Incumbent Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has been declared the winner in a tightly contested race against Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan. Multiple Georgia news organizations called the race for Carr on Wednesday morning, with Carr leading Jordan by just over 5% of the vote with more than 95% of votes having been tallied.
Abortion was the most prominent issue in the contest, and in re-electing Carr, Georgia voters selected the candidate who will enforce the state’s near-total ban that was enacted by the legislature in 2019 and put in force following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs decision.
On June 24, the day the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the Dobbs case, Carr’s office filed a notice with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta requesting that it reverse an earlier decision and allow the state’s “heartbeat law” to take effect. The law prohibits doctors in Georgia from providing abortion services to women in cases where a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which typically occurs about six weeks after conception. It includes limited exceptions for medical emergencies and cases involving rape or incest.
In contrast, Jordan pledged throughout the campaign that if she was elected, she would challenge the law in state court as being in violation of the state’s Constitution. She also said during the campaign that she “would not enforce” the law, and that she would “use whatever tools I have” to “protect the fundamental right” to abortion.
