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Early in-person voting begins ahead of Georgia's May 21 primary and judicial elections

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Early in-person voting begins ahead of Georgia's May 21 primary and judicial elections


ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters are beginning to have their say on party primary races and nonpartisan judicial elections.

Three weeks of early in-person voting is set to begin Monday ahead of the May 21 election, when parties will choose their nominees for congressional and state legislative seats, as well as for local races including sheriffs, district attorneys and county commissioners.

May 21 also is the general election for judicial candidates, who run on a nonpartisan basis.

Mail-in ballots were sent last week to those who had requested them, while people can continue to request a mail ballot through May 10.

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Among the top races are a state supreme court race between incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson and challenger John Barrow and primaries in the 3rd Congressional District, where incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson is stepping down.

Runoffs will be held June 18 in races where candidates don’t win a majority in May.

Here’s a look at the election and some top races:

CONGRESSIONAL SHOWDOWN

Six Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination to succeed Ferguson in a district that runs along the Alabama border from Carrollton to Columbus and swings east into the Atlanta suburbs around Peachtree City and Fayetteville.

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed his onetime aide Brian Jack for the seat. Also seeking the nomination are former state Sens. Mike Crane and Mike Dugan, former state Rep. Philip Singleton, Jim Bennett and Ray Blair.

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On the Democratic side, Val Almonord and Maura Keller are seeking their party’s nomination in the heavily GOP district.

STATE SUPREME COURT

The May 21 vote is the general election for judicial candidates, who run without party labels.

Incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson, who was appointed to the court by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022, is trying to win a six-year term. He is opposed by John Barrow, a former Democratic congressman. Barrow says he believes Georgians have a right to abortion under the state constitution, while Pinson says it’s inappropriate for him to talk about issues and important not to make the race partisan.

Justices Michael Boggs, John Ellington and Nels Peterson are unopposed. Six judges on the Georgia Court of Appeals are also unopposed, while Jeff Davis and Tabitha Ponder are contending for an open seat on that intermediate court of appeal.

OTHER CONGRESSIONAL RACES

Incumbent U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath and David Scott, both Democrats, face challengers from their own party in redrawn districts.

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Scott faces six challengers in the 13th District in Atlanta’s southern and eastern suburbs. They include former East Point City Council member Karen René, former South Fulton City Council member Mark Baker and attorney Brian Johnson. On the Republican side, Jonathan Chavez is running against Johsie Fletcher.

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath has jumped from the 7th District to run in the 6th District, on the western side of metro Atlanta. She’s being challenged by fellow Democrats Mandisha Thomas, a state representative, and Jerica Richardson, a Cobb County commissioner.

LOCAL RACES

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, in the national spotlight for her prosecution of former President Trump and others, faces attorney Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding in the same case, is being challenged by lawyer and talk show host Robert Patillo. Lawyer Tiffani Johnson was disqualified from challenging McAfee.

WHAT WILL TURNOUT BE LIKE?

While 5 million or more Georgians could vote in November’s presidential election, history suggests many fewer people will vote in the primary.

In 2016, the last time the state primaries didn’t coincide with the presidential primary, only one-fifth as many people voted in May as in the presidential general election in November. With few hotly contested congressional primaries, races for county offices may be what bring voters to the polls in some parts of Georgia.

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DA Fani Willis appears before Georgia Senate panel

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DA Fani Willis appears before Georgia Senate panel


Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies before a Georgia State Senate committee in Atlanta as she ends her year-long legal fight over a subpoena and defends her actions in the Trump election interference case.

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One of Georgia Tech’s best, Haynes King readies for Yellow Jackets finale

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One of Georgia Tech’s best, Haynes King readies for Yellow Jackets finale


Georgia Tech

A day after receiving ACC honors, Tech’s senior quarterback refocuses on BYU and the bowl game.

Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King (center) and his family react during a senior night event prior to his final home game Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, against Pittsburgh at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. (Hyosub Shin AJC)

As Haynes King’s time in Atlanta and as a member of the Georgia Tech football program wanes, the inimitable quarterback is soaking in the last few days with teammates while basking in the glow of winning a pair of individual ACC awards.

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King was presented two trophies Tuesday — one for being named the ACC player of the year and the other for being named the ACC offensive player of the year — during halftime of Tech’s basketball win over Marist at McCamish Pavilion. The senior was joined by Tech coach Brent Key, Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert, Tech President Angel Cabrera and the ACC’s senior vice president for football, Michael Strickland.

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Chad Bishop

Chad Bishop is a Georgia Tech sports reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.



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Georgia Senate set to question Fani Willis over Trump prosecution – WTOP News

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Georgia Senate set to question Fani Willis over Trump prosecution – WTOP News


ATLANTA (AP) — After more than a year of legal maneuvering, Fani Willis will face questions Wednesday from a Georgia…

ATLANTA (AP) — After more than a year of legal maneuvering, Fani Willis will face questions Wednesday from a Georgia state Senate committee over her prosecution of Donald Trump.

The question is whether Fulton County’s Democratic district attorney will answer any of them.

The Republican-dominated state Senate in January 2024 created the Special Committee on Investigation to examine allegations of misconduct against Willis concerning her case seeking criminal convictions for efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Even before Trump embarked on a retribution campaign against his enemies, Republicans on the Georgia committee were eager to bring Willis in for questioning.

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When Willis announced the indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, she used the state’s anti-racketeering law to allege a conspiracy to try to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Republicans didn’t like that, but the committee has focused on Willis’ hiring of special prosecutor Nathan Wade to lead the election interference case. The resolution creating the committee said a romantic relationship between the two amounted to a “clear conflict of interest and a fraud upon the taxpayers.” But now the case is defunct after Willis was removed and another prosecutor dismissed it. Thus far, the committee has turned up few new facts regarding Willis’ activities. And she may choose to be guarded after Trump called Willis a “criminal” who should be “prosecuted” and “put in jail.”

Democrats have decried the panel as a partisan time-waster driven by political ambition. Four Republicans on the committee are running for statewide office in 2026. Chairman Bill Cowsert of Athens is running for attorney general, while Sens. Greg Dolezal of Cumming, Blake Tillery of Vidalia and Steve Gooch of Dahlonega are each seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Another Republican who had been on the committee, John Kennedy of Macon, resigned from the Senate last week to pursue his own bid for lieutenant governor.

Amid a court battle over the committee’s power to order her to appear, Willis didn’t show up last year when subpoenaed. A judge agreed that Willis couldn’t ignore the subpoena, and her lawyers worked out an agreement for Willis to appear when the subpoena was reissued this year.

But Roy Barnes, the former Democratic Georgia governor representing Willis, told state Supreme Court justices last week in a hearing over the validity of an earlier subpoena that there may be limits to what Willis will answer.

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“You can’t just pick somebody out and say, ‘We’re going to embarrass you; we’re going to try you; we’re going to harass you,’” Barnes told justices. “So we’ll make an appropriate objection at the time. I’m not a potted plant.”

Willis’ prosecution began to fall apart in January 2024, when a defense attorney in the case alleged that Willis was involved in an improper romantic relationship with Wade.

In an extraordinary hearing, both Willis and Wade testified about the intimate details of their relationship. They both vehemently denied allegations that it constituted a conflict of interest.

The trial judge chided Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment,” ultimately ruling that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did hours later.

But after defense attorneys appealed, the Georgia Court of Appeals cited an “appearance of impropriety” and removed Willis from the case. The state Supreme Court in September declined to hear Willis’ appeal.

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