Two Democratic challengers to Georgia's Republican Supreme Court justices went down Tuesday despite high-profile endorsements from Barack Obama and Kamala Harris and a combined advertising blitz that topped $4 million. Justice Charles Bethel beat attorney Miracle Rankin by more than 40,000 votes, and Justice Sarah Warren routed former state senator Jen Jordan by more than 358,000.
The results weren't close, at least not in the Warren-Jordan race. Warren took 59.3% to Jordan's 40.7%, a nearly 19-point gap that no amount of outside money or celebrity endorsements could close. Bethel's margin was tighter at 51.1% to 48.9%, but he still cleared the finish line with a comfortable five-figure lead, the Daily Caller reported.
The twin losses are a sharp rebuke to the national Democratic strategy of pouring resources into state judicial races. Obama, Harris, the state Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU all lined up behind Rankin and Jordan, and Georgia voters said no.
Rankin and Jordan spent more than $900,000 on television ads alone, according to figures the Brennan Center compiled. The ACLU added another $243,000 in radio spots. Planned Parenthood pledged $750,000 in ad spending on behalf of the two challengers.
CNN reported that total advertising in the races exceeded $4 million, split roughly evenly between the side backing the incumbents and the side backing their opponents. In other words, Democrats matched or came close to matching Republican-aligned spending, and still lost both seats.
Money was not the problem. The message was.
On May 7, Obama posted on X urging Georgians to vote for the two challengers. His message framed the contest in sweeping terms, as reported by the Daily Caller:
"State supreme court justices play a critical role in defending your rights and freedoms, which is why the election happening in Georgia right now is so important. Make sure you have a plan to vote for Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin, the only two candidates in the race with strong records of standing up for all Georgians."
Harris made her own appeal on X, calling Rankin and Jordan:
"extraordinary leaders who will fight to protect your rights and uphold the rule of law."
Neither endorsement moved the needle enough. Warren's 19-point win suggests the Harris endorsement had little measurable effect on the Jordan race. Even in the closer Bethel-Rankin contest, Obama's personal intervention could not push Rankin over the top.
Both Bethel and Warren were originally appointed to the bench in 2018 by former Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. Their victories Tuesday mean they keep their seats through another term. Meanwhile, Justice Ben Land, appointed by current Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2025, ran unopposed this cycle and secured a six-year term.
Eight of the nine justices on the Georgia Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors. Tuesday's results did nothing to change that math. Democrats needed to flip at least one seat to begin shifting the court's ideological balance. They failed on both attempts.
The court's composition matters because it decides cases on election law, criminal sentencing, property rights, and the scope of state regulatory power. National progressive groups, including abortion-rights organizations, targeted these races precisely because they saw the Georgia bench as a strategic prize. The prize stayed out of reach.
The Georgia results fit a pattern that should worry Democratic strategists. National figures and well-funded advocacy groups have repeatedly tried to nationalize state-level judicial races, betting that big names and big spending can override local political dynamics. The strategy assumes voters will follow celebrity cues. Georgia voters did not.
Planned Parenthood's $750,000 pledge, the ACLU's radio campaign, and the personal appeals from two of the most prominent Democrats in the country all pointed toward the same theory: that framing judicial races around abortion and civil liberties would energize enough voters to overcome Republican incumbency advantages.
The vote totals tell a different story. Warren won by a margin so wide that the race was never competitive. Bethel's race was closer, but he still won by a margin that exceeded 40,000 votes, hardly a squeaker.
Obama called Rankin and Jordan "the only two candidates in the race with strong records of standing up for all Georgians." Harris called them "extraordinary leaders." Those are campaign superlatives, not arguments. Georgia voters had two sitting justices with actual judicial records to evaluate, and they chose to keep them.
The endorsement strategy also carried a risk that Democrats either ignored or miscalculated. When a former president and a former presidential nominee personally campaign for state judicial candidates, they nationalize the race. That can cut both ways. In a state where Republican governors have appointed eight of nine justices, nationalizing a judicial election may remind voters exactly why they prefer the incumbents.
Georgia's Supreme Court enters its next term with its Republican-appointed majority fully intact. Bethel and Warren survived a well-funded challenge. Land faces no opposition. The Democratic campaign to reshape the court through elections, rather than waiting for appointment opportunities, came up empty.
Neither Bethel, Warren, Rankin, Jordan, Kemp, nor Deal issued public statements captured in the immediate reporting on the results. The candidates let the numbers speak.
And the numbers said plenty. Over $4 million in total ad spending. Endorsements from Obama and Harris. Backing from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. The full weight of the national Democratic infrastructure leaned into two Georgia judicial races, and both challengers lost, one of them by a historic margin.
When you spend that kind of money, call in that kind of firepower, and still lose by 19 points, the problem isn't resources. It's the product you're selling.
