Christmas will be here before you know it, and election day will be here even sooner than that.
Early voting begins Monday morning at the new county government annex on North Columbia Street. The Monday through Friday hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., while the Saturday hours are 9 to 5. There are three Saturdays on this year’s election calendar – Oct. 17, Oct. 24 and Oct. 31.
“For United States Senate” is the first item on the ballot, while “For Governor” is the second. The Democrat is an overwhelming favorite to win the first, while the Republican is a slight favorite to win the latter.
As of press time, Sen. Jon Ossoff had a 96 percent chance to win re-election on Kalshi and 95 percent on Polymarket, among the most prominent online prediction markets.
Using his incumbency advantage, Ossoff built up a large war chest, and the campaign has already spent more than $57 million on advertising, according to the Associated Press.
Collins, meanwhile, only showed $2.1 million “cash on hand” during his campaign’s most recent filing, although political action committees (PACs) have spent $52 million in advertising on behalf of Collins, the Associated Press reported.
It’s the other way around in the governor’s race, where the Republican is outspending the Democrat by a very wide margin.
Republican Rick Jackson has already spent more than $100 million of his own money on advertising, dating back to last winter. The campaign filing reports that were due on Sept. 30 haven’t been released, but reports have put Democrat candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms’ fundraising efforts at somewhere between $6 million and $7 million.
The advertising apparently is paying off for Jackson. As of press time, he had a 54 percent chance of winning on Kalshi and a 50.5 percent chance on Polymarket.
Bottoms was running in the high 50s on Kalshi and Polymarket for most of August and September. On Sept. 1, for example, she was up 19 percentage points over Jackson on Kalshi and 22 percentage points on Polymarket.
Since the third week in September, however, Jackson has narrowed the margin in the betting markets and now taken the lead. Keep in mind, the percentages represent the “chance of winning,” not the “predicted percentage of the vote total.”
Zooming in on Baldwin County, there are three local contests in the general election, and all three are county commission races. In District 3, it’s Republican Justin Jones vs. Democrat Peggy Longino Chester. Both are political newcomers. District 3 includes the far southwestern corners of Baldwin County but also the heart of downtown Milledgeville. In other words, you can see campaign signs on County Line Church Road, but you can also see them around downtown.
District 4, meanwhile, pits Republican Andrew Strickland against Democrat Maurice Liggins. Strickland is the incumbent. Republicans far outnumber democrats in District 4. The March 2026 voting rolls showed 4,576 voters who were listed as “white,” compared to 1,970 listed as “Black.” Strickland is white, and Liggins is African-American.
The demographics are very similar in District 5, where Republican Scott Little is looking to win re-election. The challenger is Danielle Ramsey. According to the March 2026 voting rolls, 7,166 voters in District 5 were listed as “white,” while 1,967 were listed as “Black.” Little is white, and Ramsey is African-American.
The Baldwin Bulletin will have much more on the 2026 general election, beginning next week.