Republicans in Georgia have been getting blown out in the counties that make up the Atlanta metropolitan area — so they have a new idea to try to stop it, reported the Associated Press: eliminate party labels for local elections there.
"The Republican-majority Georgia House on Friday gave final passage to a bill that would require nonpartisan elections in the five most populous counties in metro Atlanta. Among officials affected would be Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whom Republicans have repeatedly targeted because of her prosecution of Republican President Donald Trump after he pushed to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s key win in Georgia in 2020."
Willis' prosecution of Trump was ultimately derailed after state courts disqualified her following a misconduct complaint from Republicans about her alleged romantic relationship with a subordinate working on the case with her — which they claimed was being financed improperly by taxpayer money being spent on the case.
"State Sen. John Albers, a Republican from the Atlanta suburb of Roswell who pushed the bill, said he believed it was needed to promote public safety, even though the counties’ elected sheriffs will continue to be elected under party labels when it goes into effect in 2028," noted the report.
The growth of the Atlanta area, and the rapid shift of the suburban counties around it toward Democrats, have played a massive role in Georgia transitioning from a reliably Republican state into one with two Democratic senators, that voted for former President Joe Biden in 2020.
This is not the first time Republicans have tried to manipulate partisan status for races to try to gain an advantage.
In Ohio, where Republicans have seen dominance for years, the party added partisan labels to state Supreme Court races, as a number of Democratic-aligned candidates were seeing more success there than in partisan offices.