Today, following the 2026 candidate qualifying period, DPG announced that Democrats are running in a record-shattering 204 state legislative races, contesting 88% of House seats and 82% of Senate seats – Democrats’ highest number of qualified candidates and contested seats under the Gold Dome in at least three decades.
“This year, Georgia Democrats are contesting more state legislative races than we have since last century. These record-shattering numbers are just the latest sign of the undeniable momentum we’re building across the state,” said DPG Chair Charlie Bailey. “Georgians are sick and tired of two decades of failed Republican leadership, and they’re fired up for change. We look forward to giving Republicans hell in every single one of these 204 seats – because as we’ve seen with our historic wins over the last year, when we compete everywhere, we can win anywhere.”
In the State House, Georgia Democrats qualified 231 candidates to run in 158 out of 180 districts. In the State Senate, 78 candidates qualified to run in 46 out of 56 districts. Democrats have not contested this many state legislative races since at least 1996 – the oldest year that records are available on the Secretary of State’s website. In Georgia’s last midterm election year, Democrats contested roughly 71% of races in each chamber.
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