Duluth-area voters will vote twice for Senate District 7 candidates in the May 19 primary — once in a special election to fill the remainder of Sen. Nabilah Parkes’ (D-Duluth) current term through December, and again in the primary election for the 2027-2028 term.
Parkes resigned in March to run for lieutenant governor, which opened up the safe Democratic seat. The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office scheduled the special election to fill the remainder of her term on May 19 — the same day as the primary for the next SD 7 term.
This has raised concerns that Duluth voters may wonder why they are voting twice for the same seat on their May 19 ballots.
To clear things up, here are the three candidates for the special election to replace Parkes through the end of the year. They will appear on the ballot for all SD 7 voters.
- Astrid Ross, a Democrat. Ross is also running in the Democratic primary for SD 7.
- Aizaz Shaikh, a Republican. Shaikh is also the sole Republican running in the GOP primary for SD 7.
- Adrienne White, a Democrat. White is only running for the SD 7 special election, and not in the Democratic primary. She aims to serve only as an interim “caretaker” office-holder through December.
The three Democratic primary candidates for SD 7 are: Ross, plus Rahul Garabadu, and Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-Duluth).
Garabadu said he decided not to run in the special election so he can focus on the general primary for the seat’s 2027-2028 term. Romman said she’s not running in the special election, so Democratic SD 7 voters can pick a neutral “caretaker” candidate for the office through December.
What’s more, Romman would have been required to resign her House District 97 seat to run in the special election. She said she’s “morally opposed” to doing that, because it would prevent her from voting on important legislation before Sine Die — the last day of Georgia’s legislative session on April 2. It would also leave her constituents with no representation in either the state House or Senate for the tail end of the session.
Romman added that resigning her HD 97 seat to run in the SD 7 special election would trigger another special election for her seat — causing even more confusion.
