The Democratic Party of Georgia is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is one of the two major political parties in the state and is chaired by Nikema Williams. President Jimmy Carter was a Georgia Democrat. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Georgia Democrats have advocated Medicaid expansion in the state, a policy that would provide a federally subsidized health insurance plan to approximately 500,000 Georgians. At $5.15 an hour, Georgia is one of only two states with a state minimum wage below the federal minimum wage; a priority for Georgia Democrats in the 2010s and 2020s has been increasing the minimum wage. History For over a century, the Democratic Party dominated Georgia state and local politics with a membership largely consisting of conservative Southern Democrats. From 1872 to 2002, the Democratic Party controlled the governorship, both houses of the state legislature, and most statewide offices. In 1976, former Democratic governor Jimmy Carter (1971−1975) was elected the 39th president of the United States. After switching to the Republican Party in 1998, Sonny Perdue went on to defeat Democrat Roy Barnes in the 2002 gubernatorial election. In 2004, the Democratic Party lost control of the Georgia House of Representatives, putting the party in the minority for the first time in state history. The Democratic Party of Georgia entered the 2010 elections with hopes that former governor Roy Barnes could win back the governorship. Polls showed a tight race between Barnes and Republican gubernatorial nominee Nathan Deal, with some predicting a runoff election. However, on election day, Republicans won every statewide office. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Georgia Democrats have advocated Medicaid expansion in the state, a policy that would provide a federally subsidized healthcare plan to about 500,000 Georgians. At $5.15 an hour, Georgia is one of only two states with a state minimum wage below the federal minimum wage; a priority for Georgia Democrats in the 2010s and 2020s has been increasing the minimum wage. Since 2016, Georgia Democrats have begun to see better results, with them getting very close to winning the governorship in 2018. In 2020, Joe Biden narrowly won the state, the first time for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992. Not long after that, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won both of the state's U.S. Senate seats in runoff elections in 2021, the