A former judge best known to many Georgians from a courtroom television show will soon be running the state’s elections office.
Penny Brown Reynolds, a Democrat, defeated Republican state Rep. Tim Fleming in Tuesday’s election for Georgia secretary of state, ending two decades of Republican control of the office. Reynolds takes over in January 2027.
Family court to state government
Reynolds is a former Fulton County State Court judge, attorney, ordained pastor, author, college professor, and one-time nationally syndicated television personality. She hosted and executive produced “Family Court with Judge Penny,” a courtroom television show that premiered in 2008 and earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 2009. Unlike some television courtroom personalities, Reynolds was an actual sitting judge before taking her show to the airwaves.
Her path to the secretary of state’s office runs through some of the most senior positions in Georgia government. She became the first Black person to serve as executive counsel to a Georgia governor, working under Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes from 1998 to 2000. She later became the first Black person to hold the positions of chief of staff and executive counsel to Georgia’s lieutenant governor.
What she will oversee
The secretary of state’s office does more than run elections. The position also covers corporate registrations, professional licensing, and securities regulation across the state. Reynolds will be responsible for overseeing election administration in all 159 of Georgia’s counties.
She campaigned on expanding voting access through early voting and absentee ballots while supporting the state’s existing voter ID requirements. She also pledged to protect election workers and continue the use of electronic ballot-marking machines. Reynolds rejected claims that widespread voter fraud threatens the integrity of Georgia elections.
One of her first major challenges will be the state’s decision about voting equipment ahead of the 2028 presidential election, a process the secretary of state’s office will play a central role in certifying.
Reynolds also proposed a small-business initiative she called “Opening the Gate,” aimed at connecting small businesses across the state with resources, networking, and investment opportunities. She advocated for more efficient professional licensing and improved public access to government information through public data tools and community meetings.
Breaking a 20-year streak
The last Democrat elected Georgia secretary of state was Cathy Cox, who lost her re-election bid in 2006. Republican Brad Raffensperger, Reynolds’s predecessor, held the office through one of the most scrutinized election cycles in Georgia history.
Reynolds’s victory is the latest sign of shifting political ground in a state that has trended more competitive over the past decade.
B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
