Kennedy Gave Up His Senate Seat, Then Lost Statewide

John F. Kennedy resigned his Georgia Senate seat on December 9, 2025, to campaign full time for lieutenant governor, then lost the Republican runoff on June 16, 2026. The Macon lawyer had held District 18 since January 12, 2015, and had been the chamber’s president pro tempore. He finished first in a seven-person May primary and still lost to Sen. Greg Dolezal, 45.8 percent to 54.2 percent.

District 18 went through two special elections before Steven McNeel took the desk in February, while Kennedy was still on the statewide trail. The job he wanted is the one that presides over the Senate he left.

Kennedy Resigned in December to Clear the Calendar

Kennedy, a Republican first elected in 2014, left office on December 9, 2025, and said the resignation took effect at once. District 18 covers Crawford, Monroe, Peach, and Upson counties, plus parts of Bibb and Houston. He is John Flanders Kennedy, born in 1965 in Adrian, with an economics degree and a law degree from Mercer University, and he is not related to the former president who shares the name.

He had already announced a lieutenant governor campaign in June 2025 after incumbent Burt Jones decided to run for governor instead of seeking a second term as lieutenant governor. Remaining in the Senate through the 2026 session would have frozen his fundraising from January through April, the window when Georgia’s legislature is in town and sitting members cannot raise campaign money.

The 18th District deserves a senator this upcoming legislative session who will be entirely focused on their needs, not a statewide campaign.

John F. Kennedy, resignation statement, December 9, 2025

He also said that staying would be a disservice to constituents and to the people already backing the statewide race, and that he and his wife, Susan, knew the campaign would take their full focus. Gov. Brian Kemp called a special election for January 20, 2026, with a runoff date of February 17 if no one won a majority.

THE YEAR AFTER HE WALKED OUT

1. December 9, 2025: Resigns the District 18 seat, effective immediately.
2. January 12, 2026: The Senate session opens with the seat still empty.
3. January 20, 2026: Six candidates split the special election; no one tops 50 percent.
4. February 17, 2026: Republican Steven McNeel wins the runoff and takes the seat.
5. May 19, 2026: Kennedy leads the Republican lieutenant governor primary with 27.3 percent.
6. June 16, 2026: Dolezal wins the runoff, 54.2 percent to 45.8 percent.
7. November 3, 2026: Dolezal faces Democrat Josh McLaurin in the general election.

His legislative file was the one he tried to take on the road: tax cuts, property tax relief, pay raises for teachers and law enforcement, limits on sanctuary cities, sports participation rules, tort reform, and Georgia’s first anti-Semitism statute. In the Senate he had been Gov. Nathan Deal’s floor leader, then majority caucus chairman, then the chamber’s number-two officer.

27.3 Percent Was Not Enough to Avoid a Runoff

The Republican primary on May 19, 2026, drew seven names, four of them sitting senators. Kennedy’s pitch was the record under the Gold Dome, jobs, schools, and public safety. Dolezal, a Cumming senator who chairs the Transportation Committee, ran as the Trump conservative and talked about election rules, immigration, and corporate subsidies.

THE MAY 19 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

Kennedy’s 37,254-vote edge over Dolezal was a 4.2-point lead, and it was not a majority. Tillery, Clark, and Gooch, the former majority leader, together took 46.6 percent, which meant the runoff would be a fight over someone else’s voters. The full-time calendar he bought in December got him onto the June ballot. It did not close the race.

The Exurbs Flipped the Runoff to Dolezal

Four weeks later the field was two men and a smaller electorate. The runoff drew 691,912 votes, which is 197,187 fewer than the primary. Dolezal won 375,012 (54.2 percent) to Kennedy’s 316,900 (45.8 percent), an 8.4-point swing from the May order of finish.

THE JUNE 16 RUNOFF

• Winner: Dolezal, 375,012 votes, 54.2 percent.
• Runner-up: Kennedy, 316,900 votes, 45.8 percent.
• Margin: 58,112 votes, after Kennedy had led in May by 37,254.
• Turnout: 197,187 fewer ballots than the seven-way primary.

The map of that night is why the May lead vanished. Dolezal ran up the northern suburbs, including a 32-point margin in Forsyth County, while Kennedy held smaller rural counties and carried Bibb, the core of his old district, by 32 points. Houston County, part of District 18, only barely stayed with him. Lower-turnout runoffs reward the side that consolidates a faction, and the right flank of the party lined up behind Dolezal once Tillery, Clark, and Gooch were gone.

That fight was personal by June. Dolezal spent the runoff telling Republican voters that Kennedy had backed data-center tax breaks and was soft on immigration, and he put the tax-break charge on camera two days before the vote.

John Kennedy voted to hand billions of our tax dollars to data centers.

That’s exactly why Georgia has become the epicenter of their development.

I voted against these handouts. As Lt. Governor I will end them. pic.twitter.com/Haw0qtSlYy

— Senator Greg Dolezal (@DolezalForGA) June 14, 2026

Kennedy’s allies answered with the Senate resume and with complaints that Dolezal mocked a speech impediment and talked down a playground bill for children with disabilities. Conservative organizers still framed the choice as a Capitol insider against a fighter, and enough suburban Republicans believed it to erase a first-place primary.

Middle Georgia’s Two Special Elections

The district he said he was protecting did not get a new senator before the session started. The January 20 special was an all-party ballot, and the vacancy drew six candidates for the Macon-area seat.

WHO RAN TO REPLACE HIM

• LeMario Brown: Peach County Democrat, farmer, and former city council member, 7,947 votes (36.9 percent) on January 20.
• Steven McNeel: Bibb County Republican lawyer, 4,581 votes (21.3 percent), first time on a ballot.
• Eric Wilson: Republican and former Forsyth mayor, 4,357 votes (20.2 percent).
• Lauren Daniel: Republican and former state representative, 4,052 votes (18.8 percent).
• Nathan Warnock: Republican Army veteran, 310 votes (1.4 percent).
• Eugene Allison: Republican, 271 votes (1.3 percent).

Brown led a fractured Republican field, and the 21,518 ballots produced no majority. In the February 17 runoff McNeel won 14,998 to 10,244, or 59.4 percent to 40.6 percent, on 25,242 votes. He was sworn in after that night, with the session already more than a month old and due to end April 2. From the resignation to the runoff was 70 days. From opening day to McNeel’s win was 36 days of a Senate term with no District 18 vote on the floor.

McNeel said that night that it had been a long first campaign and that he meant to represent the whole district. The Republican hold held. The representation Kennedy promised for January did not arrive until the middle of February.

How the Senate Replaced Its Number-Two Leader

The Senate had already lost Kennedy as president pro tempore months before he resigned the seat. Chamber rules treat that leadership job as vacant once the holder announces for another office, files to raise money for it, or qualifies. His June 2025 lieutenant governor launch tripped that wire. Republicans, then 33 seats to 23, nominated Sen. Larry Walker III of Perry for the post that month and made Jason Anavitarte of Dallas the majority leader.

Kennedy had taken the pro tempore gavel on January 9, 2023, by a unanimous vote of the Senate. In that job he ran the chamber’s administrative work, sat on the Committee on Assignments, and presided when the lieutenant governor was out of the room. After the June vacancy, Walker held the nomination until the full Senate could vote at the January 12, 2026, opening, and he now holds the chair Kennedy used to occupy.

The sequence is easy to miss in a campaign press release and hard to miss in the building. He left the backup presiding officer’s post to run for the presiding officer’s post, then lost, so the Senate spent a year under a new number two and will spend the next term under a lieutenant governor who is not him.

What Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor Does in the Senate

Georgia elects a lieutenant governor on a separate ballot from the governor, every four years, with no term limits. The state constitution makes that person the president of the Georgia Senate, with extra executive tasks only if the governor assigns them. In a 40-day session the president decides who speaks, rules on order, and breaks ties. Bills move because that desk sends them to committee and calls them to the floor.

THE JOB HE WAS RUNNING TO HOLD

• Senate president: Runs floor sessions and can cast a tie-breaking vote.
• Pro tempore: A senator who steps in when the lieutenant governor is absent and, while presiding, has the same powers as the Senate president.
• Succession: If the governor’s office is empty, the lieutenant governor takes over for the rest of the term.

That is why a Macon senator who already knew the chamber’s rules treated the race as worth the seat. It is also why finishing first in May and losing in June is a full accounting, not a pause. Dolezal now carries the Republican line into November. McLaurin, a Democratic state senator, won his own runoff and will be the other name on the ballot.

On November 3, 2026, those two will contest the office Kennedy left the Senate to seek. He will not be on that ballot, and he no longer holds a desk in the chamber he used to run when the lieutenant governor was out of the room.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Did John F. Kennedy Leave the Georgia Senate?

He resigned on December 9, 2025, and the resignation was effective that day. Kemp issued the writ of election the next day, and early voting for the special election began December 29, 2025, almost a month before the January 20 ballot.

Who Holds Georgia Senate District 18 Now?

Republican Steven McNeel, a Bibb County lawyer, has held the seat since the February 17, 2026, special runoff. He later won the May 19 Republican primary with 90.2 percent against Howard Allison and appears on the November 3, 2026, general election ballot as the incumbent.

Why Did Kennedy Lose the President Pro Tempore Post?

Senate Rule 1-1.2(f) declares the office vacant if the president pro tempore announces for another elected office, files a declaration to accept campaign contributions for that office, or qualifies to run. Kennedy’s June 2025 lieutenant governor launch triggered the rule, and the full Senate unanimously elected Larry Walker III on January 12, 2026.

Does Georgia Require a Majority in Statewide Primaries?

Yes. A candidate must win more than 50 percent to take a party nomination in one round. Because Kennedy’s 27.3 percent in May was a plurality, Georgia set a primary runoff four weeks later, on June 16, 2026, between the top two finishers.

What Happens if the Lieutenant Governor’s Office Is Vacant?

Georgia does not fill an empty lieutenant governor’s chair for the rest of that term. The president pro tempore presides over the Senate in the meantime, and the next regular election is the next chance to elect a replacement.