Republicans Abandon Five State Legislature Seats In Gwinnett County

February 27th, 2018

Five Republican lawmakers will leave their Legislature seats in Gwinnett County open for November’s elections.

Branden Camp / Associated Press

Five Republican lawmakers will leave their state House and Senate seats in Gwinnett County open for November’s elections. That’s got state Democrats licking their chops.

State Reps. Brooks Coleman and David Casas confirm they’re retiring. State Rep. Joyce Chandler’s told the Gwinnett Daily Post she will too.

State Rep. Buzz Brockway and State Sen. David Shafer are leaving to run for higher office.

“I believe here in a couple of cycles Gwinnett’s going to be, in Republican eyes, a given Democratic county just like Fulton or Dekalb,” said Michael Smith with the state Democratic Party.

Smith’s points to Gwinnett’s growth and increasing diversity and the fact that the county went Democratic in the 2016 presidential election.

GOP officials in Gwinnett and with the state party say they’re not concerned about the open seats. They say turnover is normal.

Still, they’re not taking the open seats for granted.

“We are going to be heavily invested in Gwinnett County. Simply because Georgia Republicans are in the majority in this state, doesn’t mean we’re going to take these seats lightly,” said Carmen Bergman, executive director of the state Republican party.

Qualifying for this year’s general elections starts Monday.