Georgia Voters Decide Fate of Ossoff and Kemp Successor in Tight Midterm

Georgia voters will choose their next governor, one U.S. senator, and their full congressional delegation in next week's election.

The state is among the most competitive in the nation, with both major parties spending heavily to secure a win in the closing days of the campaign. President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama both held rallies in the state this week to finalize their parties' messages before the vote.

The Senate race pits incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff against Republican Mike Collins. According to MS NOW polling averages, Ossoff holds a lead of 52.6 percent to 42.4 percent. Ossoff, who was first elected in a 2021 runoff, is campaigning on issues of affordability, healthcare, and government accountability. He has accused Trump and his allies of corruption at recent rallies. Collins, who secured his nomination in a June runoff, is running on a platform that supports Trump's agenda, stricter immigration enforcement, and a smaller federal government.

The governor's race appears much closer. NBC polling categorizes the contest as a toss-up. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, is challenging Republican Rick Jackson, a 72-year-old billionaire. Bottoms is running on a platform of affordability, healthcare access, education funding, and environmental regulation. Her campaign states she aims to provide steady leadership for working families amid uncertainty in Washington. If elected, she would become the first Black woman to serve as a U.S. governor.

Jackson is spending more than $200 million of his own money on advertisements that focus on crime in Atlanta. Those ads feature footage from demonstrations and violence that followed the 2020 killing of Rayshard Brooks, an unarmed Black man, by a white police officer during Bottoms' tenure as mayor. Jackson has accused Bottoms of failing to address crime during her time in office.

Trump has made Georgia a personal focus, citing his 2020 dispute over the state's presidential results. He campaigned twice in Dalton over the past two weeks. At his rallies, Trump told voters he would reward states that support him and warned that the situation could differ if Ossoff is reelected. He acted out a hypothetical scenario where Ossoff calls for state funding, with Trump responding that he does not care what the senator wants.

Voters in Georgia will also select representatives for all 14 congressional districts, as well as the lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state. Currently, nine of the state's 14 House seats are held by Republicans and five by Democrats. NBC has forecast the state's overall outcome as likely Democratic, though the governor's race remains highly contested.

Americans have been casting ballots for weeks. The University of Florida's election lab reports that 40 million ballots have already been cast, a pace that compares to the 45.9 million early votes recorded in the 2022 midterm elections.