The 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the

governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's Georgia National Guard, National Guard, when not in federal service, and Georgia State Defense Force, State Defense Fo ...

. Incumbent Republican Governor

Brian Kemp Brian Porter Kemp (born November 2, 1963) is an American politician serving as the 83rd governor of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Kemp served as the state's 27th Georgia Secretary of Sta ...

won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic nominee

Stacey Abrams Stacey Yvonne Abrams (; born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. A member ...

in a rematch. Abrams conceded on election night. The primary occurred on May 24, 2022. Kemp was sworn in for a second term on January 9, 2023. Kemp was endorsed by former

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

and former president

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. He faced a primary challenge from former

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

David Perdue David Alfred Perdue Jr. (born December 10, 1949) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman serving as the List of ambassadors of the United States to China, United States ambassador to China since 2025. A member of the Republican Pa ...

, who was endorsed by former president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

after Kemp refused to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump ultimately gave Kemp a last-minute endorsement in the general election. Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

and founder of

Fair Fight Action Fair Fight Action is an American political organization founded in 2018 by Stacey Abrams to address voter suppression in Georgia and across the United States. Origins Stacey Abrams had long been involved with the Democratic Party, serving as ...

who was narrowly defeated by Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election, was once again the Democratic nominee for the governorship. This was Georgia's first gubernatorial rematch since

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

Republican primary

Incumbent governor Brian Kemp faced criticism from former president

for his refusal to overturn the results of the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

. Kemp was booed at the Georgia Republican Convention in June 2021, and in December former senator

announced a primary challenge to Kemp and was promptly endorsed by Trump. Initial polling showed a competitive race, however, Kemp significantly outraised his opponent and signed conservative legislation such as permitless carry of firearms and a temporary suspension of the gas tax that shored up his position among voters, and on election day, he won by over 50 points, a margin far larger than predicted.

Candidates

Nominee

, incumbent governor (2019–present) and former

secretary of state of Georgia The secretary of state of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public record Public records are documents or pieces of information that are ...

(2010–2018)

Eliminated in primary

*Catherine Davis, HR professional *

, former U.S. senator from Georgia (2015–2021) *Kandiss Taylor, conservative commentator, host of the "Jesus, Guns, and Babies" show, and candidate for U.S. Senate in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

*Tom Williams, civil service retiree

Withdrawn

* Vernon Jones, former

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

(1993–2001, 2017–2021, Democratic until 2020) and CEO of

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johann de Kalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama DeKalb County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Alabama, northeastern part ...

(2001–2009) (''endorsed Perdue'') ''( ran for U.S. House in GA-10)''

Declined

* Doug Collins, former

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for (2013–2021) and candidate for U.S. Senate in

Herschel Walker Herschel Junior Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election ...

, former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player ''( ran for U.S. Senate)''

Debates

Endorsements

Fundraising

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls
Runoff polling
Doug Collins vs. Brian Kemp
Marjorie Taylor Greene vs. Brian Kemp
Brian Kemp vs. David Perdue
Brian Kemp vs. Herschel Walker

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

, founder of

, former minority leader of the

(2011–2017) and nominee for governor in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Declined

Kasim Reed Mohammed Kasim Reed (born June 10, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 59th List of mayors of Atlanta, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia's state capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), ...

, former mayor of Atlanta (2010–2018) ''( ran for mayor)''

Endorsements

Results

Independent and third-party candidates

Declared

*Al Bartell (independent), businessman,

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

veteran, and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

*Shane T. Hazel (Libertarian), radio host, Republican candidate for in

, and

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

nominee for U.S. Senate in

General election

Predictions

Debates

Endorsements

Fundraising

Polling

Aggregate polls
Graphical summary
Vernon Jones vs. Stacey Abrams
Doug Collins vs. Stacey Abrams
David Perdue vs. Stacey Abrams
Marjorie Taylor Greene vs. Stacey Abrams
Herschel Walker vs. Stacey Abrams

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican *

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

(Largest city: Milledgeville) *

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

(Largest city: Fort Gaines) * Jefferson (Largest city:

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

) *

Sumter Sumter may refer to: People Given name * Sumter S. Arnim (1904–1990), American dentist * Sumter de Leon Lowry Jr. (1893–1985), United States Army general Surname * Rowendy Sumter (born 1988), Curaçaoan footballer * Shavonda E. Sumt ...

(Largest city: Americus)

By congressional district

Kemp won nine of 14 congressional districts.

Analysis

Shane T. Hazel, the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in

, also declared he would run. This race was one of six Republican-held governorships up for election in 2022 in a state carried by

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

in the 2020 presidential election. Kemp won his first term by a narrow 55,000-vote margin (1.4%) in 2018, which was Georgia's closest gubernatorial election since

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. In 2022, however, pre-election forecasting showed a solid lead for Kemp throughout and he ultimately won re-election by nearly 300,000 votes (7.5%) - the largest raw vote victory for a Georgia governor since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. The race was seen as a potential benefit to

, who ran in the concurrent Senate race, as it was speculated Kemp's strong performance could help Walker avoid a runoff. He underperformed compared to Kemp, however, and narrowly lost to incumbent Democratic senator

Raphael Warnock Raphael Gamaliel Warnock ( ; born July 23, 1969) is an American politician and Baptists, Baptist pastor serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, ...

in the December 6 runoff election. This was the first time since 1998 that Georgia voted for different parties for Senate and Governor.

Voter demographics

Voter demographic data was collected by

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. The voter survey is based on

exit poll An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. A similar poll conducted before actual voters have voted is called an entrance poll. Pollsters – usually private companies working fo ...

Notes

Partisan clients

References

External links

Official campaign websites
Stacey Abrams (D) for Governor

Al Bartell (I) for Governor

Shane T. Hazel (L) for Governor

Brian Kemp (R) for Governor
{{2022 United States elections

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

November 2022 in the United States May 2022 in the United States

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrawn

Declined

Debates

Endorsements

Fundraising

Polling

Graphical summary

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Declined

Endorsements

Results

Independent and third-party candidates

Declared

General election

Predictions

Debates

Endorsements

Fundraising

Polling

Results

By county

By congressional district

Analysis

Voter demographics

See also

Notes

References

External links