Suwanee October 22, 2026 – Most of the attention in Georgia’s midterms is on the races for governor and U.S. Senate. For the state’s Asian American Pacific Islader community, though, the contests to watch are further down the ballot, in state legislative districts across Gwinnett, north Fulton and DeKalb. Some of these seats could be decided by a few hundred votes. Others could produce historic firsts.
No Asian American Pacific islander candidate made the statewide general election ballot this year. Former state Sen. Nabilah Parkes, the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, came closest. She forced a runoff for the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination and lost to state Sen. Josh McLaurin in June, 54.9% to 45.1%.
Here are the legislative races to watch.
House District-99: Kang and Reeves Meet Again
The rematch in House District 99, which covers parts of Duluth, Suwanee and Sugar Hill, is one of the most closely watched races in metro Atlanta.
Democrat Michelle Kang came to Georgia from South Korea in 1992. She is a former small business owner and nonprofit manager with a master’s in public administration from the University of Georgia. She is challenging Republican Rep. Matt Reeves for the second time. In 2024 she won 48.93% of the vote and lost by 621 votes. This May she won her primary with 71.5%, and Reeves ran unopposed in his.
Reeves is an attorney and partner at Andersen, Tate & Carr and was first elected in 2022. He has campaigned on property tax relief, lower insurance costs and homestead exemptions for seniors, and has made regular outreach to the district’s Asian American residents. Kang is campaigning on affordability, childcare, tax relief for working families and support for small businesses.
According to the Korea Daily, about 4,000 of the district’s voters, roughly 10%, are Korean American. That is a large enough share that a single community could decide the race.
The campaign has also had its tense moments. Earlier this month, the Georgia Democratic Party’s AAPI Caucus posted a photo of a defaced Kang yard sign. Reeves replied with a Facebook post showing a Kang sign placed in front of his own.
House District-50: Two Chinese American Candidates in Johns Creek
House District 50 in Johns Creek is rare in Georgia politics: both major-party candidates are Chinese American women. Asian Americans make up nearly 30% of the district’s residents.
Democratic Rep. Michelle Au is an anesthesiologist with a master’s in public health. She was elected to the state Senate in 2020, then moved to the House after redistricting redrew her Senate seat. She won HD-50 in 2022 with 54% of the vote and is now seeking a third House term. Her campaign has focused on health care access, public schools, property taxes and gun safety.
Republican Azure Duan was born in Wugang, in China’s Hunan province, and is running for office for the first time. She earned computer and software engineering degrees in Minnesota and worked as a software engineer for Accenture and Best Buy. She later earned a doctorate in integrative medicine and founded Harmony Acupuncture & TCM in Johns Creek. She ran unopposed in the GOP primary. Her platform includes property and income tax relief, eliminating what she calls “double taxation” such as inventory taxes, reducing business regulation and expanding school choice. She supports Georgia’s six-week abortion law.
Au’s campaign has described Duan as a “MAGA Republican” and pointed to Duan’s opposition to expanded background checks at the debate. Duan’s campaign has focused on taxes, small business and education choice.
House District-105: Mughal Seeks His Old Seat
House District 105, which covers parts of Lawrenceville, Dacula and Buford, may be the closest race on this list.
Democrat Farooq Mughal is a Pakistani American government affairs consultant from Dacula. He represented the district from 2023 to 2025. In 2024, after redistricting changed the district’s makeup, he lost to Republican Sandy Donatucci by 80 votes.
Donatucci, from Buford, is finishing her first term. She serves on the House Education, Intragovernmental Coordination and Transportation committees. Mughal is running on lower property and income taxes, education funding, and public safety and mental health.
House District-97: Singh Seeks a First
In the open House District 97 seat, Democrat Jyot Singh is trying to become the first Sikh and first Indian American member of the Georgia legislature. Singh grew up in Gwinnett, graduated from Yale and is the son of Punjabi immigrants. He won the May primary with 59%, carrying every precinct. He is best known locally for leading the campaign to renew Gwinnett’s E-SPLOST, which sends $1.4 billion to county schools. His endorsements include U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson and Ro Khanna and state Reps. Sam Park and Long Tran.
His Republican opponent is Yassin Moghazy. The seat is open because Rep. Ruwa Romman is running for the state Senate.
Senate District-7: Romman Faces a Competitive General
The Senate District 7 seat opened when Parkes resigned to run for lieutenant governor. The district covers parts of Duluth, Berkeley Lake, Norcross, Peachtree Corners, Suwanee and Lawrenceville.
Democrat Ruwa Romman was the first Muslim woman and the first Palestinian American elected to the Georgia legislature. She started this year as a candidate for governor but withdrew in February, citing outside “dark money” in that race and grassroots donations moving to other states. She led a three-way May primary with 38%, then beat civil rights attorney Rahul Garabadu in the June runoff with 60%. “This was a moment where the many beat the money,” she said on runoff night. If elected, she would be the first Arab American and first Palestinian American in the Georgia Senate. Her platform includes Medicaid expansion, tenant protections and a $15 minimum wage.
Republican Aizaz Shaikh is an Air Force veteran, real estate broker and Gwinnett substitute teacher who describes himself as a moderate. He is focused on lowering property taxes and expanding first-time homebuyer programs. He was unopposed in the GOP primary. Harris carried the district by 14 points in 2024, but the June special election to finish Parkes’s term was much closer: Democrat Adrienne White beat Shaikh 51.1% to 48.9%. Afterward, Shaikh said Republicans were “making significant gains” in the district and the race was “far from over.”
House District-90: Hudgins Could Make History in DeKalb
In House District 90, which covers Druid Hills, Candler Park, Lake Claire, Edgewood and parts of unincorporated DeKalb, Democrat Bentley Hudgins is running in one of the most reliably Democratic seats in the state. The seat opened when Rep. Saira Draper ran for state Senate.
Hudgins is Japanese American, transgender and nonbinary, and uses they/them pronouns. If elected, they would be the first Japanese American and the first transgender and nonbinary member of the Georgia legislature. Hudgins is a Georgia native and Mercer University graduate. They have worked as an organizer for the ACLU, the Georgia AFL-CIO, the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute and the New Georgia Project, and most recently served as Georgia state director for the Human Rights Campaign. Hudgins ran for this seat in 2022 and finished third in the primary. This May they beat Leisa Stafford 66% to 34%.
Hudgins says identity is not the focus of the campaign. “I don’t necessarily care about being the first. I care about us being represented,” they told the Atlanta Press Collective. Their platform includes a $20 minimum wage, a state earned income tax credit, Medicaid expansion and a Georgia Civil Rights Act.
The Republican nominee is Samantha Boston, who was unopposed in the GOP primary.
AAPI Incumbents on the Ballot
Several other AAPI lawmakers are running for re-election:
– Rep. Marvin Lim (HD-98), who won his May primary with 61.4%
– Rep. Akbar Ali (HD-106), the youngest person ever sworn into the Georgia legislature, who first won his seat by 153 votes in a December 2025 runoff
– House Minority Whip Sam Park (HD-107), the first Asian American Democrat elected to the Georgia General Assembly
Rep. Saira Draper, whose parents are of Pakistani and Spanish origin, won a competitive primary for Senate District 44 and is on the November ballot.
The Statewide Picture
At the top of the ballot, a late-September InsiderAdvantage poll found Republican Rick Jackson at 48% and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms at 46% in the governor’s race. Sen. Jon Ossoff led Republican Mike Collins 50% to 42% in the U.S. Senate race. With margins that close, Georgia’s more than 600,000 Asian American residents are a group both parties are working to reach.
How to Vote
Advance voting runs through Friday, October 30.
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Friday, October 23.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Any race in which no candidate wins a majority goes to a December 1 runoff.
