Donzella James

Democratic Party

Candidate, Georgia State Senate District 35

Georgia State Senate District 28

Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

1

Predecessor:Matt Brass (R)

Prior offices:

Georgia State Senate District 35

Years in office: 2009 - 2025

Successor:Jason Esteves (D)

Compensation

Base salary

$25,315.32/year

Per diem

$247/day

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Next election

May 19, 2026

Personal

Religion

Christian: Catholic

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Donzella James (Democratic Party) is a member of theGeorgia State Senate, representingDistrict 28. She assumed office on January 13, 2025. Her current term ends on January 11, 2027.

James (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to theGeorgia State Senate to representDistrict 35. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled onMay 19, 2026.^[source]

Biography

James' professional experience includes teaching in Atlanta Public Schools.

Committee assignments

2025-2026

James was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• Education and Youth Committee
• Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee
• Urban Affairs Committee,Chair

2023-2024

James was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• Education and Youth Committee
• Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee,Vice Chair
• Urban Affairs Committee,Chair

2021-2022

James was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• Education and Youth Committee
• Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee,Chair
• Special Judiciary Committee (decommissioned)

2019-2020

James was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• Education and Youth Committee
• Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee,Chairman

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, James served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, James served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, James served on the following committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, James served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2026

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35

IncumbentDonzella James is running in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35 on May 19, 2026.

		Candidate
		Donzella James

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined.
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Endorsements

2024

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 28

IncumbentDonzella James won election in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 28 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James (D)	100.0	79,712

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 79,712
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 28

IncumbentDonzella James defeatedTerracia Tee Wilkinson in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 28 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James	75.1	14,128
	Submit photo	Terracia Tee Wilkinson	24.9	4,686

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,814
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

2022

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 35

IncumbentDonzella James won election in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 35 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James (D)	100.0	62,015

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 62,015
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35

IncumbentDonzella James defeatedWhitney Kenner Jones,Lula Gilliam, andMike Glanton Jr. in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James	70.9	17,707
		Whitney Kenner Jones	11.3	2,821
		Lula Gilliam	9.8	2,453
		Mike Glanton Jr.	7.9	1,977

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,958
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 35

IncumbentDonzella James won election in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 35 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James (D)	100.0	82,600

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 82,600
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35

IncumbentDonzella James defeatedKaren Ashley andKelly Johnson in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James	63.4	25,430
		Karen Ashley	19.2	7,688
		Kelly Johnson	17.5	7,012

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 40,130
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 35

IncumbentDonzella James won election in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 35 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James (D)	100.0	65,277

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 65,277
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35

IncumbentDonzella James defeatedKaren Ashley andMike Glanton Jr. in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 35 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donzella James	66.6	10,651
		Karen Ashley	22.5	3,602
		Mike Glanton Jr.	10.8	1,728

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 15,981
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2016

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for theGeorgia State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 24, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 11, 2016.

IncumbentDonzella James ran unopposed in the Georgia State Senate District 35 general election.^[1][2]

Georgia State Senate, District 35 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Donzella JamesIncumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	66,099
Total Votes				66,099
Source:Georgia Secretary of State

IncumbentDonzella James defeatedTony Phillips in the Georgia State Senate District 35 Democratic primary.^[3][4]

Georgia State Senate, District 35 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Donzella JamesIncumbent	74.98%	7,214
	Democratic	Tony Phillips	25.02%	2,407
Total Votes				9,621

2014

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for theGeorgia State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014, with a runoff election taking place where necessary on July 22, 2014. The general election was held onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 7, 2014. IncumbentDonzella J. James was unopposed in the Democratic primary, whileFrancisco X.R. Artley was unopposed in the Republican primary. James defeated Artley in the general election.^[5][6][7]

Georgia State Senate, District 35 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Donzella JamesIncumbent	74.8%	36,530
	Republican	Francisco Artley	25.2%	12,285
Total Votes				48,815

2012

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2012

James ran in the2012 election forGeorgia State Senate District 35. James defeatedDetrius Hill Jones andCory J. Lynch in the Democratic primary on July 31, 2012. IncumbentBenjamin Brooks (R) ran unopposed in the Republican primary. The general election took place on November 6, 2012.^[8][9] James defeatedBrooks in the general election.^[10]

Georgia State Senate, District 35, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Donzella JamesIncumbent	100%	59,430
Total Votes				59,430

Georgia State Senate, District 35 Democratic Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Donzella JamesIncumbent	74.8%	10,293
Cory J. Lynch	13.2%	1,811
Detrius Hill Jones	12.1%	1,661
Total Votes		13,765

2010

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2010

James won re-election to the 35th District seat in 2010. She was unopposed in the November 2 general election.^[11]

Georgia State Senate, District 35 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Donzella James (D)		50,777	100.0%

James defeated Roberta Cooper and Torrey Johnson in the primary on July 20th.^[12]

Georgia State Senate, District 35 - Democratic Primary (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Donzella James		9,739	66.5%
Torrey O. Johnson		3,641	24.9%
Roberta Cooper		1,256	8.6%

2009

On November 3, 2009, James won election to theGeorgia Senate from Georgia's 35th Senate district in a special election to replaceKasim Reed. Reed was required to give up his seat because he was running to become the mayor of Atlanta.^[13] James won the election with 3,598 votes (26.0% of the vote), defeating eight other Democratic candidates.^[14]

Georgia Senate, District 35
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Donzella James (D)		3,598	26.0%
Torrey Johnson		2,722	19.7%
Benny Crane		2,125	15.4%
Aaron Johnson		1,401	10.1%
Rosie Jackson		1,302	9.4%
Kezmich'e Atterbury		1,022	7.4%
George Oliver Sneed, Jr.		839	6.1%
Cory Lynch		531	3.8%
Demarcus Peters		283	2.0%

2000

On November 7, 2000, James won re-election to the 35th District Seat in theFlorida State Senate. James was unopposed, and raised $52,057 for her campaign.^[15]

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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2024

Donzella James did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Donzella James did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Donzella James did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.
James and her husband, Elmo, have two children.^[16]

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Georgia

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Georgia scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Noteworthy events

Decision to self-quarantine for coronavirus on March 19, 2020

See also:Political incumbents, candidates, and government officials diagnosed with COVID-19 or quarantined due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020

James, along with hisGeorgia State Senate colleagues, entered self-quarantine after State Sen.Brandon Beach tested positive for coronavirus.^[17]

Coronavirus pandemic
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COVID-19, also known ascoronavirus disease 2019, is the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The first confirmed case of the disease in the United States was announced on January 21, 2020. For more of Ballotpedia's coverage of the coronavirus impact on political and civic life,click here.

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Footnotes

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