A Free Ride: More Than Half of State Lawmakers Facing No Opposition

A vast majority of Georgia's incumbent state representatives and senators aren't facing any opposition in their re-election efforts in 2016, according to a breakdown by Ballotpedia.

A total of 80.5 percent of Georgia's legislative contests feature no major party opposition in November, much higher than the national average -- so far -- of 45.8%.

Georgia's primary elections are set for May 24, and Ballotpedia found there are 163 Democrats and 223 Republicans running for 236 seats.

"We routinely check our candidate lists because, throughout the year, candidates are removed from the ballot or withdraw from election," said Ballotpedia elections analyst Tyler King. "With a few exceptions we've seen over the years, this generally doesn't impact the overall competitiveness themes in a major way. The number of open Democratic seats was reduced by one because all of the candidates for HD162 are running in a special election. We will consider the winner of that election an incumbent for the purpose of these elections."

Republicans hold wide majorities in the Senate (39 to 17) and House (118 to 61, with one Independent).

Here are some other statistical breakdowns that Ballotpedia found for Georgia:

• In the senate, there are 17 Democratic incumbents and 39 Republican incumbents. Three incumbents are facing primary challengers in the Democratic Party. There are nine primary challenges taking place in the Republican primary.
• In the House, there are 61 Democratic incumbents and 118 Republican incumbents. Fifteen state representatives are facing primary challengers in the Democratic Party. There are 22 primary challenges taking place in the Republican primary.
• The overall picture is that 17.3% of Democratic incumbents and 20.2% of GOP incumbents facing primary opposition in all the state leg that have had filing deadlines.
• Georgia’s legislative elections did not make the list of Ballotpedia's 20 battleground chambers to watch in 2016.