Karla Drenner

Democratic Party

Candidate, Georgia House of Representatives District 85

Georgia House of Representatives District 85

Tenure

2001 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

25

Compensation

Base salary

$25,315.32/year

Per diem

$247/day

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Next election

May 19, 2026

Education

Bachelor's

West Virginia State College, 1985

Ph.D

LaSalle University, 1995

Graduate

Southern Illinois University, 1991

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign X

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Karla Drenner (Democratic Party) is a member of theGeorgia House of Representatives, representingDistrict 85. She assumed office on January 8, 2001. Her current term ends on January 11, 2027.

Drenner (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to theGeorgia House of Representatives to representDistrict 85. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled onMay 19, 2026.^[source]

Biography

Drenner's professional experience includes working as regional manager of safety and health for Federal Express Ground, director of La Roche Industries Incorporated, president of DCS Incorporated, and director of operations for Mallindrodt Incorporated.

Committee assignments

2025-2026

Drenner was assigned to the following committees:

• Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee
• Natural Resources and Environment Committee
• Public and Community Health
• House Rules Committee
• Small Business Development Committee
• Special Committee on Resource Management
• House Urban Affairs

2023-2024

Drenner was assigned to the following committees:

• Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee
• Natural Resources and Environment Committee
• House Rules Committee
• Small Business Development Committee,Secretary

2021-2022

Drenner was assigned to the following committees:

• Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee
• House Health Committee
• Natural Resources and Environment Committee
• House Rules Committee
• Small Business Development Committee

2019-2020

Drenner was assigned to the following committees:

• House Health Committee
• Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee
• Small Business Development Committee
• Natural Resources and Environment Committee
• House Rules Committee

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, Drenner served on the following committees:

2013-2014

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

2011-2012

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

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Drenner 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 House of Representatives 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 House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner is running in the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on May 19, 2026.

		Candidate
		Karla Drenner

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined.
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Endorsements

2024

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner (D)	100.0	22,384

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 22,384
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner	100.0	5,162

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,162
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

2022

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner (D)	100.0	16,743

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,743
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner defeatedJoscelyn O'Neil in the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner	73.9	4,746
		Joscelyn O'Neil	26.1	1,680

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,426
= 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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2020

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner (D)	100.0	22,624

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 22,624
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Andrew Bell (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner	100.0	10,192

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,192
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2018

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner (D)	100.0	18,544

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,544
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85

IncumbentKarla Drenner advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 85 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karla Drenner	100.0	4,922

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 4,922
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for theGeorgia House of Representatives 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.

IncumbentKarla Drenner ran unopposed in the Georgia House of Representatives District 85 general election.^[1][2]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 85 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Karla DrennerIncumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	17,927
Total Votes				17,927
Source:Georgia Secretary of State

IncumbentKarla Drenner ran unopposed in the Georgia House of Representatives District 85 Democratic primary.^[3][4]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 85 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Karla DrennerIncumbent (unopposed)

2014

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for theGeorgia House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014, with runoff elections 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. IncumbentKarla L. Drenner was unopposed in the Democratic primary and was unchallenged in the general election.^[5][6][7]

2012

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2012

Drenner ran in the2012 election forGeorgia House of Representatives District 85. Drenner ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on July 31, 2012. The general election took place on November 6, 2012.^[8] Drenner ran unopposed in the general election.^[9]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 85, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Karla DrennerIncumbent	100%	17,227
Total Votes				17,227

2010

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2010

Drenner ran for re-election to the 86th District seat in 2010. She had no opposition in the July 20 primary and no one filed to run against her in the general election. The general election took place onNovember 2, 2010.^[10]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 86 (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Karla Drenner (D)		6,477	100.0%

2008

In 2008 Drenner was re-elected to the Georgia House of Representatives District 86. Drenner (D) ran unopposed and finished with 11,677 votes.^[11] Drenner raised $8,450 for his campaign fund.^[12]

Georgia House of Representatives District 86
Candidates		Votes
Karla Drenner (D)		11,677

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Karla Drenner has not yet completedBallotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.If you are Karla Drenner,click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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You can ask Karla Drenner to fill out this survey by using the button below.

2024

Karla Drenner did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Karla Drenner did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Karla Drenner 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.
Drenner is a member of the Air and Waste Management Association, Health Physics Society, National Registry of Environmental Professionals, and the National Safety Council.^[13]

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

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Footnotes

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