Runoffs inevitable in Dem state Senate primaries
Longtime lawmakers leave behind crowded primaries
The retirements of three longtime Democratic state senators have attracted crowded primaries to succeed them in office, making runoffs all but inevitable.
State Sens. Horacena Tate, Gloria Butler and Valencia Seay are stepping down after tenures at the state capitol spanning more than two decades each. They are leaving behind open seats where, like most seats in the chamber, the only election that matters is the primary.
Both Butler and Tate have been in the Senate since the 1990s and are among the last surviving members of the Democratic majority that dominated the Gold Dome at the turn of the century.
Butler hopes that the pinnacle of her career — becoming the first African-American female caucus leader in the Georgia Senate — will inspire other Black women to run for office. But don’t ask the Stone Mountain Democrat and doting great-grandmother who should take her place.
That’s because she and her fellow Senate District 55 residents have five Democrats to choose from. Among them are registered nurse Iris Hamilton and a former state lawmaker named Randal Mangham.
Sen. Tate’s political career began long before her election to the Atlanta-based state Senate seat that was once held by her late father, Horace. But she is not running for re-election after missing most of this year’s legislative session due to illness.
A half-dozen Democratic candidates will be on the ballot for Tate’s District 38 seat, including nonprofit leader Rashaun Kemp, former state Rep. Ralph Long III and local small business owner Nate Green.
Kemp says that he is not deterred by the crowded race.
“I will continue what I have been doing to engage voters by knocking on doors, making phone calls, and hosting meet and greets to hear their concerns,” he said in a statement. “As voters learn about my experience as a high school principal, government official, and non-profit executive and my passion for making positive change, I believe they will join other sitting elected officials in supporting my candidacy and electing me the next State Senator for District 38.”
Sen. Seay’s impending retirement has left a field of seven Democrats to square off for District 34, just a few miles south of Atlanta.
The plethora of Democrats running in each seat — as State Sen. Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta) reminds us — makes it unlikely that any single candidate will emerge from the primary with more than 50 percent of the vote, which means the top two finishers are likely to advance to a runoff in June.
“If we’re still investing in state races in June — which we need to do, what does that do then to the presidential race,” asked Halpern.
Because all three seats have voted strongly Democratic in recent years — the departing incumbents have in the past faced scant or even no Republican opposition — these primaries are widely seen as the equivalent of a November general election.
State Sen. Jason Esteves attributes this phenomenon to redistricting. “While gerrymandering districts makes the general election less competitive,” the Atlanta Democrat says, “it also makes primary elections especially important and more competitive.”
While Halpern is excited to welcome new members to the ranks, she cautions supporters that the chamber’s current breakdown of 33 Republicans and 23 Democrats is unlikely to change.
“You might switch out a few personalities,” said Halpern. “But for the most part, the mix is going to be the same.”