White voters casting ballots for former President Donald Trump helped Georgia set a new turnout record this year, eclipsing the mark set four years ago and helping him seal his reelection. Meanwhile, Black Georgia voters, who overwhelmingly support Democrats in most elections, were the only major racial demographic group who voted less in 2024 than they did in 2020, according to data compiled by georgiavotes.com.
It’s a fact that keeps the new leader of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus, state Rep. Carolyn Hugley, motivated.
“When anybody or any group goes through a period of loss, in all cases, they have to do self-reflection,” Hugley, D-Columbus, told Capital B Atlanta on Friday. “The party is doing that, and they’re going to work through that as well.”
On Nov. 14, State House Democrats elected Hugley to replace outgoing House Minority Leader James Beverly, D-Macon, who announced his retirement earlier this year. The 66-year-old Hugley — who has served 16 terms in the Georgia General Assembly, spanning more than three decades — now leads a state House caucus that represents the majority of Black voters.
Hugley has a plan to help her party reconnect with left-leaning voters who sat out of the Nov. 5 presidential election, failing to propel Vice President Kamala Harris toward victory.
Inflation and feelings of neglect
Hugley acknowledged that Black voter apathy was a problem for Georgia Democrats this election cycle, particularly in rural areas where residents have complained about the lingering sting of inflation and seeming neglect from metro-Atlanta-based Democratic Party leaders.
Next year, she plans to lead a state House Democratic Caucus listening tour across Georgia to better understand the electoral needs and desires of folks who live in less-populated regions.
“We’re going to start with colleges and universities and listen to our young people first and foremost, because they are the future,” Hugley said. “We’ve got to get a handle on what it is they’re concerned about, what their needs are. And we’re going to be actively working to reconstruct the Democratic agenda to meet people where they are, meet the challenges that they face, and put together policies and programs to address those challenges.”
Nikema Williams’s leadership
Hugley addressed calls for the ouster of Georgia Democratic Party chair Nikema Williams — the first Black woman to lead the party at the state level — in the wake of Trump’s general election victory.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, has been credited with leading those calls. Ossoff reportedly called Williams post-election night asking her to step down, a move echoed days later in letters drafted by members of the Young Democrats of Georgia and the Georgia Federation of Democratic Women.
The groups argued that as a congresswoman, Williams is ill-suited for the role because she is barred from raising money for state Democratic candidates. They also expressed concern over the party’s willingness to address the needs of Black voters beyond Atlanta.
Several prominent Black Democrats, including Georgia Legislative Black Caucus chair Carl Gilliard, D-Savannah, also have called for Williams to step down. Hugley avoided criticizing Ossoff during an interview with Capital B Atlanta last week, but doubled down on her support for Williams, who may be looking to exit her role as party chair next year, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Who is Carolyn Hugley?
Hugley is an independent agent for State Farm Insurance and a Forrest City, Arkansas, native who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an HBCU, and a master’s degree in public policy administration at Mississippi State University. She met her husband, current Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley, in the same program. The two later relocated to Columbus, Georgia, Isaiah’s hometown, and had two children, Kimberly and Isaiah Jr.
First elected in 1992, Hugley is one of the most tenured Democrats in the Georgia General Assembly. She was the first African American to serve as minority whip in the House, a role her office says she held from 2003 to 2018.
Hugley said she accomplished her proudest legislative achievement in 2013, when she persuaded fellow lawmakers to approve $400,000 in compensation for Lathan Word, a Black man who served nearly 11 years in prison for a 1999 armed robbery he didn’t commit.
“He and my son were born the same year, and so it really resonated with me what he had missed along the way,” Hugley said of Word.
Former convenience store employee Contresstis Tolbert later admitted lying to police about Word stealing $300 from him while wielding a handgun, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. The Georgia Court of Appeals overturned Word’s conviction in 2011 for “ineffective assistance of counsel” due to his attorney failing to object when a prosecutor improperly asked a police officer if he believed Tolbert’s testimony, the newspaper reported.
The government admitted to wrongfully imprisoning Word for more than a decade, but Hugley said the state judicial system refused to compensate Word because it wasn’t directly involved in any alleged wrongdoing. She said Word wasn’t even entitled to the $25 given to most incarcerated individuals who have completed their sentences before returning home.
“When a conviction is overturned, they don’t get the support that you would get when somebody is transitioning back to society,” Hugley said. “They just release them.”
A focus on health, environment, and education
Hugley said her priorities for next year’s legislative session will once again include pushing for full Medicaid expansion in Georgia, a long-standing goal for Democrats looking to address lingering health care disparities largely fueled by hospital and other statewide health care service facility closures.
She also plans to focus on bills addressing economic instability, environmental stewardship, and updating the state’s K-12 education funding formula known as Quality Basic Education (QBE).
“Those are the things that we’re going to be looking at, and I think our caucus is well positioned to build on those things,” Hugley said.
