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Thomas Benton

Republican Party

Prior offices:

Georgia House of Representatives District 31

Years in office: 2005 - 2023

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Associates

West Georgia College, 1972

Graduate

Brenau College, 1983

Personal

Religion

Christian: Methodist

Profession

Clerk, McDonald Ace Hardware

Contact

Campaign website

Thomas Benton (Republican Party) was a member of theGeorgia House of Representatives, representingDistrict 31. He assumed office on January 10, 2005. He left office on January 9, 2023.

Benton (Republican Party) ran for re-election to theGeorgia House of Representatives to representDistrict 31. He won in the general election onNovember 3, 2020.

Biography

Benton's professional experience includes working as a clerk at McDonald Ace Hardware, teacher in Georgia History/Government American History with theJackson County Board of Education, and a clerk/assistant manager with the W. T. Grant Company.

Committee assignments

2021-2022

Benton was assigned to the following committees:

• House Appropriations Committee
• Education Committee
• Human Relations and Aging Committee
• House Retirement Committee
• House Rules Committee
• House Transportation Committee

2019-2020

Benton was assigned to the following committees:

• Education Committee,Secretary
• Human Relations and Aging Committee
• House Retirement Committee,Chairman
• House Rules Committee
• House Transportation 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, Benton served on the following committees:

2013-2014

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

2011-2012

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

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Benton 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

2022

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2022

Thomas Benton did not file to run for re-election.

2020

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 31

IncumbentThomas Benton defeatedPete Fuller in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 31 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas Benton (R)	80.3	26,632
		Pete Fuller (D)	19.7	6,524

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 33,156
= 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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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 31

Pete Fuller advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 31 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Pete Fuller	100.0	2,158

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,158
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 31

IncumbentThomas Benton advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 31 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas Benton	100.0	10,424

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,424
= 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 31

IncumbentThomas Benton won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 31 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas Benton (R)	100.0	21,281

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,281
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 31

IncumbentThomas Benton defeatedSamuel Thomas in the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 31 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas Benton	59.9	3,108
	Submit photo	Samuel Thomas	40.1	2,079

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 5,187
= 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.

IncumbentTommy Benton ran unopposed in the Georgia House of Representatives District 31 general election.^[1][2]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 31 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tommy BentonIncumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	21,810
Total Votes				21,810
Source:Georgia Secretary of State

IncumbentTommy Benton defeatedWes Lewis in the Georgia House of Representatives District 31 Republican primary.^[3][4]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 31 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tommy BentonIncumbent	73.30%	3,649
	Republican	Wes Lewis	26.70%	1,329
Total Votes				4,978

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. IncumbentThomas H. "Tommy" Benton was unopposed in the Republican primary and was unchallenged in the general election.^[5][6][7]

2012

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2012

Benton ran in the2012 election forGeorgia House of Representatives District 31. Benton ran unopposed in the Republican primary on July 31, 2012. The general election took place on November 6, 2012.Cite error: Closing</ref> missing for<ref> tag

Georgia House of Representatives, District 31, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tommy BentonIncumbent	100%	18,552
Total Votes				18,552

2010

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2010

Benton ran for re-election to the 31st District seat in 2010. He had no opposition in the July 20 primary and no one filed to run against him in the general election. The general election took place onNovember 2, 2010.^[8]

Georgia House of Representatives District 31 General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Thomas BentonIncumbent	100%	14,916
Total Votes				14,916

2008

In 2008 Benton was re-elected to the Georgia House of Representatives District 31. Benton (R) ran unopposed and finished with 20,098 votes.^[9] Benton raised $30,929 for his campaign fund.^[10]

Georgia House of Representatives District 31 General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Thomas BentonIncumbent	100%	20,098
Total Votes				20,098

2006

On November 7, 2006, Benton won re-election to District 31 of theGeorgia House of Representatives against Tommy Stephenson (D).^[11]

Georgia House of Representatives District 31 General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Thomas BentonIncumbent	77.1%	8,939
	Democratic	Tommy Stephenson	22.9%	2,656
Total Votes				11,595

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Thomas Benton 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.

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.

2022

In 2022, theGeorgia State Legislature was in session from January 10 to April 4.

• Georgia Chamber of Commerce

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

• National Federation of Independent Business

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

See also

2020 Elections

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External links

Footnotes

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