomer and Trent Brown. They all won their races uncontested. A sixth judge, Carla McMillian, also appeared on the ballot despite having been appointed to the state supreme court by Governor Brian Kemp in April.^[7]

District Attorneys

Out of the state's 49 judicial circuits, 40 held elections for district attorney, and 15 incumbents were replaced either by primary or general election. In addition, a special election for the Western Judicial Circuit saw the appointed incumbent Democrat defeated in the first round, with Deborah Gonzalez winning the second round against James Chafin (independent).

• Augusta: Natalie Paine (R) was defeated by Jared Williams (D)
• Brunswick: Jackie Johnson (R) was defeated by Keith Higgins (independent)
• Chatham: Meg Heap (R) was defeated by Shelena Cook Jones (D)
• Chattahoochee: Julia Slater (D) was defeated in the Democratic primary by Mark Jones (D), who had no general challenger
• Cobb: Joyette Holmes (R) was defeated by Flynn Broady (D)
• Fulton: Paul Howard (D) was defeated in the Democratic primary runoff by Fani Willis (D), who had no general challenger
• Gwinnett: Danny Porter (R) was defeated by Patsy Austin-Gatson (D)
• Macon: David Cooke (D) was defeated in the Democratic primary by Anita Reynolds Howard (D), who had no general challenger

Ballot measures

Amendment 1

"Allow Tax Revenue Dedication"

Authorizes the Georgia State Legislature to pass legislation establishing special funds with dedicated revenue sources to fund statute specific projects.

Amendment 2

"Waive Sovereign Immunity"

Waives the state's sovereign immunity, allowing residents to seek relief through the superior courts from state or local laws that are found to violate the U.S. Constitution, state Constitution, or state law.

Referendum A

"Extend Charity Tax Exemption"

Exempts property taxes for property owned by a 501(c)(3) public charity as long as the property is owned exclusively for the purpose of building or repairing single-family homes and the charity provides interest-free financing to the purchaser of the home.

See also

• Voter suppression in the United States 2019–2020: Georgia
• Elections in Georgia (U.S. state)

References

1. ^ Lily Hay Newman (August 27, 2020), "How to Vote by Mail and Make Sure It Counts", Wired.com, archived October 6, 2020 at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ Michael P. McDonald, "2020 General Election Early Vote Statistics", U.S. Elections Project, retrieved October 10, 2020 Detailed state statistics
3. ^ "Democrats urge voters in Georgia to fix their absentee ballots before a Friday deadline", New York Times, November 6, 2020
4. ^ "Absentee By Mail Ballot Signature Cure Affidavit Form", Georgiademocrat.org, retrieved November 6, 2020
5. ^ "Georgia Supreme Court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
6. ^ Rankin, Bill (19 May 2020). "Two Georgia Supreme Court justices face election competition". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
7. ^ "Georgia intermediate appellate court elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 15 June 2025.

Further reading

• "Georgia likely removed nearly 200k from voter rolls wrongfully, report says", Cnn.com, September 2, 2020
• Sue Halpern (September 11, 2020), "Georgia Voters Get Another Reason to Be Worried", Newyorker.com
• David Weigel & Lauren Tierney (September 22, 2020), "The 50 political states of America", Washingtonpost.com, archived October 11, 2020 at the Wayback Machine Georgia
• Associated Press (October 12, 2020), "Technical problems arise as early voting starts in Georgia"
• Paulina Firozi (October 15, 2020), "Overloaded voter check-in system partly blamed for long early voting lines in Georgia", Washington Post
• Jeremy Hobson & Serena McMahon (October 16, 2020), "Two Georgia Voters Who Waited For Hours To Vote Early Describe The Process", Wbur.org

External links

• "Georgia 2020 Purge List", SaveMyVote2020.org, Los Angeles, CA: Palast Investigative Fund Check if you have been purged from the Georgia voter rolls
• "League of Women Voters of Georgia" (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Elections Archived November 12, 2008 at the Wayback Machine at the Georgia Secretary of State official website
• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Georgia", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Georgia: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org
• "Georgia 2019 & 2020 Elections", OpenSecrets
• "Election Guides: Georgia", Spreadthevote.org, archived from the original on October 4, 2020, retrieved October 7, 2020. (Guidance to help voters get to the polls; addresses transport, childcare, work, information challenges)
• "Voting in Georgia", Voting Information by State, Rock the Vote. ("Deadlines, dates, requirements, registration options and information on how to vote in your state")