This past Saturday (March 29) in Lexington, Georgia, the Democratic Party of Georgia’s State Committee voted to amend the bylaws to make the next DPG Chair a full-time, full-paid position, one which does not hold any concurrent elected/appointed public office. This language was advocated by Chair and Congresswoman Nikema Williams.

On the morning of March 31, Williams emailed all State Committee delegates announcing her resignation as Chair of the DPG, making 1st Vice Chair and former State Representative Matthew Wilson the new DPG Chair until the next election for Chair in Q1 2027. Williams, who wishes to remain as U.S. representative for GA-5, cited the new bylaws as the reason.

Wilson, who has served as 1st Vice Chair since 2023, is also the first openly-gay person to serve as DPG chair, and was the second openly-gay person elected to the state legislature. He resigned to run for Insurance Commissioner in 2022 but was defeated in the primary by Janice Laws Robinson.

The next elected chair will also ostensibly be the first full-time Chair since former state representative Jane Kidd, who once represented the area of Oglethorpe County and helped secure Oglethorpe High School as the venue for the meeting. Kidd, who served as Chair from 2007 to 2011 and previously served in the State House from 2005 to 2007, herself was given a bouquet of roses onstage from Williams and DNC members Wendy Davis and Maria Banjo following the announcement of the result for her service to the party.

On Nikema Williams’ tenure

It must be noted that Williams, who previously served as 1st Vice Chair (2011-2019) under Mike Berlon and then DuBose Porter and briefly served as interim Chair following Berlon’s resignation in 2013, was the first Black woman and second African American to serve as Chair of the Party after former state representative Calvin Smyre, who was appointed to the position by then-governor Roy Barnes from 2001 to 2004. Williams herself is a former state senator who ran for John Lewis’ former seat in Atlanta (GA-5) following his death from cancer in 2020.

Williams can attest to a tenure as Chair complete with electoral ups and downs:

• In the 2020 cycle alone, Williams led the party to flip the state for Joe Biden, win two U.S. Senate seats by runoff with candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and increase the party’s share of congressional seats to its highest in a generation with the election of Carolyn Bordeaux in GA-7. In addition, the party continuously increased its net share of seats in the State House throughout her term, and secured Warnock a full Senate term in 2022. Finally, she presided over several revisions to the DPG bylaws and platform and oversaw expansion of both the voter protection program as well as vote-by-mail outreach.
• She also presided over bitter electoral losses in 2020, when Daniel Blackman lost a close runoff for Public Service Commissioner; 2022, in which Democrats won none of the statewide executive row offices (and lost worse in terms of percentage compared to 2018); and 2024, when Kamala Harris lost Georgia for President to Donald Trump. In addition, in the 2020 and court-ordered 2023 redistricting cycles, the Kemp Republican trifecta took several casualties in both houses of the legislature, forced Carolyn Bordeaux out of GA-7, and took casualties in some county commissions as well.

What’s in Store for the Next Chair

Depending on who becomes the next Chair, whoever succeeds Wilson will be tasked with leading the party through upcoming special elections for Public Service Commission this spring, municipal elections in the fall, as well as a bid for all state row offices and the re-election bid of Jon Ossoff in 2026. Ossoff, who is the only Democrat up for re-election in a state flipped by Trump, will be a top linchpin candidate for Democrats to retain in 2026, as there are few other target states which Democrats have a reasonable chance at flipping.

While Williams managed to lead the party through some necessary changes and had incredible success in 2020, I believe that the party began to decline in electoral fortune after she took office in Congress.

In comparison, the next Chair will be a full-time Chair whose job it will be to serve as top cheerleader and organizer every day of the week, akin to Ben Wikler in Wisconsin or Anderson Clayton in North Carolina. It was also adopted last June by Texas Democrats at their state party convention, which was followed after the presidential election by the resignation of longtime chair Gilberto Hinojosa (for unrelated reasons), and will be first applied to whoever will be the next TDP Chair in time for the 2026 budget.

Special Elections and More

On April 4, adding to the excitement, State Sen. Jason Esteves also announced his resignation as Treasurer of the DPG.

On the same day, Wilson announced the call for a special in-person State Committee meeting set for May 3 at the Teamsters Local 728 (aka DPG headquarters) in Atlanta. Among the items up for a vote:

• special elections for Chair and Treasurer (deadline to file: April 23)
• endorsement of Daniel Blackman in four-way primary for PSC District 3 special election (requires 2/3s)
• amendment to bylaws regarding gender of sitting Vice Chair if next specially-elected Chair is of the same gender (requires 2/3s)

What this means so far:

• It is likely that Esteves will run for Governor, which would make him the first Latino nominee for governor if nominated.
• Wilson wants to stay on as First Vice Chair so he won’t run for Chair, and this proposed amendment would resolve that issue
• Blackman, who has ran twice before for PSC (both against incumbent Lauren “Bubba” McDonald), needs all the help he can get.

Chair candidates so far

Three candidates have announced so far for Chair, as of April 7:

• Charlie Bailey, former Fulton County District Attorney who was the nominee for Attorney General in 2018 and Lieutenant Governor in 2022.
• Nabilah Islam Parkes, Georgia State Senator (SD-7), first Muslim woman elected to State Senate
• James “Jay” Jones, Member of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Chatham County Democratic Committee Chair, DPG Congressional District Chair for GA-01
• Wendy Davis, DPG member to the Democratic National Committee (2012-present), Democratic nominee for GA-14 (2022), former city commissioner in Rome, Georgia (2014-2021)
• Jamie Allen, Senior Policy Advisor for the State House Democratic Caucus (2025-present), former Contracted Capacity Building Specialist for Kaiser Family Foundation (2015-2022), former HIV Prevention Coordinator for the Georgia Department of Public Health (2021-2024)

Bailey launched his campaign with an email touting notable names for endorsements, including former Governor Roy Barnes and Atlanta mayors Andre Dickens and Shirley Franklin.

Islam Parkes launched her campaign with her electoral background, both for others and her own time as State Senator, and her platform:

“Turn Georgia into a fundraising powerhouse to support every level of the ticket

Invest in full-time organizers across the state

Launch new training programs to build the next generation of Young Democrats

Give rural Democrats the resources and tools they need to win

Build out cutting-edge digital, data and influencer programs

Run a party that’s transparent, accountable and focused on winning.”

Jones’ platform states “five commitments”:

• A Party That Reflects the People We Serve
• A Party That Sees Us, Serves Us, and Stands With Us
• Rural Georgia Deserves More Than a Mention
• Year-Round Organizing Is Non-Negotiable
• Unity Doesn’t Mean Uniformity

Wendy Davis:

Jamie Allen:

• Year-round, statewide voter engagement—especially in rural communities, communities of color, and among young voters
• Real investment in county committees, with tools and training to help them thrive
• A long-term, sustainable fundraising strategy to fuel grassroots organizing
• Intentional leadership development to grow the next wave of Democratic talent
• A commitment to unity, transparency, and accountability across all levels of the party

What I’m looking for

As a State Committee delegate, here’s what I’m hoping for in a State Party Chair:

• Treats all nonpartisan elections – statewide and municipal, including judgeships – as partisan elections worthy of recruiting and endorsing candidates;
• Supports streamlining our affiliates policy to allow for mass, paid membership for all Democrats, regardless of gender or age, as well as an indigenous source of fundraising;
• Supports treating affiliates as a third leg of a three-legged stool of the party base, alongside the county committees and the elected Democratic public officials;
• Supports Establishing a Code of Conduct for the party, its affiliates and its elected public officials;
• Supports a requirement that 1) caucuses and councils consist solely of State Committee members and 2) have at least two regional vice chairs;
• Supports establishing a party-owned news outlet (digital, print, video and audio) with a part-time editor-in-chief to reach voters across the state with progressive messaging and counter anti-progressive narratives;
• Supports a reconsideration of the role of the quadrennial State Party Convention, whether to make it an annual convention or to remove the mandate for the state convention from the party rules entirely;
• supports establishing a Labor Council and an Indigenous Caucus;
• supports merger of the platform and resolutions committees into a single standing committee;
• supports coordination of efforts for county committees to acquire brick-and-mortar county headquarters.

In short, I’m looking for a party chair who can make the party a thermostatic, attention-holding force for progressive liberalism within and beyond the electoral space across the state.

Can these candidates bring any of this before the gubernatorial election? Let’s find out.