Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson have been projected to win large victories of their races for seats on Georgia’s Public Service Fee on Tuesday, with 20-point margins over incumbent Republicans on the five-member utility board.
The uncommon statewide wins got here as Democrats additionally romped to victory in elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere, elevating hopes of a “blue wave” in subsequent yr’s congressional midterms.
Georgia is an important swing state in presidential elections, breaking for President Donald Trump final yr after Joe Biden’s slender victory in 2020.
The Democrats’ campaigns for spots on the utility fee, which regulates telecommunications and energy corporations, centered on affordability and criticized incumbent Republican commissioners Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols for approving fee hikes.
“We are able to deliver clear, dependable, and inexpensive power to Georgia,” Hubbard mentioned at a marketing campaign occasion final week, according to the Macon Telegraph. “We are able to put a reimbursement in your pockets, not the pockets of utility executives.”
Calling Hubbard and Johnson socialists and devotees of “DEI,” Republicans sounded the alarm final month that energized Democrats may pull off an upset within the off-year election. They have been proper to fret.
Nichols conceded in a social media post on Tuesday night.
“Congratulations to Dr. Alicia Johnson for her well-fought victory tonight,” he wrote. “I pray your expertise on the PSC might be as significant as mine. Godspeed to you.”
Nationwide Democrats solid their victories in Tuesday’s elections as a repudiation of President Donald Trump, whose favorability has reached new lows amid cussed inflation and a authorities shutdown in Washington.
“Johnson and Hubbard gained tonight’s Georgia Public Service Commissioner race by specializing in the difficulty that issues most to Georgians: decreasing prices,” Democratic Nationwide Committee chair Ken Martin mentioned in an announcement. “This victory is a direct response to Trump’s cost-raising agenda that’s squeezing pocketbooks in Georgia and throughout the nation.”
