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Date set for state Senate special election to replace Colton Moore

Republican Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore speaks to reporters outside the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta. The Georgia secretary of state has set a March 10 special election to replace Moore, who is running for Congress. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File) Republican Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore speaks to reporters outside the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta. The Georgia secretary of state has set a March 10 special election to replace Moore, who is running for Congress. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File)

By Ignacio Perez January 24, 2026 2 min read

Georgia’s secretary of state has set the date for the special election to replace Colton Moore in the state Senate.

Moore automatically resigned once he qualified for the congressional special election to replace U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, Ga., in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.

The election will take place March 10, coinciding with the congressional special election. The dates and hours of qualifying will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 29, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 30 and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 2, according to the secretary of state’s website. The qualifying fee is $400.

Feb. 9 is the last day to register to vote for anyone who has not already done so and wants to vote in the special election, according to the secretary of state.

Three candidates have already announced their intent to run. The Republican candidates are Lanny Thomas, former mayor and a resident of Trion, and Blake Elsberry, the former sole commissioner of Chattooga County, also of Trion. The Democratic candidate, Jack Zibluk, is a media history professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who resides on Lookout Mountain.

Moore held the state Senate seat for District 53, which includes Dade, Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga counties in Northwest Georgia. The northern section of Floyd County is also a part of District 53.

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Contact Northwest Georgia reporter Ignacio Perez at iperez@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6710.