U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath is in line to win a third term in Congress while her primary opponent, fellow incumbent U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, will be leaving office after just two years.
McBath cruised to victory during Tuesday’s three-way Democratic primary in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District in metro Atlanta.
Initially, it appeared that Bourdeaux was on the path to another term in the 7th District after flipping the seat from Republican control in 2020. But when the neighboring 6th District was drawn in a way that would make it unlikely for a Democrat to win, McBath switched to run against Bourdeaux instead.
McBath took advantage of her national name recognition and deep-pocket political groups who backed her in the matchup. And although both incumbents have similar voting records, McBath is considered the more liberal of the two.
Bourdeaux faced criticism from progressive Democrats after she joined other centrists in the U.S. House in pushing to decouple two of President Joe Biden’s legislative priorities: the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better social spending and climate change package.
The infrastructure bill passed Congress and was signed into law, but Build Back Better continues to languish. Some liberal lawmakers and groups said Bourdeaux and the other centrists made it harder, if not impossible, to pass the measure this year.
A third Democrat, Lawrenceville state Rep. Donna McLeod, was also on the ballot.
There was also a Republican primary in the 7th District with five candidates: Michael Corbin, Mark Gonsalves, Lisa McCoy, Yg Nyghtstorm and Mary West. That race has yet to be called.
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