Georgia Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2018

Elections in Georgia, 2018

* General election: Nov. 6
* Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9[1]
* Early voting: Oct. 15 - Nov. 2
* Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

* Online registration: Yes
* Same-day registration: No
* Voter ID: Photo ID required
* Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

* * *

On the ballot: U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Democratic primaries • Republican primaries

2022 →

<- 2014

Georgia Superintendent of Public Instruction

Election details
Filing deadline: March 9, 2018
Primary: May 22, 2018
Primary runoff: July 24, 2018 (if needed)
General: November 6, 2018
General runoff: December 4, 2018 (if needed)

* * *

Pre-election incumbent(s):
Richard Woods (Republican)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Georgia
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness
State executive elections in 2018
Impact of term limits in 2018
State government trifectas and triplexes
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018
Georgia
executive elections
Governor

Lieutenant governor
Attorney general
Secretary of state
Agriculture commissioner
Insurance commissioner
Labor commissioner
Superintendent of public instruction
Public service commissioner

Georgia held an election for superintendent of public instruction on November 6, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was March 9, 2018.

## Contents

* 1 Candidates and election results
* 2 State overview
* 2.1 Partisan control
* 2.1.1 Congressional delegation
* 2.1.2 State executives
* 2.1.3 State legislature
* 2.1.4 Trifecta status
* 2.2 2018 elections
* 2.3 Demographics
* 3 State election history
* 3.1 Historical elections
* 3.1.1 Presidential elections, 2000-2016
* 3.1.2 U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016
* 3.1.3 Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016
* 3.1.4 Congressional delegation, 2000-2016
* 3.1.5 Trifectas, 1992-2017
* 4 Recent news
* 5 See also
* 6 External links
* 7 Footnotes

## Candidates and election results[edit]

General election

##### General election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Incumbent Richard Woods defeated Otha Thornton in the general election for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on November 6, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

✔ |

| Richard Woods (R)  |

53.0

| 2,048,003

| Otha Thornton (D)  |

47.0

| 1,814,461

* * *

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

| Total votes: 3,862,464

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary runoff election

#####  Democratic primary runoff for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Otha Thornton defeated Sid Chapman in the Democratic primary runoff for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on July 24, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

✔ |

| Otha Thornton |

59.1

| 86,704

| Sid Chapman |

40.9

| 60,006

* * *

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.

| Total votes: 146,710

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

#####  Democratic primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Otha Thornton and Sid Chapman advanced to a runoff. They defeated Sam Mosteller in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on May 22, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

✔ |

| Otha Thornton |

43.9

| 208,407
✔ |

| Sid Chapman |

36.5

| 173,270

| Sam Mosteller |

19.7

| 93,402

* * *

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.

| Total votes: 475,079

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

#####  Republican primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools

Incumbent Richard Woods defeated John Barge in the Republican primary for Georgia State Superintendent of Schools on May 22, 2018.

Candidate

Votes

|
|
|

✔ |

| Richard Woods |

60.1

| 324,848

| John Barge |

39.9

| 215,431

* * *

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

| Total votes: 540,279

|
|

= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

## State overview[edit]

### Partisan control[edit]

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in Georgia heading into the 2018 elections.

#### Congressional delegation[edit]

* Following the 2016 elections, Republicans held both U.S. Senate seats in Georgia.
* Republicans held 10 of 14 U.S. House seats in Georgia.

#### State executives[edit]

* As of September 2018, Republicans held 12 of 15 state executive positions, while three positions were held by nonpartisan officials.
* The governor of Georgia was Republican Nathan Deal. The state held an election for governor on November 6, 2018.

#### State legislature[edit]

* Republicans controlled both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly. They had a 114-64 majority in the state House and a 37-19 majority in the state Senate.

#### Trifecta status[edit]

* Georgia was a Republican trifecta, meaning that the Republican Party controlled the state government. Nathan Deal (R) served as governor and Republicans controlled the state legislature.

### 2018 elections[edit]

See also: Georgia elections, 2018

Georgia held elections for the following positions in 2018:

* 14 U.S. House seats
* Governor
* Nine lower state executive positions
* 56 state Senate seats
* 180 state House seats
* Municipal elections in DeKalb and Fulton Counties

### Demographics[edit]

Demographic data for Georgia

| Georgia| U.S.
Total population:| 10,199,398| 316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):| 57,513| 3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:| 60.2%| 73.6%
Black/African American:| 30.9%| 12.6%
Asian:| 3.6%| 5.1%
Native American:| 0.3%| 0.8%
Pacific Islander:| 0%| 0.2%
Two or more:| 2.1%| 3%
Hispanic/Latino:| 9.1%| 17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:| 85.4%| 86.7%
College graduation rate:| 28.8%| 29.8%
Income
Median household income:| $49,620| $53,889
Persons below poverty level:| 21.1%| 11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Georgia.

* * *

**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

As of July 2017, Georgia's three largest cities were Atlanta (pop. est. 470,000), Columbus (pop. est. 200,000), and Augusta (pop. est. 200,000).[2][3]

## State election history[edit]

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Georgia from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Georgia Secretary of State.

### Historical elections[edit]

#### Presidential elections, 2000-2016[edit]

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Georgia every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Georgia 2000-2016

Year  | First-place candidate  | First-place candidate votes (%)  | Second-place candidate  | Second-place candidate votes (%)  | Margin of victory (%)
2016 |  Donald Trump | 51.1% |  Hillary Clinton | 45.9% | 5.2%
2012 |  Mitt Romney | 53.3% |  Barack Obama | 45.5% | 7.8%
2008 |  John McCain | 52.2% |  Barack Obama | 47.0% | 5.2%
2004 |  George Bush | 58.0% |  John Kerry | 41.4% | 16.6%
2000 |  George Bush | 55.0% |  Al Gore | 43.2% | 11.8%

#### U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016[edit]

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Georgia from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Georgia 2000-2016

Year  | First-place candidate  | First-place candidate votes (%)  | Second-place candidate  | Second-place candidate votes (%)  | Margin of victory (%)
2016 |  Johnny Isakson | 54.8% |  Jim Barksdale | 41.0% | 13.8%
2014 |  David Perdue | 52.9% |  Michelle Nunn | 45.2% | 7.7%
2010 |  Johnny Isakson | 58.3% |  Mike Thurmond | 39.0% | 19.3%
2008 |  Saxby Chambliss | 49.8% |  Jim Martin | 46.8% | 3.0%
2004 |  Johnny Isakson | 57.9% |  Denise Majette | 40.0% | 17.9%
2002 |  Saxby Chambliss | 52.8% |  Max Cleland | 45.9% | 6.9%

#### Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016[edit]

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Georgia.

Election results (Governor), Georgia 2000-2016

Year  | First-place candidate  | First-place candidate votes (%)  | Second-place candidate  | Second-place candidate votes (%)  | Margin of victory (%)
2014 |  Nathan Deal | 52.8% |  Jason Carter | 44.9% | 7.9%
2010 |  Nathan Deal | 53.0% |  Roy Barnes | 43.0% | 10.0%
2006 |  Sonny Perdue | 57.9% |  Mark Taylor | 38.2% | 19.7%
2002 |  Sonny Perdue | 51.4% |  Roy Barnes | 46.3% | 5.1%

#### Congressional delegation, 2000-2016[edit]

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Georgia in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Georgia 2000-2016

Year  | Republicans  | Republicans (%)  | Democrats  | Democrats (%)  | Balance of power
2016 |  10 | 71.4% |  4 | 28.6% | R+6
2014 |  10 | 71.4% |  4 | 28.6% | R+6
2012 |  9 | 64.3% |  5 | 35.7% | R+4
2010 |  8 | 61.5% |  5 | 38.5% | R+3
2008 |  7 | 53.8% |  6 | 46.2% | R+1
2006 |  7 | 53.8% |  6 | 46.2% | R+1
2004 |  7 | 53.8% |  6 | 46.2% | R+1
2002 |  8 | 61.5% |  5 | 38.5% | R+3
2000 |  8 | 72.7% |  3 | 27.3% | R+5

#### Trifectas, 1992-2017[edit]

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Georgia Party Control: 1992-2022
Eleven years of Democratic trifectas • Eighteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year  | 92  | 93  | 94  | 95  | 96  | 97  | 98  | 99  | 00  | 01  | 02  | 03  | 04  | 05  | 06  | 07  | 08  | 09  | 10  | 11  | 12  | 13  | 14  | 15  | 16  | 17  | 18  | 19  | 20  | 21  | 22

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Governor | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R
Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R
House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R

## Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Georgia superintendent of public instruction election 2018. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Georgia Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2018 - Google News

## See also[edit]

Georgia government:

* Georgia state executive offices
* Georgia State Legislature
* Georgia courts

Elections:

* Georgia state executive official elections, 2018
* Gubernatorial elections, 2018
* Lieutenant gubernatorial elections, 2018
* Attorney General elections, 2018
* Secretary of State elections, 2018
* State executive official elections, 2018, 2017, 2016

Ballotpedia exclusives:

* State executives compensation
* State of the state addresses
* Trifecta control of state government

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## External links[edit]

| Suggest a link

|

* Georgia superintendent of public instruction official website

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The registration deadline was extended to October 16, 2018, in Clay, Grady, Randolph, and Turner counties by executive order of Gov. Nathan Deal in response to Hurricane Michael.
2. ↑ United States Census Bureau, "Quick Facts - Georgia," accessed January 3, 2018
3. ↑ Georgia Demographics, "Georgia Cities by Population," accessed January 3, 2018

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