The special election in District 71 of the Georgia House of Representatives is scheduled for September 3. Jill Prouty (D), Nina Blackwelder (R), Marcy Sakrison (R), and Philip Singleton (R) are running in the general election. In the event that no candidate receives a majority of votes in the general election, a runoff has been scheduled for October 1.
The seat was vacated when David Stover (R) resigned on June 25. In his resignation letter, Stover wrote that he wanted to be able to spend time with his family. Stover had represented District 71 since 2013. He was last re-elected in 2018 with 74% of the vote in the general election.
Heading into the election, Republicans have a 104-75 majority in the Georgia House with one vacancy. Georgia has a Republican state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.
As of August, 73 state legislative special elections have been scheduled or held in 24 states. Between 2011 and 2018, an average of 77 special elections took place each year.
Additional reading:
https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia_House_of_Representatives_District_71
https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_special_elections,_2019
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