Campaigning for two contested seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission has intensified during the early voting period, turning a relatively quiet election cycle into a partisan fight over utility rates and energy policy.
Two Republican incumbents, Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, are being challenged by Democratic nominees Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson in an unusual off-year election delayed by litigation. Republicans fear that, since these state PSC races are being held outside major election years when voter attention to statewide races is low, local elections in Democratic-leaning cities could result in an upset.
The special election, which has attracted national attention, represents the first time since 2020 that any members of the all-GOP commission have stood for reelection in a general election. This is Fitz Johnson’s first time facing voters since he was appointed to the panel in 2021.
Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon said in an interview that because of the unique nature of the election and likely low turnout, his focus is on raising awareness, saying that it would be disappointing to have a statewide position elected by a small fraction of voters.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the state that have no idea that these two statewide offices are up for election,” McKoon said.
Nearly 638,000 people, or about 9% of registered voters, had cast ballots during the early voting period for the 2025 general election, according to the Georgia Secretary of State election data hub. By comparison, nearly 3.8 million people voted early in the last presidential election.
High-profile Georgia Republicans have stepped in to help raise the election’s profile. After Gov. Brian Kemp headlined a rally to energize the state party and “came to (his) rescue,” as Echols said in his “Energy Matters” radio show this week, others have joined in. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reminded her followers on social media to vote early, saying that Republicans are “skipping an extremely important election” and that “Democrats will turn Georgia into California!”
“(Kemp) has done quite a bit for me lately. He’s done a series of commercials. He’s engaging I call it ‘his machine,’ and there’s not a more popular Republican in the state of Georgia than Gov. Brian Kemp,” Echols said in the Wednesday episode titled “Tim’s future is on the line. What will happen?”
When asked if he is feeling more comfortable after the high-profile endorsements ahead of Tuesday, Echols said he’s “making slow progress.” He’s seeking another term in the District 2 seat, which represents a swath of east Georgia that goes as far north as Hart County and as far south as Savannah.
Fitz Johnson, who is running for the District 3 seat, which includes Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties, has been stumping in conservative areas outside his district. The five members on the commission must live in specific regions of the state but are elected by voters statewide. Fitz Johnson said in a text message “there’s no doubt this is going to be a close election” but that he feels like he is getting his message across to voters.
“Voters clearly understand the difference between our sound conservative leadership versus Democrats’ reckless climate mandates,” he said.
The Democratic candidates have centered their campaigns on recent utility bill increases, with the Democratic Party of Georgia having a statewide “My Power Bill’s Too High” tour during the early voting period. That message echoed a $2.2 million campaign from the Georgia Conservation Voters Action Fund highlighting the current commission’s approval of six Georgia Power rate hikes in the last two years. That campaign, which launched a website linked theyraisedyourbill.com blaming the two Republican incumbents for energy bill increases, has “engaged over a million voters” ahead of Election Day, according to Allie Brown, deputy director of Georgia Conservation Voters.
“GCV Action Fund launched this campaign because we need cheaper, cleaner power. To get that, we need new leadership on the Public Service Commission,” Brown said in a statement. “Our campaign reminds voters what they already feel every month: they can’t afford more of the same. Tim and Fitz have raised our bills, and now it’s up to voters to stand up and fire them on Tuesday.”
Hubbard said his strategy for reaching voters uses specific economic data to target Georgians most affected by rising energy costs. Hubbard said that his campaign is “very much micro-targeting” Georgia Power customers.
“They don’t usually know about the PSC unless someone like us tells them about it. It’s still pretty obscure, but they all know their power bill’s gone up, and I tell them why,” Hubbard said Saturday while campaigning in Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County.
At each house, Hubbard would tell the resident who answered the door that “if you’re a Georgia Power customer and you’ve seen your power bill go up, we can help do something about that,” while reminding them to vote for him and Alicia Johnson.
These messages have resonated with some voters. Tiffany Barkley, a 28-year-old nurse from DeKalb County who voted early, said the current commission’s decisions were a key concern and that she wants to see the commission be more accountable to the public.
Anne Branscome, a 79-year-old retiree in DeKalb County, said that a change in the PSC “at this point in time is enormously important,” referring to a growing number of data centers under proposal or being built in Georgia. These data centers require large amounts of energy and water, and Branscome said she is concerned that officials aren’t considering their impact on the future.
“We need people to understand that we can still have technology, and we can still do the right things, and we can use the right ways to do it,” Branscome said. “And we feel like there’s too much corporate interest driving this whole effort without much thought or preparation.”
The Republican campaign has focused on boosting turnout among reliable voters in low-turnout areas, including areas without a local contest on the ballot, and on framing the election around the parties’ ideological differences.
McKoon said that the party is “certainly highlighting the partisan differences,” saying that Georgians “don’t want to go down the road of financing Green New Deal initiatives that, frankly, don’t work and will undermine the reliability of Georgia’s electric grid.”
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Georgia Recorder.
