Five candidates are running in the May 19 general election for three seats on the Georgia Supreme Court

Three seats on the Georgia Supreme Court are up for general election on May 19, including two Republican appointed and supported justices facing challenges from Democratic-backed candidates.

State supreme court elections in Georgia are nonpartisan. Incumbents Charlie Bethel, a former Republican member of the Georgia Senate, and Sarah Hawkins Warren were appointed by Republican governors and endorsed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R). They are facing Miracle Rankin and Jen Jordan, respectively, who have support from Georgia’s Democratic Party. Jordan was the Democratic nominee for Georgia’s Attorney General in 2022. Incumbent Ben Land, appointed by a Republican governor, is running unopposed.

Republican governors have appointed all current justices — except John Ellington — to the Court. Ellington — who a Democratic governor appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals in 1999 — was initially selected to serve on the Court via a 2018 nonpartisan election. Governor Nathan Deal (R) endorsed him in that election.

If Rankin and Jordan win their respective races, that would bring the number of Democratic-affiliated justices to two. If Bethel and Warren win their respective races, the number of Republican-affiliated justices would remain at eight. In our 2020 analysis of state supreme court justices, Ellington received a confidence score of Indeterminate.



https://news.ballotpedia.org/2026/05/07/five-candidates-are-running-in-the-may-19-general-election-for-three-seats-on-the-georgia-supreme-court/