ATLANTA (AP) — Charlie Bailey won election to chair Georgia’s Democratic Party on Saturday, pledging he’ll raise the money to help the party win elections in 2025 and 2026.
Bailey was the Democratic nominee in 2018 for attorney general and in 2022 for lieutenant governor, losing both times to Republicans.
He replaces U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, who stepped down after Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump in the Southern swing state spotlighted discontent with her leadership.
The party voted earlier to change its bylaws to say that its chair would be paid and full time, instead of the volunteer post it traditionally has been. Williams agreed to the change and stepped down after it was made.
Bailey told the more than 200 state committee members who gathered at a Teamsters union hall south of downtown Atlanta that he would focus on the party’s one job, “to elect as many Democrats to as many offices across this great state as humanly possible.”
Bailey promised to raise “a whole heap of money” and to be a strong messenger for Democratic values while holding Republicans accountable. He takes office at a time when many Democrats are alarmed about the early actions of the second administration of President Donald Trump and are pressing for their party to provide forceful opposition before the 2026 election, even though they are in the minority in the U.S. House and Senate.
Bailey said that Democrats “have not been fighting enough” and that he would begin by clearly communicating what his party stands for.
“The first thing is you’ve got to be clear about what your values are, which we’re going to do, and then we’ve got to win races,” he said. “I mean, the only way to change this stuff is to take back power. You got to beat these Republicans.”
He said his narrow losses in 2018 and 2022 can help him show other Democrats how to beat GOP candidates and that the party will seek to identify the best targets to make gains. While Georgia has two Democratic U.S. senators, its governor and all other statewide officials are Republicans.
“I know what it takes to run effective campaigns and cut into those margins,” Bailey said.
Seven candidates competed for the chair’s position Saturday, including state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes of Duluth, former Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis and former Chatham County Commissioner Jay Jones. After no one won a majority in the first round of voting, Bailey defeated former Rome City Commissioner and longtime Democratic activist Wendy Davis in a runoff.
Bailey was nominated Saturday by U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath and was endorsed by U.S. Sen Jon Ossoff, among many others. But some who supported Davis and other candidates said they wanted a more grassroots approach.
“There is no knight on a white horse who’s going to ride in and save the DPG or our democracy,” Davis told committee members, saying she would focus on building up county parties and leverage her long relationships.
There was also discomfort with electing Bailey, a white man, after Democrats pushed out Williams, a Black woman. The state party amended its bylaws Saturday to allow the top two offices to be held by men temporarily, allowing First Vice Chair Matthew Wilson to remain in that role. Normally if the chair is a man, bylaws require the first vice chair to be a woman.
Williams’ exit was one of several among Democratic parties as disgruntled partisans seek change after the electorate embraced Trump’s return to the presidency. As a sitting member of Congress, she was legally barred from raising money for the party’s state campaign account. Raising money and recruiting candidates are two of the top jobs of any party chair. There were also questions about how much time Williams could devote to being a party chair while also attending to congressional duties.