Georgia 2010 Election Results

Georgia held its general election on November 2, 2010, deciding 236 legislative seats and 8 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• With Nathan Deal (R) winning the open governorship, Republicans kept full control of Georgia government and won every statewide office on the ballot, including all three that Democrats had held.
• Deal beat Roy Barnes (D) by about 10 points. Deal had resigned from Congress in March, before a congressional ethics investigation reached a final determination; Barnes was trying to win back the office he had lost to Sonny Perdue in 2002. In the open attorney general's race, Sam Olens (R) beat Ken Hodges (D) by about 9 points; Gary Black (R) won agriculture commissioner by about 16 points, and Mark Butler (R) won labor commissioner by about 14 points.
• The election left Republicans with a 108-71-1 House (Republicans, Democrats, and one independent) and a 35-21 Senate, and their margins grew before the session: within weeks, six House Democrats and one Senate Democrat elected in November switched to the GOP. By Deal's inauguration, Republicans were close to holding supermajorities in both chambers.
• In all, 6 legislative seats changed party, all but one toward Republicans. Three incumbents lost in November:
  • Sam Teasley (R) unseated Rep. Pat Dooley (D) in House District 38 by about 1,500 votes.
  • Valerie Clark (R) unseated Rep. Lee Thompson (D) in House District 104 by about 1,100 votes.
  • In the lone Democratic gain, Elena Parent (D) unseated Rep. Jill Chambers (R) in House District 81 by fewer than 300 votes in one of the most heated legislative contests of the year.
  Republicans also took House District 143, the seat House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D) left to run for governor; Matt Hatchett (R) beat Pablo Santamaria (D) by about 1,300 votes.
• Voters approved 4 of the 6 statewide measures, including Amendment 1, which let the legislature make reasonable non-compete agreements enforceable, and Referendum A, a business inventory tax exemption. They rejected Amendment 2, a $10 annual vehicle fee for trauma care, and, by fewer than 4,000 votes, Amendment 3, which would have allowed multiyear transportation construction contracts.

Legislature

• House (180 seats): 73 D, 101 R, 6 other or vacant before the election, 66 D, 113 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (56 seats): 22 D, 34 R before the election, 21 D, 35 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures