Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Good morning! In the news today: It’s Primary Election Day. Two Democratic candidates for governor make pitches in Savannah; and two Republicans face off in a high-stakes election board race in Chatham County. Finally, we note some things you may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS: POLITICS
It’s here
It’s Primary Elections Day. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Results are expected to start dropping about 30 minutes later.
If you haven’t voted yet, be sure to click on The Current’s voter resources page, where you’ll find information on the candidates, sample ballots, and how to check your voter status, in case you were wondering. And check in with us at thecurrentga.org for the latest results as the evening unfolds.
In early voting in Chatham County, 23,497 people cast ballots in-person or by absentee ballot — or some 10.05% of the county’s 233,741 registered voters. In Glynn, the number was 8,338 people — or some 13.5% of the county’s 61,630 voters.
Statewide, a record 1.02 million Georgians voted early in-person or submitted absentee ballots. That’s 14% of the state’s 7.35 million active voters, according to the secretary of state’s office. The previous record for early voting in a Georgia primary was about 857,000 in 2022.
Primaries in Georgia are notoriously unpredictable, but early signs point to some momentum among Democrats, which may boost them in races for the Georgia Supreme Court and the Public Service Commission.
The secretary of state’s office said there were 154,000 more Democratic primary ballots cast early than Republican ones — a sign that Democrats may be viewing today’s election with a greater sense of urgency in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s redistricting ruling last month and Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement last week of a special session of the legislature in June to consider redistricting.
NEWS: POLITICS
The push for undecided voters
Two Democratic candidates for governor made last-minute campaign swings through Coastal Georgia to win over undecided voters and rouse their supporters to the polls on Tuesday.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta’s former mayor, blitzed through Coastal Georgia on Saturday, making stops in Waycross, Savannah and Statesboro. Jason Esteves, a former state senator from Columbus and previous chair of Atlanta’s election board, rolled into the Hostess City early Monday, The Current’s Margaret Coker and Craig Nelson report.
Although polls show Bottoms leading Esteves, Geoff Duncan, Michael Thurmond and three others ahead of Tuesday’s primary, her numbers don’t exceed the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff between the two top vote-getters. Esteves hopes to be one of those.
What makes the outcome of Tuesday’s voting so difficult to predict is the huge number of voters who tell pollsters they are undecided.
Despite Bottoms’ lead in the polls, the sparse audience that gathered to see her in Savannah — 15 people, not counting elected officials — seemed to illustrate the mixed feelings that persist about her among Democrats.
In his push for a spot in the runoff, Esteves declared that his campaign had the commodity that every candidate yearns for as election day draws near. “I have the momentum to get into that runoff and ultimately beat Keisha Lance Bottoms,” he told reporters.
NEWS: ELECTIONS
High stakes
Election board races in Chatham County have typically been low-key affairs, drawing only a fraction of the attention directed to contests for mayor, city council, governor, or congressman. Not this year, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
The race between James Hall and Vicki Bradley for one of two Republican seats on the Chatham County Board of Elections has become a test of the power of the county’s Republican Party committee and its ardently pro-Trump, “America First” leadership.
In an unusual move, the committee has endorsed Republican challenger, Bradley, in a bid to unseat Hall, the Republican incumbent.
A win by Bradley in elections on Tuesday would mark a major victory in efforts by the Chatham County Republican Party to define who is — and who is not — authentically Republican and conservative.
A loss, on the other hand, would be a blow to its efforts to solidify its brand of Republicanism in Chatham and make inroads into the county’s Democrat-dominated politics.
NEWS: UPDATES
ICYMI
- Not budging: Asked if he expects the state legislature to cease its efforts to gut Savannah’s gun ordinance following Gov. Brian Kemp’s veto of the legislation, Mayor Van Johnson told The Current: “I do not. They won’t cease and neither will we.”
- ‘My lifeline’: The Current’s Ariel Hart looks at one woman’s struggles to get healthcare for treatment her life-threatening injuries as health insurance premiums soar.
- ‘A new routine’: The Current’s Maggie Lee examines Georgia’s new voter list maintenance initiative in Chatham County.
- ‘Torn away’: “It’s like my soul has been torn away,” Ginger Hunter tells The Current’s Margaret Coker, following the wildfires in Brantley County that destroyed her wedding business.
- ‘Institutional integrity”: Former Chatham County elections supervisor Billy Wooten is named member of the Georgia Advisory Council of Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic education organization that “seeks to build public trust and strengthen institutional integrity.”
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Governor candidates Esteves, Bottoms make final push for votes in Coastal Georgia
Keisha Lance Bottoms and Jason Esteves made last-minute campaign swings through Coastal Georgia to win over undecided voters and rouse their supporters to the polls, with Bottoms leading in the polls but needing to exceed the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff.
Chatham County elections board race tests power of local GOP’s ‘America First’ faction
The Chatham County Republican Party has endorsed challenger Vicki Bradley in an effort to unseat incumbent James Hall from the Election Board, in a race that has become a test of the party’s power and its “America First” leadership.
Brantley County wildfire victims await federal aid as damage assessment continues
After wildfires destroyed nearly 200 homes and businesses in Brantley County, Georgia, residents are struggling to find assistance. Federal officials can’t tell them when they can tap disaster resources.
Georgia early voters top 1M, breaking primary election record
Georgia voters broke a turnout record for early voting in a primary election, with Democrats having a 15 percentage point advantage over Republicans, and Governor Brian Kemp expressing concern about the Democratic turnout advantage.
Georgia, Chatham election officials target ‘potentially vacant’ homes
Chatham County, Georgia sent out 1,313 letters to registered voters whose addresses were flagged as ‘potentially vacant’, but no voter registrations have been canceled as a result of the letters and the process is intended to maintain accurate voter rolls.
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