In last week’s midterm elections, the results of local legislative races in Chatham County may not have drawn headlines equaling those heralding Democratic Party victories in the races for governor and U.S. Senate.
But for Chatham’s residents, government offices, public schools and businesses, the outcome of those below-the-radar races may have been just as consequential.
For the first time in decades, Democrats will hold a majority in the nine-member delegation that represents Chatham County in the Georgia General Assembly, following two stunning upsets in the county’s western reaches.
How the startling victories of Democrats David Dillie (District 161) and Stephanie Burgess (District 164) over two longtime Republican incumbents will affect Chatham-related affairs in the state capitol is set to start taking shape this week, as House and Senate lawmakers hold party caucuses to elect new party leaders and hammer out their priorities for the new session.
The path ahead for the new Chatham delegation to Atlanta will crystallize further in early December, when it holds a public meeting at Savannah Technical College to solicit comments and recommendations on next year’s legislative agenda.
Questions remain, not the least is when the delegation will choose a successor to Ron Stephens, its longtime leader. Stephens lost to Burgess by 1,200 votes in his bid for a 16th term in the state House. It was not even clear how they will select a new leader and what, if any, role seniority will play.
“We’re in somewhat uncharted territory,” state Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook (District 163) said.
A new era in state government
The transformation of the Chatham delegation is but one change that will reshape Georgia’s politics in the weeks and months ahead.
In last Tuesday’s historic elections, Democrats won all statewide offices, flipped the state House of Representatives, gained four seats in the state Senate, and secured a majority on the Public Service Commission. With the swearing-in of a new governor and legislature on Jan. 11, more than two decades of one-party GOP rule in Atlanta — one which saw it control the governor’s office and both chambers of the legislature — will end. A new era of Democratic led, albeit divided, state government will begin.
Prior to Tuesday’s political earthquake, the Chatham delegation was already poised to have new faces.
Incumbent Democrats Carl Gilliard (District 162) and Edna Jackson (District 165) had decided not to seek reelection. Stepping into their seats were fellow Democrats MiQuan Green and Orlando Scott, both of whom ran unopposed in last week’s election.
What was wholly unexpected were the victories of Dillie and Burgess. That flipped the majority on Chatham’s delegation from 5-4 in favor of Republicans to 6-3 in favor of Democrats.
Burgess defeated Stephens by 5.14%t of the 23,698 votes cast, according to unofficial results. Meanwhile, Dillie beat Bill Hitchens by 818 votes, or 3.7% of the 22,152 ballots cast, despite a challenge to his presence on the ballot that a judge rejected just five days before Election Day. Hitchens first won election to the House in 2012; Stephens in 1996.
A reputation for cooperation, harmony
The makeup of Chatham’s delegation to Atlanta is important because of the formal role such delegations play in the legislative process.
The state legislature, rather than a city council or a county commission, has some powers over certain very local issues in every community. That can include the power to set up and write rules for agencies like Chatham Area Transit. Or power to name state infrastructure, like the bridge over the Savannah River that is still formally known as the Talmadge Bridge.
Enter the Chatham delegation.
It has often reached a consensus among its members about local legislation to be put forward for the General Assembly’s approval — that consensus speeds bills that just affect one county through the legislative process. It also has been an important sounding board and channel for residents, the business community, the county commission and the county school system seeking new legislation and changes to current law.
Under Stephens’ leadership, this two-fold task has largely been smooth and free of partisan rancor, said current delegation members, both Republican and Democrat alike.
Stephens has been a “great leader of the delegation,” said Rep. Jesse Petrea, a Republican. “We’ve always avoided dissension on local measures, and Ron has been the face of that.”
The relative harmony among delegation members hasn’t meant that the delegation hasn’t committed missteps, at least in the view of some influential constituents.
At a recent meeting to discuss next year’s legislative agenda, Chatham public school officials expressed confusion to Stephens and at least one other delegation member in attendance about Republican-sponsored tax-cutting measures.
The officials singled out a Stephens-backed ballot measure to cap school property tax exemptions for homeowners, which was approved by voters last Tuesday. The cap, one official said, failed to spell out the implications for the funding of local public schools.
Still, the delegation has often set aside partisanship to do what its members thought best for residents of the county — most notably, championing legislation last year to reform the often ineffective and scandal-ridden board of directors of Chatham Area Transit (CAT). In doing so, it infuriated the chairman of the Chatham Board of Commissioners, Chester Ellis, and prompted a lawsuit.
‘Good governance’
As Democrats move into a majority on the delegation and a successor to Stephens is chosen, the question is whether — and how much — its reputed internal harmony will continue.
The delegation’s Democrats, especially its four first-time lawmakers, will be under pressure to deliver on their promises of change.
“I think the delegation’s focus will be on good governance for the people of Chatham County and leaving partisanship out of it,” said Rep. Ann Allen Westbrook, a Democrat.
At the same time, citizens of the county “want life to work a little more easily for them. They want affordability to be addressed. They want housing prices that they can afford. They want gas that they can afford. They want strong public schools.”
Misreading a mandate is always a peril, especially following an election blowout like last Tuesday’s. But the delegation’s Democrats, especially its youngest members, believe they have one to pursue those goals, Westbrook said.
“We’ve got some young folks that will have fresh energy and a fresh perspective because life’s different for young folks in 2026 than it was for my generation when I was in my 20s. It’s great to have some young folks in the delegation and bringing the concerns of that generation to the forefront.”
Uncertain path
How the new Chatham delegation will take one of its first steps — choosing a new leader — is, like much of the path ahead for lawmakers, uncertain.
Petrea indicated the role would fall to the most senior member of the delegation. If so, that would be Republican Sen. Ben Watson, who won reelection on Tuesday to a seventh term.
Watson didn’t respond to a message left on his phone on Friday seeking comment about his desire to assume the post.
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