Jason Harrill

Dr. Steven Borelli

PSC 316
24 July, 2014
Reversal of Fortune Assignment: Georgia
Currently, every statewide-elected executive officer is Republican. These Republican
Party members [and their positions], are as follow; Nathan Deal [Governor], Casey Cagle
[Lieutenant Governor], Brian Kemp [Secretary of State], Sam Olens [Attorney General], Ralph
Hudgens [Comptroller General/Commissioner of Insurance], Gary Black [Commissioner of
Agriculture], John Barge [Superintendent of Education], and lastly, Mark Butler [Commissioner
of Labor].
Both Congressional Senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, are Republican.
Democratic Congressional House delegates are Sanford Bishop, Hank Johnson, John Lewis,
John Barrow and David Scott. These men represent Districts 2, 4, 5, 12 and 13, which
constitutes a mere 5 out of Georgias 14 total districts. The other 9 districts (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11 and 14) are currently represented by the following Republican delegates; Jack Kingston, Lynn
Westmoreland, Tom Price, Rob Woodall, Austin Scott, Doug Collins, Paul Broun Jr, Phil Gingrey
and Tom Graves.
The 152nd Georgia General Assembly, or state legislature, is the current General
Assembly. The Georgia General Assembly has 236 members which consist of 157 Republicans,
78 Democrats and one Independent.
Within the Upper House, there are a total of 56 seats. Of those 56, 18 are occupied by
Democrats while the other 38 are Republicans. The highest position in the Senate, President of

the Senate, is held by the Republican Lieutenant Governor, Casey Cagle. The President Pro
Tempore, Senator David Shafer, is a Republican as well.
Within the Lower House of the State Legislature, there are 180 available seats. Anon, 119
belong to Republicans, while 60 are Democrats, and one is an Independent. Statistically, 66.1%
of the State-level House Representatives are Republicans, while the Democrats control a meager
33.3%, followed by the one Independent from Milledgeville, GA (same town as Honey BooBoo) with .6%. The Lower House Officers are; David Ralston - House-elected Speaker, Jan
Jones - Speaker Pro Tempore, plus the clerk of the House - William L. Reilly, and all three are
Republicans.
Republicans are currently in power of every elected position in the state, which is the first
instance of this happening since the Reconstruction. In the 2013-2014 elections the Democratic
Party and its affiliates have 5 incumbents and 19 candidates. The Republican Party has similar
number of candidates, a total of 22, but obviously has a far greater number of incumbents which
stands at a total of 19.
The Georgian Republican Party (GAGOP), is figure headed by Governor Nathan Deal.
The GAGOP controls both Congressional Senate seats, 9 of the 14 Congressional House seats,
and all 13 of the 13 state constitutional offices.
Open seats the Senate, U.S. House of Representatives race for Congressional Districts 1,
10 and 11 plus the open office for the Superintendent of Education have produced the greatest
degree of active competition between parties
Georgia Republican U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss plans to retire in 2014, and this open Senate
seat has resulted in a serious campaign effort from Democratic Party and its candidate, Michelle

Nunn. Despite a highly active campaign, Nunn did not have enough votes, and lost to the
Republican opponent David Perdue.
In the SoE election, candidate Valarie D. Wilson received 33% in the 20 May 2014
Primary and went on to win the Runoff on July 22nd. John Barge is the Republican would-beincumbent, but he opted out of incumbency to enter the gubernatorial race, leaving the
Republican ballot split in the Runoff between Mike Buck with 20% from the Primary and
Richard Woods with 17%. In a close call, Woods overcame that 3% difference and won the
runoff to become the Republican nominee for State School Superintendent. However, if the 3%
difference that was overcome by the Republican nominee is any precursor to the general election
results, then the Democratic Party has a good, fighting chance to win the SoE election.
Of the 9 Republican Congressional House Delegates, 6 were re-nominated and 3 were
left open. Conversely, all of the Democratic Congressional House Delegates were re-nominated
leaving no open seats and 5 incumbents. As for the Congressional House nominations in districts
1, 10 and 11, the Republican candidates won 10 and 11, but the district 1 Runoff resulted in both
the Republican nominee, Earl Buddy Carter and the Democrat nominee, Brian Reese,
continuing their race on into the General election in November.
Two major policies made by Republican officeholders since the GOP has become the
dominant party would first be the success of education reform by Gov. Perdue alongside the
failure of them with Gov. Deal, and second would be Gov. Deals biggest health care
accomplishment which was the blockage of Medicaid expansion.
Perdue's main focus in office has been on reforming state government, and improving
education. On education, Governor Perdue focused on empowering the local levels to make

decisions for themselves on their own. Under Perdues guidance, Georgia improved its national
ranking for SAT scores, bringing the State from dead-last as 50, up to 46th for a time.
The current Governor, Gov. Deal, has noted his increase of over $500 million towards
public school funding, yet forgets to mention the significant under-funding that public schools
still face, leaving local school boards to take the heat from frustrated teachers and struggling
parents express their discontent. Since 1985, the General Assembly has devised a Quality Basic
Education (QBE) formula to determine the necessary yearly funding for schools to provide a
basic level of education for its students and he has come up short by about $1 billion every year
since he was in office.
Not only has Public school funding been a failure in education reform by the GAGOP,
but college scholarship funding became a failure as well. A scholarship program deemed the
HOPE scholarship has provided full financial aid for students who met the requirements and this
helped many afford college who other-wise may not have been able to. Shortly after Deal was
elected, he announced a gift to future generations of Georgias outstanding students which was
followed up by the opposite with budget cuts for the HOPE scholarship and increased
requirements. Since this policy reform, HOPE recipients fell from 256,000 students in 2010-11
to the current number just under 160,000. Not only has the number of recipients gone done but
so has its scholarship amount. While the scholarship had previously covered the full cost of
tuition and books, it now merely covers 60 percent of tuition and the mandatory fees of a typical
student.
While Gov. Deal brags about his health care accomplishment, he is preventing 600,000
uninsured Georgians from medical coverage, has aided in shutting down four hospitals as well as
initiate a rural hospital crisis. Despite the federal government picking up the tab for 100

percent of the cost for three years and 90 percent after that, Gov. Deal has persistently blocked
Medicaid expansion which has kept more than 600,000 uninsured Georgians from gaining
coverage to-date. These actions have angered the NAACP whom have stated their discontent and
belief that Governor Deal has signed death warrants for thousands who will die needlessly
every year. So far, only four hospitals in rural areas have shut down, partly due to the health
care accomplishments of Gov. Deal, however, a trade association of rural hospitals called
Hometown Health estimated that another 15 hospitals could close if Gov. Deals policies
continue.
Become more moderate or even conservative to gain the white vote. Nunn tried this
technique, and even portrayed herself as a Conservative by frequently referring to her time spent
on a committee for President George Bush. Although this did not help her win in the Primary
Runoffs, she still had a significant backing and large support. So, this tactic may work with better
results for other democrats, but I believe that conservative positions should be taken for key
controversial policies, like the Safe Carry Protection Act.
Also, an increase in funding for Democratic candidates would help the Democratic Party
re-gain a place in state politics. In many of the 2013/2014 races, the Republican candidates
greatly outspent their Democratic counterparts, but if this was reversed, then I would bet that the
Democrats could establish a root of state political power within numerous parts of GA and then
spread to more areas across the South.
The current state of the Democratic Party in Georgia state politics, is that of a powerful
but consistently outnumbered political party. It would seem that all which need be done in order
for the Democrats to re-gain power, is to lay-in-wait until the typical scandal or unfavorable

policy change creates a public outrage which can be used by the Democrats to make themselves
seem like the knights in shining armor.

[ http://www.politics1.com/ga.htm ]
[ http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G14/GA#G ]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Republican_Party ]
[ http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G14/GA#G ]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Perdue
http://bettergeorgia.com/content/nathan-deals-failures-and-scandals#sthash.3Lp98ish.dpuf
http://bettergeorgia.com/content/nathan-deals-failures-and-scandals