(The Center Square) – With all 56 state Senate seats up for grabs on Tuesday, Republicans maintained the majority.
Republicans kept a 33-23 majority over Democrats, not losing a single seat.
Terms for senators are two years. Twenty-nine was the magic number for a majority, which Republicans surpassed.
Republicans first took chamber power in 2002, the same year they took the governor’s seat. Since 2004, when Republicans also took the state House, there has been a Republican trifecta in Georgia’s state government.
That said, Democrats have been slowly closing the gap in the Senate since 2016, when they held only 18 seats. The 2022 election led to the smallest margin between the parties since 2002.
This meant that this election would be very telling for each party’s control in the state. Another potential for shakeup was that since the last election in 2022, there has been redistricting across Georgia.
Yet, experts told The Center Square that they expected the only toss-up seat to be District 48, which has a growing Asian Indian population. There, Republican incumbent Shawn Still was challenged by Democratic political newcomer Ashwin Ramaaswami. With all precincts reporting, Still won the seat with 52% of the vote.