Liveblog: New Candidates Join 2012 Ballot

The rest of this week is sure to bring a few unexpected candidates as judges and partisan politicians pay their fees and officially put their names on the 2012 ballot for local, state and national offices.

4:30 p.m. update:

After the first of three days for qualifying for the 2012 ballot, south Fulton's candidates are starting to write their checks and officially start the running.

All 14 of Georgia's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on this year's ballot, as are all 236 seats in the state Legislature. Some judges and district attorneys are on the ballot, as well as Fulton County Tax Assessor, Sheriff and others.

Most state legislature races are walk-overs, or nearly walk-overs, with incumbents having the advantage of name recognition and campaign dollars in the bank. This year, seats in the state legislature and U.S. Congress have been redrawn to rebalance district populations based on 2010 U.S. census counts. The result is that most districts are very safe for either the Republicans or the Democrats. The biggest fight, if any, will be between candidates of the same party ahead of July primaries.

Qualifying closes on Friday, May 25 at noon.

U.S. Representative, District 5 

Michael Johnson 
PO Box 7456 
Atlanta, GA  30357 
E-Mail: 

michael@michaeljohnsonforcongress.com

Public Service Commission, District 3 - Metro-Atlanta 

Party: Democratic  
Age: 57 
Occupation: Retired 
Website: steveforgeorgia.com 
Date Qualified: Wednesday, May 23, 2012

State Legislature:

State Senator, District 35 

State Senator, District 36 

State Senator, District 38 

State Senator, District 39 

State Representative, District 53 

State Representative, District 55 

Party: Democratic  
Age: 66 
Occupation: Civil Rights Worker/President-T. Brooks & Assoc. 
Date Qualified: Wednesday, May 23, 2012

State Representative, District 56 

State Representative, District 57 

State Representative, District 58 

State Representative, District 59 

State Representative, District 60 

State Representative, District 61 

*Independent candidates for the state Legislature qualify in June.

Supreme Court Justice, Statewide

Appeals Court Judge, Statewide

Party: Non-Partisan  
Age: 70 
Occupation: Judge, Court of Appeals 
Date Qualified: Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Superior Court Judge, Atlanta Circuit

District Attorney, Atlanta Circuit 

Fulton County offices

State Court Judge

Myra Dixon, incumbent, not yet opposed

Wesley Tailor, incumbent, not yet opposed

Melynee Leftridge, not yet opposed

Diane Bessen, incumbent, not yet opposed

John Mather, incumbent, not yet opposed

Patsy Porter, incumbent, not yet opposed

Susan Edlein, incumbent, not yet opposed

Probate Court Judge

Pinkie Toomer, incumbent, not yet opposed