When Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) suddenly announced her retirement from her Senate District 44 seat on March 5 — just a day before the qualifying period ended — Rep. Saira Draper (D-Atlanta) quickly swooped in to get on the ballot. She’s running with Parent’s endorsement against Nadine Thomas in the Democratic primary for the now-open SD 44 seat.
Draper’s last-minute move precipitated a flurry of five Democratic primary candidates to run for her now-open House District 90 seat: Nicole Horn, Bentley Hudgins, Howard Mosby, Matthew Nursey, and Leisa Stafford.
The last-minute switcheroos left one of Parent’s constituents, Matthew Woodruff, thinking that his Democratic representatives had acted somewhat undemocratically. “That timing made it extraordinarily difficult for new candidates to step forward and offer voters a choice,” he said in a Decaturish letter to the editor. “In many states, political norms encourage incumbents who plan to retire to announce that decision before candidate qualifying begins, specifically so that potential candidates have adequate time to organize campaigns and present voters with meaningful choices.”
In another surprise, Rep. Park Cannon (D-Atlanta) decided not to seek reelection for her House District 58 seat – and also didn’t give much advance notice. That set up a last minute scramble, with Demetria Henderson, Edith Ladapo, Kyle Lamont, and Mathewos Samson qualifying for the ballot. It’s a safe blue seat, so voters will effectively decide in the Democratic primary who’ll replace Cannon.
HD 58 overlaps with Atlanta City Council District 2, which elected its first Democratic Socialist, Kelsea Bond, last November. Eager to press their advantage, several members of the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) local chapter recruited Samson, also a DSA member, to run for the seat. The DSA hasn’t yet officially endorsed Samson — but their formidable ground game will make for a tough primary for the three Democrats in the race
