ATLANTA - Georgia voters will choose leaders for four statewide offices overseeing public schools, labor services, insurance and fire safety, and agriculture. The contests pair Democratic challengers Lydia Powell, Nikki Porcher, Keisha Waites and Katherine Juhan-Arnold with Republican candidates Richard Woods, Bárbara Rivera Holmes, John King and Tyler Harper.
State School Superintendent
Lydia Powell (D): Powell is an assistant principal at Hampton High School in Henry County and has 26 years of experience in education, including 11 years in school leadership. She says she has worked in alternative, high-achievement and low-income schools.
Richard Woods (R): Woods has served as Georgia’s state school superintendent since 2015. He has more than 30 years of pre-K-12 education experience, including 14 years as a social studies teacher and leadership roles as a principal, assistant principal and curriculum director.
Labor Commissioner
Nikki Porcher (D): Porcher is an Air Force veteran, former public school educator and nonprofit leader. She founded Buy From a Black Woman in 2016, an organization that supports Black women entrepreneurs.
Bárbara Rivera Holmes (R): Appointed labor commissioner in 2025, Holmes previously was president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce and vice president of the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission. She holds degrees in journalism and Spanish from Florida Southern College and has served on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and Georgia Rural Development Council.
Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner
Keisha Sean Waites (D): Waites served in the Georgia House from 2012 to 2017 and on the Atlanta City Council from 2022 to 2024. Her background also includes work in FEMA’s legislative and external affairs division.
John F. King (R): King was appointed insurance and safety fire commissioner in 2019 and elected to a full term in 2022. Before taking office, he served as an Atlanta police officer and Doraville police chief. He also served four decades in the Army National Guard, retiring as a major general in 2023.
Agriculture Commissioner
Katherine Juhan-Arnold (D): Juhan-Arnold is a farmer and environmental engineering assistant who has worked in infrastructure and information technology. She founded Baby Katie’s Pharm and Kitchen, a nonprofit farm that provides fresh produce to low-income communities and offers agricultural education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, with a focus on agricultural policy, from Purdue University.
Tyler Harper (R): Harper is the incumbent agriculture commissioner, a seventh-generation farmer and a small-business owner. He served in the Georgia Senate from 2013 until becoming commissioner in 2023, including as chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee. Harper grows peanuts, cotton and timber and operates a cow-calf farm in Irwin County.
ALL CANDIDATE LISTS
- 2026 Georgia midterm elections: Major race candidates
- 2026 Georgia midterm elections: Congressional candidates
- 2026 Georgia midterm elections: Georgia State Senate candidates
- 2026 Georgia midterm elections: Candidates in 4 statewide races
- Georgia 2026 midterm elections: House of Representatives candidates
- 2026 Georgia midterm elections: Candidates in North Georgia county races