by Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Republican Jason Dickerson cruised to a strong finish ahead of a Democratic challenger in the special election Tuesday to fill a vacant state Senate seat in the northern suburbs of metro Atlanta.
Dickerson, a businessman from Canton in Cherokee County, took about 60% of the vote against Alpharetta lawyer Debra Shigley in the low turnout race, winning with a commanding majority that was still smaller than Republican margins last year.
Democrats held out hope that Shigley would turn the red bastion blue after a strong showing in the Aug. 26 special election.
She had taken 40% of the vote, well ahead of Dickerson, in second place with 17%. But Shigley was the sole Democrat while Dickerson was splitting voters with five other Republicans.
He consolidated those voters on Tuesday to deliver a solid victory in state Senate District 21.
Dickerson had a financial edge, raising three times more campaign dollars than Shigley, with $750,000 as of last week, a third from himself.
The Senate seat was open because Brandon Beach, who hailed from Alpharetta, vacated it in early May after President Donald Trump appointed him to be U.S. Treasurer.
Dickerson’s win secures Republicans’ 33-23 advantage in the state Senate. It also maintains GOP control of the General Assembly given the party’s majority in the House.
“National Democrats and left-wing special interests threw everything they had at this race, but voters yet again rejected their out-of-touch radical agenda,” said Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, the Senate majority leader.
The outcome also secures the Republican bastion in north Fulton County and north Cherokee County, where Trump won two votes for every one for Kamala Harris in the November presidential election.
The turnout of about 30,000 was well below the 115,000 in November. The Republican margin was also smaller. Beach was re-elected in November with 70% of the vote, 10 percentage points more than Dickerson took Tuesday. Trump won 66% of the district’s votes.
The state Democratic Party saw Shigley’s loss as a victory of sorts, saying she “overperformed” compared with the outcome last year.
Harris won 33% of the votes in the district against nearly 40% for Shigley.
“Republicans having to play defense in a ‘safe’ district is a sure sign that they’ll continue struggling to defend their toxic agenda all the way through 2026,” said Charlie Bailey, chairman of the Georgia Democrats. He said his party will follow Shigley’s example, competing everywhere for working families whether the district is red or blue.
Anavitarte said Democrats lost because “liberal keyboard warriors were yelling into the void about flipping this seat” while Dickerson’s campaign focused on basics like lower taxes, the economy and safety.
