Deborah Gonzalez is an American attorney and politician from Georgia. Gonzalez was elected as a District Attorney for Georgia's Western Circuit district on December 1, 2020, and is a former Democratic member of the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are direct ...

. She served as a

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United S ...

for Georgia House District 117 from November 27, 2017, until January 14, 2019.

Legal career and political service

Gonzalez is a practicing attorney, with more than 20 years experience. Her practice has concentrated in the area of media and entertainment and social media and technology. On June 10, 2017 Gonzalez announced her intention to run for District 117 in the Georgia House of Representatives. She subsequently won with 53 percent of the vote in a November 2017

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. The vacancy in the seat was created when her predecessor was appointed by Georgia Governor

Nathan Deal John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party in 1992 a ...

to serve as a Superior Court Judge. In the November 2018 general election, Gonzalez was defeated in her attempt to win a full term when Houston Gaines reclaimed the seat for the Republican party. On July 11, 2019, Gonzalez announced her candidacy to run for district attorney in the Western Judicial Circuit, which serves Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties, to succeed incumbent Ken Mauldin who announced his retirement effective February 29, 2020, 10 months prior to the end of his term. However, Governor

Brian Kemp Brian Porter Kemp (born November 2, 1963) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 83rd governor of Georgia since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Kemp served as the 27th secretary of state of Georgia from 2010 to ...

refused to announce by May 3, 2020 an acting replacement for the remainder of Maudlin's term, which under House Bill 907 (passed 2018) would delay the primary and election for the office to 2022. Gonzalez filed a federal lawsuit against Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State

Brad Raffensperger Bradford Jay Raffensperger (born May 18, 1955) is an American politician, businessman, and civil engineer, serving as the Secretary of State of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia House of Re ...

over the law in order to force the special election to take place, with Judge

Mark Howard Cohen Mark Howard Cohen (born June 11, 1955) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Biography Cohen received a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in 1976 from Emory Universi ...

of the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruling in Gonzalez's favor. The state appealed the ruling to the

United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * ...

, who referred the case to the Georgia Supreme Court. On October 11, the Court ruled in Gonzalez's favor, finding that HB907 unconstitutionally allows the governor to appoint an acting district attorney to serve beyond the term of the prior incumbent rather than the remaining time left in the prior incumbent's term. The state relented and scheduled a blanket primary for the office for the November ballot. A special election was held on November 3, 2020 and went to a runoff on December 1, 2020. Gonzalez defeated her opponent in the runoff, James Chafin, with 51.7% of the vote. She was the first Latina to be elected District Attorney in the state of Georgia.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Deborah Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Women state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state) Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 2020 United States presidential electors District attorneys in Georgia (U.S. state) 21st-century American women politicians