The midnight train to Georgia may have just gotten one passenger lighter.
On March 31, Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she was “stepping back” from planning a potential 2026 gubernatorial bid, citing complications from her husband’s recent cancer diagnosis. Though McBath didn’t entirely close the door on a run for the state’s top job this cycle, her decision to suspend her exploratory committee breathes some unexpected oxygen into her potential primary opponents’ campaigns.
McBath, 64, had been floated as a candidate for the 2026 race even before the lights officially went out on former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams’ 2022 campaign. The onetime Delta Air Lines flight attendant, who became a gun control activist following the murder of her 17-year-old son, proved her political and fundraising chops by flipping suburban Atlanta’s 6th District in 2018. She has since represented a cumulative 2.2 million Georgians (some 20% of the state) due to successive 2022 and 2024 redraws of the state’s map, giving her broad recognition.
Democrats’ candidate scramble comes as Republicans’ own messy primary between Attorney
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