Duluth Democrat Nabilah Parkes announced her resignation from the Georgia Senate Friday, less than a month before the scheduled end of the 2026 legislative session. She was first elected in 2022, becoming the first Muslim woman to serve in the state Senate.
She stated frustrations with leadership and a need to focus on her campaign for lietenant governor as the reasons for her decision to leave the state Senate in an X post.
I just notified Governor Kemp that today is my last day in the Georgia Senate.
As I wrote in my letter to Gov. Kemp: unfortunately, the legislature, under this Republican leadership, is a place where good ideas go to die. But as your next Lieutenant Governor, I’m going to fight…
— Nabilah Parkes (@Nabilah_Parkes) March 13, 2026
Parkes' bid for the lieutenant governorship came as a surprise after she previously announced plans to run for insurance commissioner. Her resignation from the state Senate will allow her to raise funds for her new campaign, which will give her a leg-up in the May primary against current Democratic Sen. Josh McLaurin, her main competition for the Democratic Party's nomination.
McLaurin criticized Parkes' resignation in a statement posted on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
Parkes then responded to the statement on X.
"It's disappointing that my fellow Democrat would open this campaign with an attack, particularly one that echoes the misogynistic trope of women as 'impulsive'. It takes an amazing level of entitlement to try and suggest that as a woman I don’t have every right as a man to be in this race," she wrote in the post.
