The Brief
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Former Atlanta City Council member Keisha Waites is headed to a runoff against Peter Hubbard. The runoff election is July 15.
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The winner of the primary will face incumbent Republican Fitz Johnson, who was appointed to the commission in 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp.
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In the District 2 Republican primary, incumbent Tim Echols won the primary. He will face Democrat Alicia Johnson in November.
ATLANTA – One of the 2025 Public Service Commission primaries is headed to a runoff.
What we know
The District 3 Democratic race has been narrowed down to two candidates after none of the three received 50% of the vote Tuesday.
Former Atlanta City Council member Keisha Waites is headed to a runoff against Peter Hubbard. Waites earned 47% of the vote, while Hubbard received 32%.
Robert Jones is out of the running after receiving 20% of the vote.
The runoff election is July 15.
The winner of the primary will face incumbent Republican Fitz Johnson, who ran unopposed in the primary. Johnson was appointed to the commission in 2021 by Gov. Brian Kemp and has never faced voters. He was originally scheduled to run in 2022 for the last two years of his predecessor’s term . Instead, the District 3 winner can run again next year for a six-year term, after lawmakers rewrote the terms.
In the District 2 Republican primary, incumbent Tim Echols won the primary. Echols has been on the Public Service Commission since 2011.
Echols will face Democrat Alicia Johnson, who ran unopposed in the primary, come November.
Dig deeper
Georgia usually doesn’t have statewide elections in odd-numbered years, but these were pushed back after elections were delayed by a lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the statewide voting scheme as discriminatory to Black people. No Georgia Public Service Commission elections have been held since 2022 because of the lawsuit.
Related: Georgia Public Service Commission election: What you need to know
Why you should care
The Georgia Public Service Commission is the body elected statewide that regulates utilities such as gas and electricity. It has power over what Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric provider, can charge customers for electricity.
The Source
Information for this article came from the Secretary of State’s election website and FOX 5 reporting.
