Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in Georgia

Kelly Dittmar

Gender Watch 2018From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

 

Ahead of the Georgia primary election on May 22, 2018, we outline the numbers and proportions of women who have filed as candidates for congressional and statewide office. The data below also provide points of historical comparison to give context to today’s presence and potential success of women candidates.

All data are provided from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. For a full list of the women candidates in GA primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 1 of 16 members of the Georgia congressional delegation (6.3%)
Filed: 9 (8D, 1R)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R): 18.8% (9 of 48)

SENATE

Current: 0 of 2 senators

  • Just one woman has served in the U.S. Senate from Georgia. In 1922, Rebecca Latimer Felton was appointed to fill a vacancy and served one day. She was the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. No Georgian woman has served in the Senate since then.

THERE IS NO U.S. SENATE RACE IN GEORGIA THIS YEAR.

HOUSE

Current: 1 of 14 representatives (7.1%)

  • A total of 6 (5D, 1R) women have represented Georgia in the U.S. House, including current Representative Karen Handel – the first Republican woman to serve in Georgia’s congressional delegation.
  • Of the 3 women who have served in Congress from Georgia since 1964, 2 are Black women: Denise Majette (D, 2003-2005) and Cynthia McKinney (D, 1993-2003, 2005-2007).

Filed:  9 (8D, 1R)

  • Republican incumbent Karen Handel is running for re-election this year.
  • All 8 Democrat women candidates for the U.S. House are running to challenge Republican incumbents in the general election.
  • There are no open seat contests for the U.S. House in Georgia this year.
  • Of the 9 women candidates for the U.S. House this year, 4 (4D) are Black women.

Districts with Women Candidates: 4 of 14
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R):  18.8% (9 of 48)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  27.6% (8 of 29)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 5.3% (1 of 19)

Recent history: The number of women who filed for major party candidacy for the U.S. House in Georgia in 2018 is greater than any other year between 2008 and 2018. Between 2008 and 2018, the next highest number of women candidates filed to run for the U.S. House was 6 in 2010, when there was 1 open U.S. House seat being contested. This year, there are no open House seats in Georgia.

  • The highest number of Democratic women running for the U.S. House in Georgia between 2008 and 2016 was 3 in 2008 and 2016. This year, 8 Democratic women filed to run for House seats. The highest number of Republican women candidates in the past decade was 4 in 2010 and 2014. Just one Republican woman candidate is running this year.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0
No woman has ever served as governor of Georgia.

Filed: 2 (2D)

  • 2 women are competing against each other for the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s open gubernatorial office. Both Stacey Abrams and Stacy Evans are Georgia state representatives.
  • No Republican women are competing for governor of Georgia this year.

Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R):  28.6% (2 of 7)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates:  100% (2 of 2)
Percent of all Filed Republican Gubernatorial Candidates: 0% (0 of 5) 

Recent history: Just one other woman – Karen Handel (R) – has run for governor of Georgia in the past decade. She was defeated in the Republican primary. No woman has ever been a major party nominee for governor in Georgia.

  • If nominated, Stacey Abrams would not only be the first woman and the first woman of color general election candidate for governor in Georgia. She would also be the first Black woman major party nominee for governor nationwide. 

OTHER STATEWIDE ELECTED EXECUTIVE OFFICES

Current: 1 of 12 positions (excludes governor) (8.3%)

Filed:  9 (7D, 2R)

  • 2 women are competing against each other for the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s open office of lieutenant governor. They have no male opponents. No Republican women are competing for lieutenant governor of Georgia this year.
  • Democratc Dee Dawkins-Haigler is running for the state’s open secretary of state office. She has 2 male opponents.
  • 3 (2D, 1R) women are running for insurance commissioner. The race for the Democratic nomination is all-female, and Republican Tracy Jordan has 2 male opponents in her campaign for this open seat.
  • 3 (2D, 1R) women are running for public service commissioner. 2 (1D, 1R) are running for their party’s nomination in the statewide race to represent the 5th district, including Republican incumbent Tricia Pridemore. 1 Democratic woman is running statewide for the 3rd district seat to challenge a Republican incumbent.

Percent of all Filed Statewide Executive (other than governor) Candidates (D/R): 24.3 % (9 of 37)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Statewide Executive (other than governor) Candidates (D/R): 35 % (7 of 20)
Percent of all Filed Republican Statewide Executive (other than governor) Candidates (D/R): 11.8 % (2 of 17)

Recent history: The number of women who filed for major party candidacy for statewide elected executive offices (other than governor) in Georgia in 2018 is not a record high. In 2014, 13 (9D, 4R) women filed as candidates for these offices.

Georgia has never elected a woman of color to statewide elected executive office.

  • Of the 11 women candidates for statewide executive office (including governor) this year, 4 (4D) are Black women.
Kelly Dittmar headshot

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers–Camden and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll) and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015).

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