Blue Wave! Democrats prevail in national, state, local elections

By Carlton Fletcher & Kathryn Crockett

Albany Herald News

ALBANY – The historic election of Keisha Lance Bottoms as the nation’s first African-American woman governor, the return of Jon Ossoff to his seat in the U.S. Senate and the overwhelming control of both the U.S. House and Senate were only the beginning of Democrats’ complete control of Tuesday’s midterm election.

By the time the smoke had settled early Wednesday morning, all nine top state positions in the Georgia hierarchy had been claimed by Democrats in a stunning turn of events that marked a stark condemnation of President Trump and the Republican officials who had ruled in the country and state for decades.

Even Gerald Greene, the dean of the state Congress, was removed from the seat he’d held for 44 years, narrowly losing the House District 154 seat to former Dougherty County Commissioner Harry James. The Democratic onslaught was so complete, Democrats actually gained control of the state House for the first time in more than two decades.

By early Wednesday morning, Georgians woke up to the new reality that their leadership had been completely flipped, as Josh McLaurin won the lieutenant governor’s race, and Penny Brown Reynolds was elected secretary of state, Tanya Miller attorney general, Katherine Juhan-Arnold ag secretary, Keisha Waites insurance commissioner, Lydia Powell schools superintendent, Nikki Porcher labor commissioner (ousting Albany’s Barbara Rivera Holmes), and both Pete Hubbard and Sheila Edwards Public Service Commissioners, giving Democrats control of that body.

Locally, the Democratic train kept rolling, as Anthony Patterson defeated the Dougherty County Commission’s one Republican member, Russell Gray, by a 2,790-1,429 margin, a 66%-34% victory.

In addition to James’ victory, Republican Bill Yearta retained his District 152 seat, while Mike Cheokas was forced into a runoff by Democratic newcomer Ethan Wolf. U.S. House seats went to incumbent Democrat Sanford Bishop (District 2) and Republican Austin Scott (District 8).

NBC News projected Bottoms as the winner of the governor’s race at 9:05 p.m., her lead over Republican Rick Jackson too much for the tide to turn.

Meanwhile, Ossoff easily dispatched Republican challenger Mike Collins, earning the projection as Senator-elect only 30 minutes after polls in the state closed.

Bottoms’ victory ends more than two decades of Republican control of the governor’s office. The former Atlanta mayor will succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was term-limited..

The victory followed repeated campaign visits to southwest Georgia, where Bottoms emphasized rural investment, health care access and education. She visited Albany on May 15 during her “Our Rights, Our Future” tour, on the final day of early voting before the primary and returned on Saturday, three days before winning office..

During an Oct. 16 appearance at Albany’s Hilton Garden Inn, Bottoms addressed about 210 supporters after an introduction by former Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, an Albany resident. The event encouraged supporters to vote across the street at the Albany Civic Center.

“We came by today to say we haven’t forgotten about you, Albany,” Bottoms told the crowd. “We need you, Albany.”

In an interview with The Albany Herald during that visit, Bottoms said improving student literacy would require adequate school funding, a voice for parents and literacy coaches in every school.

She also called for reducing diesel costs, supporting cooperatives to help farmers obtain better prices on supplies and expanding broadband and business opportunities in rural communities.

Republicans made their own closing appeal to southwest Georgia on Monday, when Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson appeared at the Albany Jet Center at Southwest Georgia Regional Airport.

Jackson conceded Tuesday night.

“Tonight the voters spoke. And I respect their decision,” he said in his remarks.

Bottoms served as Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022, leading the city through the COVID-19 pandemic and protests following the killing of George Floyd. She declined to seek a second term and later served as an adviser to President Biden.

Her victory returns the governor’s office to Democrats for the first time since Roy Barnes won election in 1998. Barnes lost his re-election bid to Republican Sonny Perdue in 2002.

Ossoff said Tuesday’s election showed that time for change in America had arrived.

“In sweeping and decisive victories, the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the failed lame-duck president Donald J. Trump,” Ossoff said in his victory speech. “And if, at times these last two years, amidst the ceaseless onslaught of brutality and indecency, you doubted whether our republic would survive, let tonight’s results give you courage that the first light of dawn is on the horizon.”

The evening belonged to Democrats, as the nation emphatically let Trump and Republican leaders know they were not satisfied with policies that have the cost of living skyrocketing and the ongoing war with Iran that has gas and diesel prices at their highest levels ever raging on even as the president promised time after time that the war was ending.

It quickly became apparent during Tuesday’s voting that there would be a new world order in Washington in 2027. Experts projected that Democrats would easily gain control of the House in ‘27 by a margin projected to be as large as 255-180. Democrats gained the four Senate “flips” – in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Ohio – needed to take control of the upper chamber before the polls even closed in some Western states.

Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Annie Andrews in South Carolina, James Talarico in Texas and Sherrod Brown in Ohio won their elections to assure Democrats would have a majority in the Senate, even as other seats that were too close to call appeared to be headed toward Democrats as well.

In the end, with some races still undecided, Democrats had claimed at least 250 seats in the House, while taking control of the Senate by a 54-44 margin with races in Alaska and Mississippi still not decided.