Last week’s primary election didn’t feature any races with both a Democrat and a Republican on the ballot, but Georgia Democrats still feel like they won.If you are one of the more than 2 million Georgians who cast a ballot, you will likely recall the poll worker asking you to choose a Democratic, Republican or nonpartisan ballot.In all, Democrats pulled more than 1 million ballots to Republicans’ nearly 940,000, or about 52.6% to 45.4%.Charlie Bailey, celebrates May 3, 2025, after being elected as chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, replacing Atlanta U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia RecorderDemocratic Party of Georgia Chairman Charlie Bailey said that margin is the biggest for Democrats since 1998 and shows that voters are ready to line up in November behind candidates like U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominees for U.S. Senate and Georgia governor.“It’s just another piece of evidence of growing Democratic momentum, the work of the party, the strength of Jon Ossoff, the strength of Keisha Lance Bottoms coming into this governor’s race,” he said. “People are fed up with (Republicans), and what those numbers in the primary tell you is that that momentum is building towards November, when they’re going to vote these Republicans out.”In 2018, a midterm year with President Donald Trump in the White House and an open race for Georgia governor at the top of the ticket, Republicans pulled more ballots than Democrats by about 52% to 48%.Comparing the number of ballots drawn is not a perfect measure. Some people choose the other party’s ballot because they live in an area dominated by that party and they want to have a say in local races, or because they want to promote a weaker opponent for their candidate in the general election.Sen. Jon Ossoff. Ross Williams/Georgia RecorderStill, the discrepancy spells good news for Democrats looking ahead to the Nov. 3 election, says Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie.“What it connotes or implies is that Democratic candidates are capturing the imagination of voters in ways that, if this energy can be sustained, could be helpful for them in terms of flipping seats nationally, and in Republican states like Georgia, narrowing those margins between Democrats and Republicans, even in contests where Republicans are the odds-on favorite,” she said.Congressman Mike Collins and former coach Derek Dooley at their election night parties. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder and Alander Rocha/Georgia RecorderThe difference in ballots is even more notable because Republicans had more high-profile races, said University of Georgia political science professor Trey Hood. No Democrat challenged incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, while Republicans had competitive races for U.S. Senate and Georgia governor at the top of the ticket.Hood said it’s also notable that Republicans who voted on Election Day did not outnumber Democrats by a large margin. Republicans only had about 4,000 more voters on Election Day than Democrats, about 508,000 to 504,000. Hood said that might signal a shift in GOP voter behavior, with more conservatives preferring to cast a ballot during Georgia’s three weeks of early voting.“I don’t know that we can expect to necessarily see a huge surge in Republican turnout on Election Day anymore,” he said.Voter demographics strong for DemocratsFormer Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms gives a speech after winning the Democratic primary for governor outright. Jeff Amy/Georgia RecorderResults also show demographics that tend to favor Democratic candidates in Georgia had a strong showing.Statistically, Black voters in Georgia largely favor Democrats, and they made up nearly 32% of the vote.“If Black turnout was 31% in a general election, yeah, that would be probably a good Democratic year,” Hood said. “I mean, before now, the highest it’s ever been is about 29%. And the more Black turnout as a percentage of the total electorate, the less of the white share of the vote you have to draw off as a Democrat. So if that pattern held and Black turnout was 31% in the general, it would be big.”Rick Jackson and Burt Jones will face each other head to head in a June runoff. Photo credit: Ross Williams and Alander Rocha for the Georgia RecorderData from the secretary of state’s office also shows that the electorate was nearly 57% female and 43% male. That number is likely boosted by high turnout among Black women, who are registered to vote at a higher rate than Black men.Reality check?Still, the high Democratic turnout was not enough to land a pair of Democratic-aligned candidates on the state Supreme Court, and not everyone thinks the numbers show the wind is at Democrats’ back.Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon said turnout in primary elections does not correlate with general election turnout.McKoon said he chalks up the ballot discrepancy to the typical midterm backlash to the party in...
