The GA Files

State Level Legislator Fact Sheet · Georgia State Senate · District 35

Jason Esteves

Party Democrat
In Office 2023 – 2025 (resigned)
Senate Role Former member · 2026 candidate for Governor
Scope of This Review 2023 – 2025

Jason Esteves, an attorney and former chair of the Atlanta school board, represented Senate District 35 across parts of Fulton and Cobb counties from 2023 until 2025, when he resigned to campaign full-time for Governor in 2026. Democrat Jaha Howard won the 2025 special election to succeed him. The record below reflects his tenure; the late-session 2026 votes fell after his seat went vacant and are not attributed to him. (The 2019 and 2023 votes at this seat belonged to its prior holder and are not shown.)

1 / 6During his tenure Esteves voted NO on the Republican priorities below and YEA only on the IVF-protection bill. He resigned in 2025 to run for Governor.

Methodology. Each vote is Sen. Esteves's actual position from the official Georgia roll call (legis.ga.gov), transcribed into a verified vote database and cross-checked against the published Yea/Nay totals. The chamber tally and final status (became law / died in House) are noted per bill.

01

Riley Gaines Act

SB 1 · 2025 Session
NAY
Floor Vote
Senate vote (Agree to House Substitute), 2025 session — 34–20
Status
Became law (2025 session)
Sen. Esteves' Vote
Voted NAY — against the chamber majority, on a party-line vote.

Impact on Everyday Georgians

Bars transgender women and girls from competing on female school and college sports teams and requires K–12 and college sports, locker rooms, and restrooms to be designated by sex assigned at birth. Supporters framed it as protecting fairness and safety in women's sports; opponents — including LGBTQ advocates and some parents — said it stigmatizes transgender students and invites invasive enforcement.

Sources

02

Tort Reform

SB 68 · 2025 Session
NAY
Floor Vote
Senate vote (Agree to House Substitute), 2025 session — 34–21
Status
Became law — Gov. Kemp's signature 2025 priority
Sen. Esteves' Vote
Voted NAY — against the chamber majority, on a party-line vote.

Impact on Everyday Georgians

Overhauled Georgia's civil-litigation rules — limiting when businesses and property owners can be sued (notably for negligent-security claims), changing how juries are told about medical damages, and allowing trials to be split into liability and damages phases. Backers said it would lower insurance costs and curb runaway verdicts; trial lawyers and consumer advocates warned it makes it harder for injured Georgians to recover full damages.

Sources

03

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

SB 36 · 2025 Session
NAY
Floor Vote
Senate vote (Passage), 2025 session — 32–23
Status
Became law (2025 session)
Sen. Esteves' Vote
Voted NAY — against the chamber majority, on a party-line vote.

Impact on Everyday Georgians

Georgia's Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars state and local government from “substantially burdening” a person's exercise of religion without a compelling interest. Supporters called it a long-sought protection mirroring the 1993 federal law; opponents — including civil-rights groups and some businesses — warned it could be used to justify discrimination, particularly against LGBTQ Georgians, since the state has no statewide anti-discrimination law.

Sources

04

Gender-Affirming Care Funding Ban

SB 39 · 2025 Session
NAY
Floor Vote
Senate vote (Motion to Immediately Transmit), 2025 session — 32–18
Status
Passed the Senate; died in the House (2025 session) — did not become law
Sen. Esteves' Vote
Voted NAY — against the chamber majority, on a party-line vote.

Impact on Everyday Georgians

Would have barred the use of state funds — including the State Health Benefit Plan and Medicaid — to pay for gender-affirming care for state employees and prisoners. It cleared the Senate but died in the House. Supporters said taxpayers should not fund the care; opponents said it singles out transgender state workers and inmates for denial of medically recognized treatment.

Sources

05

Right to IVF

HB 428 · 2025 Session
YEA
Floor Vote
Senate vote (Passage by Substitute), 2025 session — 53–1
Status
Became law (2025 session)
Sen. Esteves' Vote
Voted YEA — with the chamber majority, on a bipartisan vote.

Impact on Everyday Georgians

Establishes a state right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and protects providers — one of the rare bipartisan votes in this set. It followed national alarm after an Alabama court ruling threatened IVF, and aimed to reassure Georgia families pursuing fertility treatment that the procedure would remain legal and available.

Sources

06

State Income Tax Cut

HB 111 · 2025 Session
NAY
Floor Vote
Senate vote (Passage), 2025 session — 30–23
Status
Became law (2025 session)
Sen. Esteves' Vote
Voted NAY — against the chamber majority, on a party-line vote.

Impact on Everyday Georgians

Accelerated Georgia's move to a lower flat income tax, cutting the rate ahead of schedule (to 5.19%). Supporters said it returns surplus money to taxpayers; critics cautioned that flat-rate cuts deliver the largest dollar benefits to higher earners and reduce the revenue available for schools, health care, and public services.

Sources

Constituent Access

Town Halls

Public meetings with constituents · 2023–2025

Esteves engaged constituents through his Senate office and the Atlanta-delegation circuit before stepping down for his statewide run.

Documented Record

  • No recurring solo town-hall series during his Senate tenure is documented in local press. Esteves worked through the Atlanta-delegation circuit and his prior Atlanta school-board network.
  • Esteves resigned the Senate seat in 2025 to run for Governor; as a statewide candidate he now appears widely at forums and campaign events across Georgia.

State legislators' constituent-event records are thin and locally reported; this section reflects his time in office. Corrections are welcome via the contact link below.

Sources

Campaign Finance

Campaign Finance

Who funded Sen. Esteves · recent cycles

Pinned — Resigned to Run for Governor

Business & infrastructure PACs

Esteves's reported Senate donors were business-establishment PACs — road builders, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, hospitals. He left the seat in 2025 to run for Governor; the heavyweight money of that statewide campaign runs through a separate committee not shown here.

Top Contributors

Esteves's largest reported contributors from the Georgia Ethics Commission (PeachFile).

#ContributorTotal
1Competitive Georgia Action Inc. (Griffin, GA)$3,300.00
2NGP (Washington, DC)$2,418.19
3Georgia Highway Contractors Association & Georgia Asphalt Pavement Association PAC (Alpharetta, GA)$1,500.00
4Friends of Teri Anulewicz (Smyrna, GA 30080, GA)$1,000.00
5Metro Atlanta Chamber Political Action Committee (Atlanta, GA)$1,000.00
6Gas South PAC Inc. (Atlanta, GA)$1,000.00
7UPSPAC (Atlanta, GA)$1,000.00
8Committee of Automobile Retail Dealers of Georgia (Atlanta, GA)$500.00
9GHA PAC (Atlanta, GA)$500.00

$659,242 raised · $845 cash on hand — as of May 7, 2026 (GA Ethics latest filing).

Source: the Georgia Ethics Commission (Georgia campaign-finance filings). His Senate committee, not the separate Governor campaign committee. Georgia does not produce OpenSecrets-style sector/industry rollups, and the Georgia Ethics Commission holds the official itemized filings.

Sources

Verification Resources

Vote positions are Sen. Esteves's actual recorded votes from the official Georgia roll calls (legis.ga.gov), transcribed into a verified vote database and cross-checked against the published Yea/Nay totals. Campaign-finance figures are pulled live from the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission (PeachFile) and are current to the committee's most recent filed disclosure report; Georgia does not produce OpenSecrets-style sector/industry rollups.

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