Two veteran Fulton County Superior Court judges were bounced from the bench in Tuesday's nonpartisan election, ousted by prosecutors from inside the county district attorney’s office. The twin upsets, one decided by a razor-thin margin and the other in a rout, will reshuffle Atlanta’s top trial bench and could affect how some high-profile criminal matters are handled. Incumbents Paige Reese Whitaker and Craig Schwall lost their seats to challengers Nikia Smith Sellers and Janice Moore, respectively.
Prosecutors win two Fulton seats
Nikia Smith Sellers edged Whitaker with 50.8% of the vote, while Janice Moore defeated Schwall with about 60%, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Both winners are current prosecutors in District Attorney Fani Willis' office and are slated to replace the incumbents at the end of the year, the report says. Local lawyers told the paper the back-to-back defeats are highly unusual, given the incumbents' combined decades on the bench.
Official tallies and turnout
Unofficial tallies posted by Fulton County show similar margins and link to the county's Clarity Elections canvas for the full returns. Election trackers and local outlets following the May 19 vote noted that judicial contests often fly under the radar, which makes these losses stand out in a cycle packed with higher-profile races, as reported by Rough Draft Atlanta.
What the wins mean for the courtroom
Observers say the shift puts career prosecutors with heavy trial experience on the bench, a background that could shape how sensitive cases are handled. Moore has led the crimes-against-children unit, and Sellers has handled drug and mental-health dockets, roles documented in candidate profiles and fact-check reporting by Factually. Analysts caution that the new judges' outlooks will only become clear over time through rulings and day-to-day courtroom management rather than campaign-season sound bites.
What happens next
Sellers and Moore are expected to assume their judgeships at the end of the year and will begin receiving assignments then, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Local lawyers say they will be watching calendars, case assignments, and plea patterns closely as the two new judges settle into their roles and the courthouse adjusts to the shakeup.
