Ballot Stakes, Close Races

Election Day, Nov. 3, 2026

Good Morning! A high-stakes Election Day; candidates push for votes in Coastal Georgia; and data centers on the agendas. Finally, we note some things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.

Looking for results tonight? Come to TheCurrentGA.org and see the balance of power in Georgia, nationally and, especially, in your local races.

NEWS: ELECTIONS

Dividers shield voting screens from onlookers at a Savannah voting site in the 2026 May Primary Election. Credit: Justin Taylor/The Current GA/CatchLight/Report for America

Still in play

It’s Election Day and for Coastal Georgians, the stakes are high. Voters are deciding who will succeed their congressman, Buddy Carter, and whether to give seven incumbent local state lawmakers — six Republicans and one Democrat — another two years in Atlanta.

They’re also deciding whether Democrat Jon Ossoff should get a second term as one of the state’s two U.S. senators and whether the GOP’s nearly quarter-century of control of the governor’s office will continue or a Democrat will become the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history. There’s also the composition of the state’s Public Service Commission.

More than 2.8 million Georgians — or 37.5 percent of the state’s 7.5 million active voters — have already cast ballots in three weeks of early voting, nearly all of them — 2.7 million — in-person, according to the secretary of state’s office.

In Bryan County, the percentage of active voters who cast ballots in early voting was 34.7 percent; in Chatham, 31 percent; in Effingham, 27.5 percent; in Glynn, 39.4 percent; and in Effingham, 27.5 percent.

Both statewide and in Coastal Georgia, these are historic turnout numbers for a midterm election. But there are still a substantial number of votes in play.

Georgia state law allows county elections officials to begin tabulating mail ballots when polls open at 7 a.m. on Election Day, so the first votes reported after polls close at 7 p.m. tonight will include those mail-in ballots and early in-person votes.

Historically, early ballots have tended to favor Democrats in Georgia, so Democratic candidates in competitive races could take early leads as initial reports on voting results are broadcast. As the evening goes on, those numbers may — and probably will — narrow considerably, as smaller, more rural, counties that traditionally vote Republican report their results.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has promised voters an early night.

“You can go to bed at night, before 12 midnight, knowing what the results are,” he said last week. “We are not going to keep you up to 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock in the morning. Those days are done. By 10 o’clock, I hope to be calling the governor and letting him know what the top of the ticket looks like.”

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NEWS: POLITICS

Closing arguments

With early voting across deep-red rural parts of the state lagging behind early balloting in more densely populated urban areas, GOP candidates on Monday made an election-eve push for votes in Coastal Georgia.

U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins addressed supporters and the media at Chatham County Republican headquarters in Savannah, his second visit to the area in five days.

Also, gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson touched down for a news conference at the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, accompanied by Gov. Brian Kemp, first lady Marty Kemp and other state Republican leaders.

The visit, Jackson’s second to Savannah in five days, was part of seven-city, whistle-stop tour of the state that included Canton, Perry, Albany, Augusta, Dalton, and Kennesaw.

Candidates for both parties, of course, have been making their closing arguments in what have been the most expensive midterm elections in Georgia’s history.

On Friday in Brunswick, Jackson’s Democratic opponent, Keisha Lance Bottoms, compared her race to the biblical tale of David and Goliath, The Current’s Jabari Gibbs reports.

“The power is in your hands,” Bottoms told the crowd, as she campaigned alongside 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Amanda Hollowell. “Let’s get it done.”

For a sampling of more closing arguments in the final days of campaigning, click here.

NEWS: POLITICS

‘Only poll that matters’

The candidates hoping to succeed Buddy Carter as Coastal Georgia’s representative to U.S. Congress took markedly different tacks on Election Eve. One hopscotched across the 1st District accompanied by at least two shiny black vans loaded with volunteers. The other hunkered down in the district’s largest city, orchestrating her campaign’s final hours.

Turnout was foremost on Republican Jim Kingston’s mind, as he addressed a packed room of supporters at Skipper’s Fish Camp in Darien, part of the candidate’s self-named get-out-the-vote tour that included stops in Savannah, Waycross and Jesup.

Kingston is seen as the race’s frontrunner, but he was leaving nothing to chance Monday. “This is a conservative area, and we are all conservative-minded,” he said. But neither that nor his 35-point victory over his nearest rival in the first round of primary voting in May should be taken for granted. “The only poll that matters is Election Day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Democrat Amanda Hollowell was in Savannah, monitoring the progress of doorknockers in Jesup, giving media interviews, and overseeing some 20 volunteers phoning registered voters who are waiting until Election Day to cast their ballots, said her campaign manager, Portia Allen-Kyle.

Despite her underdog status, Hollowell has embraced the prospect of a “blue wave,” hoping the Democrats at the top of the ballot — Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms — will help pull her to an upset victory. The main message from her volunteer callers to Election Day voters was simple: “Make sure you’re voting the entire ballot.”

NEWS: POLITICS

7 things for your radar

Watch parties: Area Republicans host a watch party at Coach’s Corner, 3016 Victory Ave. in Thunderbolt, starting at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Jeanne Seaver at JSeaver@PoliticsOutLoud.com. Democratic 1st District Congressional candidate Amanda Hollowell hosts a watch party at the Sentient Bean, 13 E. Park Ave. in Savannah, starting at 7:30 p.m. Republican 1st District Congressional candidate Jim Kingston hosts an election night party in Savannah starting at 7 p.m. For more information, contact JimKingston.org/rsvp.
Stays on ballot: A Georgia administrative judge rules that state House candidate David Dillie (District 161) can remain on the ballot in his campaign against Republican incumbent Bill Hitchens, after calls to disqualify the Democrat amid allegations that he voted in another state’s primary this year, The Current’s Margaret Coker reports.
Mystery money: Millions of dollars have been spent over the last two months to support Republican Josh Tolbert’s run for a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission, dwarfing spending on the other three candidates. Where that money came from is a mystery even to Tolbert, The Current’s Mary Landers reports.
Transition: State GOP chairman Josh McKoon confirms he’s stepping down from the post, saying “four years for me has definitely been long enough.” As for his successor, McKoon says it’s “really important to have strong leadership, not only at the Georgia Republican Party but throughout the conservative movement in Georgia because as soon as this election is over, the 2028 election will begin.”
Data centers (1): The Effingham County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote at its regularly scheduled meeting tonight on zoning rules that pave the way for construction of the $20 billion OpenAI data center near Rincon. A lawsuit filed earlier this year claims the county missed a step in its zoning procedures last year. The commission will also consider a new site plan for the project.
Data centers (2): The Camden County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote at its regularly scheduled meeting tonight on temporary moratorium on data centers.
Library fight: Pierce County and the Three Rivers Regional Library System have been sued by Blackshear resident LaVonnia Moore over allegations she was fired as manager of the county’s public library because she allowed a book about a transgender child to be part of a display.

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