Georgia Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2018

	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.

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:

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
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

External links[edit]

Suggest a link

Georgia superintendent of public instruction official website

Footnotes[edit]

↑ ^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.
↑ United States Census Bureau, "Quick Facts - Georgia," accessed January 3, 2018
↑ Georgia Demographics, "Georgia Cities by Population," accessed January 3, 2018

[gaextension-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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