State Supreme Court races are normally quiet affairs in Georgia. Not anymore.
Two liberal-backed challengers will attempt Tuesday to unseat conservative-supported incumbents. Former state Sen. Jen Jordan is running against Justice Sarah Warren, and personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin is facing Justice Charlie Bethel. Justice Benjamin Land is unopposed.
Former President Barack Obama has endorsed Jordan and Rankin, while two-term GOP Gov. Brian Kemp has thrown his support behind the incumbents, his leadership PAC dropping $500,000 on the race.
Republican governors appointed eight of the nine judges on the court. But if the two Democratic-backed candidates win in Tuesday’s election, that raises the possibility of flipping the ideological balance of the court in 2028, when three more GOP-appointed members face reelection.
Years of high-profile election litigation in Georgia have trained a spotlight on the state’s high court, which has issued key rulings on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, the scope of state voting laws, and state-level efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
