On Friday, the first Republican primary vote was cast in the Georgia race.
While the race has been a long time coming, it was a long shot for Georgia Democrats in 2010, which saw a Democratic takeover of the state legislature and the ascension of President Barack Obama as its next governor.
Democrats won all but one of the seats in the legislature, including the one they won in November 2010, but that seat went to Republican Matt Gaetz, who won the GOP primary despite being viewed as the most moderate candidate.
A Democrat has a better chance to win the general election in Georgia this year, but Democrats have only a 50-50 chance at taking the seat.
The latest polls show Democrat Ralph Northam with a strong lead over Republican Ed Gillespie.
Northam was also seen as more conservative than Gillespie in a recent poll.
So while the race is still too close to call, there’s reason to be hopeful that the race will turn out to be a tight one.
In a national poll by CNN, 55 percent of voters said they would definitely support the Democratic candidate in Georgia, with the rest saying they were leaning toward the Republican.
It’s the second consecutive poll in Georgia to show a tight race, following a poll released last week showing a 50 percent to 45 percent edge for the Democratic nominee.
Gillespie, who was elected governor in 2017, is running against Democrat Ralph Norman, who served in the state House for 25 years before joining the state Senate.
According to a poll from Fox News, 61 percent of likely voters say they will vote for the Republican candidate, with 35 percent undecided.
For the first time, there are no Democrats running for the U,S.
House seat.
In 2018, Democrats will hold the seat for the first three years of a new term.