Johns Creek voters will choose a U.S. senator and a governor on the Nov. 3 ballot. Sen. Jon Ossoff faces Rep. Mike Collins for the Senate seat. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Alpharetta healthcare executive Rick Jackson compete for governor.

How North Fulton voters handle those two races side by side could matter. In 2022, voters in the counties surrounding Johns Creek split their tickets sharply between the governor's and Senate contests, according to a North Atlanta Star analysis published Monday, Sept. 7.

Republican Brian Kemp won 30.52% of the Fulton County gubernatorial vote that year. Fellow Republican Herschel Walker drew just 24.57% in the Senate race on the same ballot. That gap of nearly six points showed up across the region. In Forsyth County, Kemp outran Walker by more than seven points. In Gwinnett County, the spread was nearly six points.

The pattern cut both ways. Democrat Raphael Warnock outperformed fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams in all three counties, pulling roughly four to five points higher in the Senate race than Abrams managed in the governor's contest, according to the Star's analysis.

Countywide Fulton numbers lump Johns Creek, Alpharetta, Milton and Roswell together with heavily Democratic Atlanta and South Fulton. The Star noted that precinct-level returns would be needed to isolate North Fulton communities. The regional trend was still clear: voters evaluated candidates individually, not by party label alone.

Fundraising and polls

Ossoff enters the fall stretch with a roughly 12-to-1 fundraising advantage over Collins. His campaign reported $77.3 million in receipts from January 2025 through June 2026 and roughly $42.6 million cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Collins reported about $6.5 million in receipts over the same period and $2 million on hand.

Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin showed Ossoff leading Collins by 8.1 points as of Monday, Sept. 7, according to Newsweek. Reuters reported that most polls have shown Ossoff leading and that nonpartisan analysts say he holds the advantage.

Collins has faced challenges beyond fundraising. NBC News reported that Collins and Jackson have not campaigned together, pointing to a unity problem among Georgia Republicans. Reuters also reported that Collins has been under scrutiny for racist posts by a former aide, which his campaign disavowed.

At an AFL-CIO picnic on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, Ossoff targeted the economic message he has aimed at suburban voters. "All of this, when for working families in Georgia, life just gets tougher and tougher," Ossoff said, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. Collins' campaign did not respond to the Post's inquiry about his Labor Day plans.

Debates and deadlines

Both races will have televised debates. Bottoms and Jackson meet Oct. 6 in a town hall format at Assembly Studios in Doraville, with undecided voters asking questions. The Ossoff-Collins Senate debate follows Oct. 8 at the same venue, moderated by Atlanta News First's Rick Folbaum, according to Atlanta News First. Both debates will air live on Gray Media stations statewide.

Libertarian Allen Buckley is also seeking the Senate seat, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Libertarian Party of Georgia fell short of the roughly 72,000 signatures required for ballot access this year, meaning Buckley will appear only as a write-in option.

Georgia's voter registration deadline is Oct. 5. Early in-person voting begins Oct. 13.