Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) defeated former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams (D) and Ted Metz (L) in the general election on November 6, 2018, for Georgia's governorship.

Heading into the election, Georgia had been a Republican trifecta since 2004 when Republicans won control of the Georgia House of Representatives. Republicans took control of the governorship and the Georgia State Senate in 2002. Prior to 2002, Democrats had won every Georgia gubernatorial race since the Reconstruction era following the Civil War. Georgia maintained its Republican trifecta status in 2018.

The winner of this election stood to influence the state's redistricting process following the 2020 census. Under Georgia state law, the Georgia General Assembly is responsible for drawing new maps for U.S. House and state legislative seats following the completion of the census. The governor has the power to veto these district map proposals.

Kemp replaced term-limited Gov. Nathan Deal (R), who defeated former Gov. Roy Barnes (D) in 2010 by 10 percentage points and defeated state Sen. Jason Carter (D) in 2014 by 7.9 percentage points. Heading into the election, forecasters said the race was a toss-up or slightly favored Republicans. Abrams was the first black woman to secure a major party gubernatorial nomination in U.S. history and the first woman of any race to do so in Georgia history.

With three candidates on the ballot, it was possible that no candidate would receive more than 50 percent of the vote on November 6. The top-two finishers would have competed in a runoff election on December 4, 2018. The last general election runoff for a major statewide Georgia race was the 2008 Senate election where U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) defeated challenger Jim Martin (D) 58 percent to 42 percent in the runoff. As of 2018, there had never been a runoff election for Georgia governor. As of 2018, Georgia and Louisiana were the only states to hold general election runoffs.

Georgia was one of 36 states that held an election for governor in 2018. Democrats gained seven previously Republican-held seats, and Republicans gained one previously independent-held seat. Heading into the 2018 elections, there were 16 Democratic governors, 33 Republican governors, and one independent governor. In 2018, 26 of the 33 states with a Republican governor held a gubernatorial election, while nine out of the 16 states with a Democratic governor held a gubernatorial election. Seventeen of the 36 seats up for election were open seats (four Democratic, 12 Republican, and one independent), meaning that the sitting governor was not seeking re-election.

Polls

Georgia Governor election, 2018

Race ratings

The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato's Crystal Ball. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage. Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Georgia gubernatorial election, 2018

State election history

2014

Governor of Georgia, 2014

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Nathan Deal Incumbent	52.7%	1,345,237
	Democratic	Jason Carter	44.9%	1,144,794
	Libertarian	Andrew Hunt	2.4%	60,185
Total Votes			2,550,216
Election results via Georgia Secretary of State

2010

Governor of Georgia, 2010

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Roy E. Barnes	43%	1,107,011
	Republican	Nathan Deal	53%	1,365,832
	Libertarian	John H. Monds	4%	103,194
	NA	Write-in	0%	124
Total Votes			2,576,161

Demographics

Demographic data for Georgia

As of July 2017, Georgia's three largest cities were Atlanta (pop. est. 470,000), Columbus (pop. est. 200,000), and Augusta (pop. est. 200,000).