Bentley Hudgins Wins Georgia House Seat in Historic First for Trans Lawmakers
Bentley Hudgins won the Georgia House District 90 seat in the November 3, 2026 election, defeating Republican Samantha Boston. Decision Desk HQ called the race at 8:19 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday night. With 84 percent of votes counted, Hudgins led 94 percent to 6 percent. Hudgins is the first openly transgender and nonbinary person elected to the Georgia General Assembly. They are also the first Japanese American member of the legislature and the first openly nonbinary lawmaker elected to a state legislature in the Deep South. Hudgins uses they and them pronouns. They will take office on January 11, 2027.
Quick Facts
| Detail | What we know |
|---|---|
| Winner | Bentley Hudgins |
| Seat | Georgia House District 90 |
| Election date | November 3, 2026 |
| Opponent | Republican Samantha Boston |
| Race called | Decision Desk HQ, 8:19 p.m. Eastern, Tuesday night |
| Vote share, 84 percent counted | Hudgins 94 percent, Boston 6 percent |
| Historic firsts | First openly transgender and nonbinary person in the Georgia General Assembly, first Japanese American member of the legislature, first openly nonbinary state lawmaker in the Deep South |
| Pronouns | They and them |
| District | Parts of eastern Atlanta and southern DeKalb County |
| 2026 primary | Won with 66.02 percent of the vote |
| Previous run | Lost the 2022 Democratic primary for the same seat to Saira Draper |
| Predecessor | Saira Draper |
| Takes office | January 11, 2027 |
| Background | Longtime organizer, former Human Rights Campaign Georgia state director, 2026 Out100 honoree, Mercer University graduate in 2017, studied philosophy and bioethics |
| Campaign priorities | Data center moratorium, Medicaid expansion, affordability, housing, transit, and water, plus support for the proposed Henry McNeal Turner Georgia Voting Rights Act |
The Result on Election Night
The result in Georgia House District 90 was clear well before the count was complete. Decision Desk HQ called the race at 8:19 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday night, not long after polls had closed and early returns had come in. With 84 percent of votes counted, Hudgins led 94 percent to 6 percent over Republican Samantha Boston. That is a very wide margin, and it left little doubt about the outcome. The remaining votes still had to be counted and the result still had to be certified, but a lead of that size is not the kind of lead that changes late in the night.
Why the Win Is Historic
The win is historic in three distinct ways. First, Hudgins is the first openly transgender and nonbinary person elected to the Georgia General Assembly, the body that writes Georgia law, covering both the House and the Senate. For the first time, that body will include a member who is openly transgender and nonbinary. Lawmakers bring their own life experience to the work, and that experience shapes which problems they notice and which voices they listen to when a bill is debated. Second, Hudgins is the first Japanese American member of the Georgia legislature, a first for Asian American representation in the General Assembly.
Third, Hudgins is the first openly nonbinary lawmaker elected to a state legislature in the Deep South, a region where openly LGBTQ candidates have faced steep barriers to winning state office. A win at this level, in this region, stands out for that reason. The language is part of the story too. Hudgins uses they and them pronouns. Nonbinary is a term used by people whose gender identity is not only male or only female. Transgender is a term used by people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Hudgins ran as an open candidate, and voters knew who they were voting for.
The Road to the Seat
Hudgins did not win this seat on a first try. They ran for the same seat in the 2022 Democratic primary and lost to Saira Draper. A primary loss can end a political career before it starts, and many candidates who lose once do not run again. Hudgins did run again, and the second attempt produced a very different result. The contrast between 2022 and 2026 is one of the clearest parts of this story: a loss in one cycle, then a win in the next, for the same seat, in the same district. That takes persistence, and it takes work in the years between campaigns.
In 2026, Hudgins won the primary with 66.02 percent of the vote, a strong win that showed broad support among Democratic voters in the district. A primary win of two thirds of the vote is a clear mandate from the voters who take part in that contest. In a primary, voters choose a nominee from within one party. In a general election, the nominees from each party face each other. In a district where one party has a large advantage, the primary can be the harder contest, because the winner of the primary is then very likely to win the general election. Hudgins now succeeds Saira Draper, the candidate who beat Hudgins in the 2022 primary.
Background and Organizing Work
Before running for office, Hudgins built a career as a longtime organizer. Organizing is the work of bringing people together around a shared goal, building networks, and turning concern about an issue into action. It is the kind of work that happens mostly outside the spotlight, in meetings, phone calls, door knocks, and long campaigns that do not make headlines. For a candidate, that background matters, because it means they arrive in office with a network of contacts and a record of working on issues before they held any formal power. Hudgins served as the Human Rights Campaign Georgia state director. The Human Rights Campaign is a large LGBTQ advocacy group, and a state director leads its work in a given state, from lobbying lawmakers and tracking bills to building coalitions with other groups.
Hudgins was also a 2026 Out100 honoree. The Out100 is an annual list that honors LGBTQ people for their work and influence, and being named to the list in 2026, the same year as the election win, placed Hudgins among people recognized for their public work in that year. On education, Hudgins graduated from Mercer University in 2017, studying philosophy and bioethics. Mercer University is a private university in Georgia. Bioethics looks at the moral questions in health care, research, and the life sciences.
What Hudgins Campaigned On
The campaign put forward a set of priorities that cover a wide range of daily life issues in the district. Those priorities included a data center moratorium, Medicaid expansion, affordability, housing, transit, and water, plus support for the proposed Henry McNeal Turner Georgia Voting Rights Act. Looked at as a whole, the list reads as a campaign focused on the cost of living, on public services, and on the rules that shape who can vote and how easily. Each item touches the lives of people in District 90 in a direct way.
A data center moratorium is a pause on new data center projects, which have become a major topic in Georgia because they use large amounts of land, power, and water. Medicaid expansion would broaden the public health program for people with low incomes to cover more low income adults who now fall in a gap, earning too much to qualify under current rules but too little to afford private insurance. Affordability and housing cover the cost of rent, utilities, food, and transport, and whether people can find a place to live that they can afford. Transit covers buses, trains, and other public transport, which many residents rely on to get to work, school, and medical care. Water covers the supply of clean drinking water and the state of pipes and treatment systems. The final item was support for the proposed Henry McNeal Turner Georgia Voting Rights Act, named for Henry McNeal Turner, a 19th century Black minister, politician, and civil rights leader in Georgia.
District 90 and What Comes Next
District 90 covers parts of eastern Atlanta and southern DeKalb County, a slice of the Atlanta metro area that includes neighborhoods in the city as well as communities in the county to the south. A state House district is a small area compared with a congressional district, and a representative for such a district is expected to know the local issues in detail: which roads need work, which schools serve the area, where housing is tight, and how transit runs through the neighborhoods. Hudgins succeeds Saira Draper and assumes office on January 11, 2027, when the new legislative term begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Georgia House District 90 seat?
Bentley Hudgins won the seat in the November 3, 2026 election, defeating Republican Samantha Boston. Decision Desk HQ called the race at 8:19 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday night. With 84 percent of votes counted, Hudgins led 94 percent to 6 percent.
Why is the win historic?
Hudgins is the first openly transgender and nonbinary person elected to the Georgia General Assembly, the first Japanese American member of the legislature, and the first openly nonbinary lawmaker elected to a state legislature in the Deep South. Hudgins uses they and them pronouns.
What district does Hudgins represent, and when do they take office?
District 90 covers parts of eastern Atlanta and southern DeKalb County. Hudgins succeeds Saira Draper and assumes office on January 11, 2027.
What did Hudgins campaign on?
The campaign priorities included a data center moratorium, Medicaid expansion, affordability, housing, transit, and water, plus support for the proposed Henry McNeal Turner Georgia Voting Rights Act. Hudgins won the 2026 primary with 66.02 percent of the vote after losing the 2022 primary for the same seat to Saira Draper.
Sources
- Out: Bentley Hudgins wins Georgia legislature
- Wikipedia: Bentley Hudgins
- Human Rights Campaign: Human Rights Campaign congratulates Bentley Hudgins on victory in Georgia House primary
Readers who want to place this result in the wider picture of the 2026 midterms can read our report on the historic firsts in the Democrats midterm sweep, our report on the Mississippi Senate race where Scott Colom leads Hyde-Smith with the race uncalled, and our report on the record five Black governors elected in the 2026 midterms.
Final Thoughts
Bentley Hudgins won Georgia House District 90 by a wide margin, and the result will be remembered for its historic firsts. Hudgins is the first openly transgender and nonbinary person elected to the Georgia General Assembly, the first Japanese American member of the legislature, and the first openly nonbinary lawmaker elected to a state legislature in the Deep South. But the win was also the result of a long road, from a primary loss in 2022 to a primary win with 66.02 percent of the vote in 2026, and then a general election win of 94 percent to 6 percent with 84 percent of votes counted. Hudgins brings years of organizing work to the job, including service as the Human Rights Campaign Georgia state director, and a platform built around a data center moratorium, Medicaid expansion, affordability, housing, transit, water, and voting rights. When they take office on January 11, 2027, the focus will shift from the history of the win to the work of the term. That work, and how it serves the people of District 90, is what will define this first term in the end.
