In 2006, all thirteen of Georgia's U.S. House seats were up for election. Neither of the Peach state's U.S. Senate seats were up for election that year.
All thirteen of Georgia's incumbent Representatives sought re-election in 2006. Going into the elections, Republicans held seven of Georgia's U.S. House seats and Democrats held six seats. Notable House races in Georgia included those in the Fourth, Eighth, and Twelfth districts. Despite significant gains by Republicans in Georgia since 2002, such as consecutive Republican victories since in Presidential elections since 1996, gaining both of Georgia's U.S. Senate seats, the election of Sonny Perdue as Georgia's first post-Reconstruction Republican governor in 2002, successful elections of Republicans to other state executive offices, and gaining control of both chambers of the Georgia General Assemblyfor the first time since Reconstruction, Democrats have succeeded in gaining seats of Georgia's House delegation in recent House elections. Following gains in both houses of the General Assembly in 2002 and 2004, Republicans enacted a mid-decade redistricting to alter the congressional districts created by the 146th Georgia General Assembly, which Democrats held control of at the time, with the intention of benefiting Republicans. Two Democratic incumbents who were especially targeted were Jim Marshall and John Barrow. They were opposed respectively by former Representatives Mac Collins and Max Burns. These two races were among the most competitive in the nation, but ultimately resulted in both incumbents being re-elected by razor thin margins of 1 and 0.6 percentage points respectively. The partisan makeup of Georgia's House delegation did not change, however one Incumbent, Cynthia McKinney, was denied renomination by her 59% to 41% defeat in the Democratic Primary runoff to then-Dekalb county Commissioner Hank Johnson.
Governor
In the Republican primary, incumbent Sonny Perdue defeated challenger Ray McBerry by a margin of 88 percent to 12 percent. In the Democratic primary, Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor defeated state Secretary of StateCathy Cox, Bill Bolton, and Mac McCarley with 51.7 percent of the vote to Cox's 44 percent, Bolton's 2 percent, and McCarley 2 percent. LibertarianGarrett Michael Hayes faced Perdue Mark Taylor in the general election. Independent John Dashler withdrew from the race, unable to collect the 40,000 signatures required for ballot access. Perdue was re-elected to a second term, winning 57.9 percent of the vote.
Incumbent state Supreme CourtAssociate Justices George H. Carley, Harold Melton, Hugh P. Thompson, and Carol W. Hunstein were all re-elected with three being unopposed. Only Hunstein received any opposition, which she overcame handily.
