Charlie Bethel

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Charlie Bethel
Image of Charlie Bethel

Nonpartisan

Georgia Supreme Court
Tenure

2018 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

6

Prior offices
Georgia Court of Appeals

Compensation

Base salary

$189,112

Elections and appointments
Last elected

June 9, 2020

Appointed

2018

Education

Bachelor's

University of Georgia, 1998

Law

University of Georgia School of Law, 2001

Personal
Religion
Christian: Baptist
Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn 

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Charlie Bethel is a judge of the Georgia Supreme Court. He assumed office on October 2, 2018. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.

Bethel ran for re-election for judge of the Georgia Supreme Court. He won in the general election on June 9, 2020.

Bethel was appointed to Georgia Supreme Court by Governor Nathan Deal (R) on September 14, 2018, to fill the vacancy left by P. Harris Hines, who retired.[1] To read more about judicial selection in Georgia, click here.

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[2] Bethel received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[3] Click here to read more about this study.

Bethel previously served on the Georgia Court of Appeals from 2017 to 2018.[4]

Biography

Bethel was born in Athens, Georgia. He earned a B.S. in management from the University of Georgia in 1998 and his J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2001.[5]

Bethel's career experience includes running a private law practice and working as a lawyer for Minor, Bell & Neal. He also clerked for two years for Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He served on the Georgia Court of Appeals from 2017 to 2018. Gov. Deal appointed Bethel to the court of appeals November 9, 2016, to succeed Judge Michael P. Boggs.[4] He took the bench on January 1, 2017, and was elected to the seat in the general election on May 22, 2018.

Bethel served as a Republican member of the Georgia State Senate, representing District 54 from 2011 to 2016.[5]

Elections

2020

See also: Georgia Supreme Court elections, 2020

General election

General election for Georgia Supreme Court

Incumbent Charlie Bethel defeated Beth Beskin in the general election for Georgia Supreme Court on June 9, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charlie Bethel
Charlie Bethel (Nonpartisan)
 
52.2
 
1,098,264
Image of Beth Beskin
Beth Beskin (Nonpartisan)
 
47.8
 
1,006,065

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 2,104,329
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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 Supreme Court elections, 2018

General election

General election for Georgia Court of Appeals

Incumbent Charlie Bethel won election in the general election for Georgia Court of Appeals on May 22, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Charlie Bethel
Charlie Bethel (Nonpartisan)
 
100.0
 
886,924

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 886,924
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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.

Selection method

See also: Nonpartisan election of judges

There are fifteen judges on the Georgia Court of Appeals, each chosen by the people in nonpartisan elections to serve a six-year term. If a vacancy appears on the court, the position is filled by assisted appointment. The governor chooses an appointee from a list of qualified candidates compiled by the judicial nominating commission. If appointed, an interim judge must run in the next general election held at least six months after the appointment, and, if confirmed by voters, he or she may finish the rest of the predecessor's term.[6]

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a judge must be:

  • a resident of Georgia and
  • admitted to practice law for at least seven years.[6]

Selection of the chief judge

The chief judge is selected by peer vote and serves in that capacity for twp years.[6]

2016

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Georgia State Senate 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.

Incumbent Charlie Bethel ran unopposed in the Georgia State Senate District 54 general election.[7][8]

Georgia State Senate, District 54 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Charlie Bethel Incumbent (unopposed) 100.00% 46,908
Total Votes 46,908
Source: Georgia Secretary of State



Incumbent Charlie Bethel defeated Conda Lowery-Goodson in the Georgia State Senate District 54 Republican primary.[9][10]

Georgia State Senate, District 54 Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Charlie Bethel Incumbent 75.34% 13,066
     Republican Conda Lowery-Goodson 24.66% 4,277
Total Votes 17,343


2014

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for the Georgia State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014, with a runoff election taking place where necessary on July 22, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 7, 2014. Incumbent Charles J. "Charlie" Bethel was unopposed in the Republican primary and was unchallenged in the general election.[11][12][13]

2012

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2012

Bethel ran in the 2012 election for Georgia State Senate District 53. Bethel ran unopposed in the Republican primary on July 31, 2012. No Democratic candidate filed to run for this seat. The general election took place on November 6, 2012.[14][15] Bethel ran unopposed in the general election.[16]

Georgia State Senate, District 54, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngCharlie Bethel Incumbent 100% 39,819
Total Votes 39,819

2010

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2010

Bethel was unopposed in the November 2nd election. No Democrats filed to run for the seat.[17]

Georgia State Senate, District 54
2010 General election results
Candidates Votes Percent
Green check mark transparent.png Charlie Bethel (R) 24,365 100.0%

Bethel defeated Steve Brannon in the July 20 primary.[18]

Georgia State Senate, District 54 - Republican Primary (2010)
Candidates Votes Percent
Green check mark transparent.png Charlie Bethel 6,822 58.4%
Steve Brannon 4,869 41.6%

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Charlie Bethel did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Bethel's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[19]

Limited constitutional government

  • Excerpt: "Senator Bethel is a principled conservative. His fundamental guiding principles include a belief in governing in accordance with the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions, support for the government closest to the people as opposed to central authority, low taxes, and free markets."

Integrity

  • Excerpt: "Charlie knows having strong, enforceable ethics laws are crucial to protecting public trust."

Jobs and the economy

  • Excerpt: "Low taxes, limited regulation, quality educational opportunities, and high quality infrastructure are the key elements of success. Senator Bethel believes that when our families, friends, and neighbors have good paying jobs they are able to provide for their families and contribute to the community well being."

Responsible governing

  • Excerpt: "Charlie knows the Georgians he represents expect their government to provide the services they need in an efficient and responsible manner, and that government should live within its means like we do."

Protecting our conservative values

  • Excerpt: "As our state senator, Charlie Bethel embraces the responsibility to protect our conservative values from the overreach of special interest groups and the federal government, and to defend those who can’t defend themselves."

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 the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Charlie Bethel campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2016Georgia State Senate, District 54Won $233,400 N/A**
2014Georgia State Senate, District 54Won $78,705 N/A**
2012Georgia State Senate, District 54Won $65,925 N/A**
2010Georgia State Senate, District 54Won $59,733 N/A**
Grand total$437,763 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Analysis

See also: Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship and Ballotpedia Courts: Determiners and Dissenters

Last updated: June 15, 2020

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.

The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[20]

The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:

  • Strong Democrat
  • Mild Democrat
  • Indeterminate[21]
  • Mild Republican
  • Strong Republican

This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.

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Charlie
Bethel

Georgia

  • Partisan Confidence Score:
    Strong Republican
  • Judicial Selection Method:
    Elected
  • Key Factors:
    • Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
    • Held political office as a Republican
    • Was a registered Republican before 2020


Partisan Profile

Details:

Bethel donated $6000 to Republican candidates and organizations. He served as a Republican member of the Georgia State Senate from 2011-2016. He was a registered Republican prior to 2020. Bethel was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal (R) in 2016. He received $4,250 from Koch Industries, an organization that regularly donates to Republican candidates, as well as $2,600 from the Georgia Republican Senatorial Committee. At the time of his appointment, Georgia was a Republican trifecta.



State legislative tenure

Committee assignments

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Bethel served on the following committees:

2013-2014

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

2011-2012

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

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 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.


Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Georgia

A scorecard 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 to [email protected].











2015


2014


2013


2012


State supreme court judicial selection in Georgia

See also: Judicial selection in Georgia

The nine justices on the Georgia Supreme Court are chosen by popular vote in nonpartisan elections. They serve six-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to retain their seats.[22]

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a judge must be:

  • a resident of Georgia; and
  • admitted to practice law for at least seven years.[22]

Chief justice

The chief justice is selected by peer vote and serves in that capacity for four years.[22]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

If a vacancy appears on the court, the position is filled by assisted appointment. The governor chooses an appointee from a list of qualified candidates compiled by the judicial nominating commission. As of March 2023, the judicial nominating commission consisted of 35 members, each appointed by the governor. For each court vacancy, the commission recommends candidates, but the governor is not bound to the commission's choices and may choose to appoint a judge not found on the list.[23] If appointed, an interim judge must run in the next general election held at least six months after the appointment, and, if confirmed by voters, he or she may finish the rest of the predecessor's term.[22][24][25]

The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.



See also

Georgia Judicial Selection More Courts
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Courts in Georgia
Georgia Court of Appeals
Georgia Supreme Court
Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017
Gubernatorial appointments
Judicial selection in Georgia
Federal courts
State courts
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External links

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Candidate

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Supreme Court of Georgia, "CHIEF JUSTICE MELTON ON APPOINTMENT OF NEW JUSTICE TO SUPREME COURT," September 14, 2018
    2. ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
    3. ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Daily Report, "Deal Appoints Five New Appellate Judges," November 9, 2016
    5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named appt
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Georgia," archived October 2, 2014
    7. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Qualifying Candidate Information," accessed August 17, 2016
    8. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "General Election results," accessed November 23, 2016
    9. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Qualifying Candidate Information," accessed March 13, 2016
    10. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "General primary results," accessed May 24, 2016
    11. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Official candidate list," accessed March 10, 2014
    12. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Official primary election results," accessed May 28, 2014
    13. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Official general election results," accessed November 13, 2014
    14. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State Elections Division, "Candidate List," accessed May 29, 2012
    15. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Official 2012 Primary Results," accessed December 31, 2014
    16. ↑ Georgia Elections Division, "2012 Election Results" accessed November 16, 2012
    17. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "2010 Election results," accessed December 31, 2014
    18. ↑ Georgia Secretary of State, "Official 2010 Primary election results," accessed March 24, 2014
    19. ↑ Charlie Bethel, "Issues," accessed May 2, 2016
    20. ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
    21. ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
    22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Georgia," archived October 2, 2014
    23. ↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Georgia; Judicial Nominating Commissions," archived October 2, 2014
    24. ↑ Governor Brian Kemp, "Executive Order," accessed March 29, 2023
    25. ↑ Governor Brian Kemp, "Gov. Kemp Names 35 to Judicial Nominating Commission," October 27, 2021

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    -     		Georgia Supreme Court
    2018-Present    		 Succeeded by
    -
    Preceded by
    -     		Georgia Court of Appeals
    2017-2018    		 Succeeded by
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