While the percentage of elected women legislators under Georgia’s Gold Dome has increased giving more women “seats at the table” where decisions are made, women still must be elected in far greater numbers to achieve true power for passing bills.
In 1987, the percentage of women serving in Georgia’s General Assembly finally broke into the double digits, with 11 percent women. The historically highest percentage of Georgia women legislators ever was 34.7 in 2024. Following electoral defeats, resignations and one death in office, the current number of Georgia women legislators has dropped to 31.4 percent. Democratic women legislators outnumber their Republican colleagues almost three to one.
A record setting number of women have qualified to run for legislative seats this cycle which has the most contested races in modern Georgia political history. A total of 148 women qualified, with 116 of them Democrats and 32 of them Republicans. There are many contests where there are multiple women candidates and between nine and 14 contested November races where Democratic and Republican women will face off.
Women must be elected in numbers Republicans can’t ignore if they are to wield true power which produces the ability to both pass good laws and policy directives and defeat bad bills. With Republicans holding a trifecta of power in both Georgia legislative chambers since 2004, Democrats have lacked the ability to effectively pass legislation without working across the aisle to gain bi-partisan support. Many great Democratic legislative initiatives have been “hijacked” by Republicans during the past 22 years.
Recently, House Speaker John Burns appointed members to ten 2026 Study Committees and 12 WIN List endorsed women are among the appointments. The committees which will work throughout the remainder of the year to gather facts and hear from citizens, stakeholders, and experts on key issues.
An examination of the appointment list reveals Democrats and women are shortchanged when it comes to committee membership. In general, the committees are stacked with two thirds or more Republican members even though the margin of House control is slimmer. Further, with two exceptions, all of the committees have a comparatively smaller number of women members despite the fact women comprise 51.2 percent of Georgia’s population
12 WINning Women Appointed to Study Committees
Georgia WIN Lis congratulates the 12 currently serving WIN List legislators who are among the almost 80 legislators appointed to serve on one of ten 2026 Study Committees announced by Republican House Speaker Jon Burns last week.
The disproportionately male and Republican composition of the committees clearly demonstrates why it is so important to elect more Democratic women this election cycle. It is past the time for women of both parties to rise above holding only one third of the seats in Georgia’s General Assembly. Women not only deserve to be “in the rooms where it happens” but to have a greater number of “seats at the table” where important decisions are made, budgets are balanced, and compromises are crafted.
The WIN List endorsed legislators serving on the newly appointed committees are as follows:
Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Community Health and Healthcare Oversight – Reps. Anissa Jones of Macon and Debbie Buckner of Junction City are among the three Democrats to serve on a ten-person committee which also includes one Republican woman.
Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Local Government Taxation, Funding, and Budgeting has ten members, with only two Democrats, one of whom is Rep. Yasmine Neal of Jonesboro the only woman on the committee from either party.
Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Criminal Post-Conviction Litigation has one Republican woman member and only one Democratic member, Rep. Scott Holcomb, a great friend and generous donor to Georgia WIN List.
Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Youth Exposure to Kratom and Retail-Available Substances has seven members, with the two WIN List endorsed Democrats, one a physician and the other an attorney – Reps. Dr. Michelle Au of Johns Creek and Dar’shun Kendrick of Lithonia.
Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Education Performance Metrics and Workforce Stability has 10 members, three of them Democrats, including Rep. Karen Lupton of Chamblee. There are four Republican women on the committee, including the committee chair, making it the only newly appointed committee with an equal number of men and women members.
Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on the Impact of Online Platforms on Georgia Youth has ten members, with six of them women, including WIN List endorsed Reps. Anne Allen Westbrook of Savannah, Lydia Glaize of Fairburn, Debra Bazemore of South Fulton, and Tangie Herring of Macon. These women are also the only four Democrats on the committee.
The Joint Study Committee on Evaluating Escalating Costs in Georgia’s Foster Care System has six House members including Reps. Mary Margaret Oliver of Decatur and Esther Panitch of Sandy Springs, both of them attorneys.
Rep. Debbie Buckner of Junction City is the only Democrat and the only woman to serve on the five-person House Study Committee on Pharmacy Benefits Managers and Consumers’ Access to Prescription Medications.
The Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Transportation Infrastructure and Vehicle Regulation is an all-male committee with eight Republicans and two Democrats, primarily from rural areas. The Joint Study Committee on Generational Sustainability of Family Farms has no Democratic members. Two of the four Republican members are women.
