2010 Georgia gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2010 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2010 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010. Incumbent Republican governor Sonny Perdue was term-limited and unable to seek re-election. Primary elections for the Republican and Democratic parties took place on July 20. Democrats nominated former governor Roy Barnes, and Republicans nominated Representative Nathan Deal following a runoff on August 10. The Libertarian Party also had ballot access and nominated John Monds. Deal won the general election, and took office on January 10, 2011.^[1]

2010 Georgia gubernatorial election

← 2006 November 2, 2010 2014 →

Nominee Nathan Deal Roy Barnes Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,365,832 1,107,011 Percentage 53.02% 42.97%

County results Precinct results Deal:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%     70–80%      80–90%      >90% Barnes:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      40–50%      50%      No data

Governor before election Sonny Perdue Republican Elected Governor Nathan Deal Republican

As of 2024^[update], this was the last election in which a candidate won the governorship by double digits. This is the first gubernatorial election in Georgia since 1990 in which the winner was of a different party than the incumbent president. This was the first election in which Republicans won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state. This was the last gubernatorial election in which Douglas, Henry, and Newton counties voted for the Republican candidate and the last in which Baker, Early, Mitchell, Peach, Clinch, Brooks, and McIntosh counties voted for the Democratic candidate.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Jeff Chapman, State Senator
• Nathan Deal, U.S. representative^[2]
• Karen Handel, Secretary of State of Georgia
• Eric Johnson, former state senator
• Ray McBerry, candidate for governor in 2006
• John Oxendine, insurance commissioner
• Otis Putnam

Declined

• Johnny Isakson, incumbent U.S. senator^[3]

Polling

Primary

Poll source	Dates administered	John Oxendine	Karen Handel	Nathan Deal	Eric Johnson	Ray McBerry	Austin Scott	Jeff Chapman	Undecided
Magellan Strategies[4]	July 18, 2010	12%	38%	20%	17%	3%	–	3%	7%
InsiderAdvantage[5]	July 14, 2010	15%	24%	16%	13%	3%	–	6%	22%
Rasmussen Reports[6]	July 13, 2010	20%	25%	25%	13%	–	–	–	14%
Mason-Dixon[7]	July 8–13, 2010	31%	23%	18%	6%	2%	–	1%	19%
Magellan Strategies[8]	July 8, 2010	18%	32%	18%	8%	3%	–	3%	14%
Survey USA[9]	July 7–8, 2010	32%	23%	12%	12%	5%	–	4%	10%
InsiderAdvantage[10]	July 1, 2010	18%	18%	12%	8%	3%	–	6%	34%
Survey USA[11]	June 14–17, 2010	34%	18%	17%	6%	3%	–	4%	17%
InsiderAdvantage[12]	April 5, 2010	26%	18%	9%	5%	–	–	–	31%
Rasmussen Reports[13]	December 15, 2009	28%	14%	13%	2%	2%	2%	2%	32%
Rasmussen Reports[14]	October 20, 2009	27%	12%	9%	3%	3%	3%	--	35%
Rasmussen Reports[15]	August 18, 2009	31%	13%	13%	3%	2%	--	--	31%
Rasmussen Reports[16]	June 17, 2009	33%	11%	10%	3%	2%	2%	--	33%
Strategic Vision[17]	June 17, 2009	35%	13%	12%	4%	2%	2%	--	32%

Runoff

Poll source	Dates administered	Nathan Deal	Karen Handel
Landmark Communications[18]	August 7, 2010	44%	42%
Georgia Newspapers[19]	August 7, 2010	42%	47%
Insider Advantage[20]	August 5, 2010	46%	46%
Landmark Communications[21]	August 2, 2010	37%	46%
McLaughlin & Associates[22]	July 23, 2010	39%	38%

Results

Initial primary results by county:

  Deal

•   20–30%
•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Handel

•   20–30%
•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Johnson

•   20–30%
•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%

  Oxendine

•   20–30%
•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   60–70%

  Chapman

•   30–40%
•   40–50%

  McBerry

•   30–40%

Initial primary results by county

Runoff results by county:

  Deal

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%

  Handel

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

Tie

•   50%

Runoff results by county

Republican primary results^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Karen Handel	231,990	34.1
	Republican	Nathan Deal	155,946	22.9
	Republican	Eric Johnson	136,792	20.1
	Republican	John Oxendine	115,421	17.0
	Republican	Jeff Chapman	20,636	3.0
	Republican	Ray McBerry	17,171	2.5
	Republican	Otis Putnam	2,543	0.4
Total votes			680,499	100.0

Republican primary runoff results^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nathan Deal	291,035	50.2
	Republican	Karen Handel	288,516	49.8
Total votes			579,551	100.0

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Thurbert Baker, Attorney General of Georgia
• Roy Barnes, former governor of Georgia^[25]
• Bill Bolton
• Carl Camon
• Randal Mangham, state representative
• DuBose Porter, state representative
• David Poythress, former adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard, former commissioner of labor and candidate for governor in 1998

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Roy Barnes	Thurbert Baker	DuBose Porter	Carl Camon	David Poythress	Undecided
Rasmussen Reports[26]	July 13, 2010	59%	16%	5%	--	5%	12%
Mason-Dixon[7]	July 8–13, 2010	54%	20%	3%	--	7%	16%
Survey USA[9]	July 7–8, 2010	56%	18%	6%	3%	5%	9%
Survey USA[11]	June 14–17, 2010	63%	13%	4%	1%	5%	11%
InsiderAdvantage[27]	April 7, 2010	47%	18%	5%	–	6%	24%
Rasmussen Reports[28]	December 18, 2009	48%	17%	3%	1%	4%	19%
Rasmussen Reports[29]	October 20, 2009	43%	19%	4%	3%	4%	21%
Rasmussen Reports[30]	August 18, 2009	42%	9%	7%	1%	2%	30%
Rasmussen Reports[31]	June 17, 2009	48%	8%	5%	2%	2%	31%
Strategic Vision[17]	June 17, 2009	49%	30%	2%	-	5%	14%

Results

Primary results by county:

  Barnes

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%

  Porter

•   50–60%
•   60–70%

Democratic primary results^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roy Barnes	259,482	65.6
	Democratic	Thurbert Baker	85,571	21.6
	Democratic	David Poythress	21,780	5.5
	Democratic	DuBose Porter	17,767	4.5
	Democratic	Carl Camon	4,170	1.1
	Democratic	Bill Bolton	3,573	0.9
	Democratic	Randal Mangham	3,124	0.8
Total votes			395,497	100.0

Third party and independent candidates

Independent

• Neal Horsley^[33]

Libertarian Party

• John Monds, president of the Grady County NAACP^[34]

Write-in

• Samuel M. "Sam" Hay, III^[33]
• Jacob Perasso (Socialist Workers Party)^[33]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Cook Political Report[35]	Tossup	October 14, 2010
Rothenberg[36]	Lean R	October 28, 2010
RealClearPolitics[37]	Lean R	November 1, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball[38]	Lean R	October 28, 2010
CQ Politics[39]	Lean R	October 28, 2010

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Nathan Deal (R)	Roy Barnes (D)	John Monds (L)	Other	Undecided
Rasmussen Reports[40]	October 24, 2010	49%	39%	5%	5%	1%
Insider Advantage[41]	Unavailable	49%	41%	3%	--	7%
Rasmussen Reports[40]	October 6, 2010	50%	41%	3%	3%	3%
Insider Advantage[42]	September 27, 2010	45%	37%	5%	--	13%
Rasmussen Reports[43]	September 21, 2010	45%	39%	5%	6%	5%
Insider Advantage[44]	September 16, 2010	42%	42%	5%	--	11%
Survey USA[45]	September 10–12, 2010	49%	38%	9%	--	4%
Insider Advantage[46]	August 17, 2010	45%	41%	5%	--	9%
Rasmussen Reports[47]	August 11, 2010	51%	42%	--	3%	3%
Rasmussen Reports[48]	July 21, 2010	49%	43%	--	4%	4%
Rasmussen Reports[49]	May 20, 2010	47%	40%	--	6%	7%
Rasmussen Reports[49]	April 22, 2010	46%	39%	--	7%	8%
Rasmussen Reports[49]	March 17, 2010	43%	41%	--	5%	13%
Public Policy Polling[50]	February 26–28, 2010	38%	43%	--	--	19%
Rasmussen Reports[49]	February 18, 2010	43%	37%	--	--	--
Rasmussen Reports[49]	January 20, 2010	42%	43%	--	--	--

Results

2010 Georgia gubernatorial election^[51]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Nathan Deal	1,365,832	53.02%	−4.93%
	Democratic	Roy Barnes	1,107,011	42.97%	+4.75%
	Libertarian	John Monds	103,194	4.01%	+0.17%
	Write-in		124	0.00%	N/A
Total votes			2,576,161	100.00%	N/A
	Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Early (largest city: Blakely)
• McIntosh (largest municipality: Darien)
• Peach (largest municipality: Fort Valley)
• Brooks (largest city: Quitman)
• Burke (largest municipality: Waynesboro)
• Chatham (largest city: Savannah)
• Washington (largest municipality: Sandersville)
• Sumter (largest city: Americus)
• Jefferson (largest city: Louisville)
• Muscogee (largest city: Columbus)
• Rockdale (largest town: Conyers)

See also

• Georgia (U.S. State) portal

• 2010 United States gubernatorial elections