ATLANTA – U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams is stepping down as chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia.
Williams, D-Atlanta, decided to leave the post following a vote during the weekend by the Georgia party’s State Committee amending the party bylaws to require the party chair to serve in that position full time.
“I was clear from the beginning of this process that once the approved language was adopted, this would prohibit me from continuing to serve as your chairwoman due to ethics rules in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Williams wrote in a prepared statement.
Williams took over the chairwoman’s role in 2019, as Georgia Democrats were poised to make significant electoral gains.
“Through strategic vision, relentless organizing, and an unwavering belief in the power of our people, we turned this state into the battleground it was always meant to be,” she wrote.
“Under my leadership, we elected both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate, sent a Democrat to the White House for the first time in 28 years, expanded our influence in the state legislature and flipped hundreds of municipal and county seats – proving that Georgia’s political future belongs to those willing to fight for it.”
Effective immediately, former state Rep. Matthew Wilson, D-Brookhaven, will serve as Georgia Democratic chairman. Wilson was elected to the state House in 2018 and left the General Assembly in 2022 to mount an unsuccessful bid for state insurance commissioner.