Suzanna Karatassos
Democratic nominee · first run for officeSuzanna Karatassos is an Athens native — a Clarke Central High School graduate with a degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a graduate degree from the Academy of Art University — who spent 17 years in the apparel industry, including a year working in Amsterdam, before returning home after the COVID-19 pandemic. She now works in real estate and describes herself as a political content creator and advocate for working families. She launched her campaign on December 16, 2025 at Oglethorpe Garage in Athens, joined by state Reps. Spencer Frye and Ruwa Romman, and won the Democratic primary unopposed with 5,301 votes. She is running for an open seat: Republican Houston Gaines is leaving District 120 — which takes in parts of Barrow, Clarke, Jackson and Oconee counties — to run for Congress in Georgia's 10th. Gaines held the seat 61%–39% in 2024. Her pitch is affordability: “Georgia has become unaffordable for the people who actually live here.”
Previously held
- First run for public office
- 17 years in the apparel industry, including a year in Amsterdam
- Real-estate salesperson; political content creator
Top contributors
A locally funded, small-dollar campaign. Through the July 31 CCDR she reports $70,416 raised and $31,835 cash on hand — against Ward Black's $171,440 and $53,655, so she is running at roughly 2-to-5 on money raised. Her donors are overwhelmingly individuals from Athens and the surrounding district, plus $3,300 of her own money and $1,690 from the Democratic Fighting Fifty PAC. No corporate or trade-association money appears in her top donors.
- $6,000.00Catherine Hodges (Athens, GA)
- $5,650.00June Heard (Athens, GA)
- $3,300.00Mary Karatassos (the candidate)
- $3,000.00Mary K. Cohen (Savannah, GA)
- $2,500.00Ronald Jones (Athens, GA)
- $2,000.00William Berry (Watkinsville, GA)
- $1,690.00Fighting Fifty PAC (Decatur, GA)
- $1,500.00J. Grant Brown III (Nicholson, GA)
$70,416 raised · $31,835 cash on hand — as of Aug 7, 2026 (GA Ethics latest filing).
Source: Georgia Ethics Commission (PeachFile) — 2026 Jul 31 CCDR · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosWhere they stand
Fully fund public schools and oppose vouchers. At her launch she pledged “strong, fully funded public schools, not private voucher schemes,” and said a Democratic majority could “expand the Georgia Department of Education to make sure that every single child, especially ones with special needs, is taken care of.” She also backs universal free school lunches: “Other states do that. There's no reason we can't do that here.”
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Flagpole — Democrat Suzanna Karatassos launches House District 120 campaignFull Medicaid expansion. She calls health care and affordability the state's biggest issues and says a new majority could “fully expand Medicaid” and “fully fund all the rural hospitals instead of just letting them close like what the Republicans have done.” She also calls for fully funding SNAP.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Flagpole — Democrat Suzanna Karatassos launches House District 120 campaignSupports raising it. She lists “raise the minimum wage” among what a Democratic majority should do, and campaigns on “real economic justice, where working people share in the prosperity they create.” She has not named a specific figure.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Flagpole — Democrat Suzanna Karatassos launches House District 120 campaignWe reviewed her campaign launch coverage, campaign materials and Ballotpedia profile as of August 2026 and found no stated position on this. Her housing message is about cost rather than homelessness specifically — “lower utility and housing costs, because no family should be priced out of their own community.”
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosWe reviewed her campaign launch coverage, campaign materials and Ballotpedia profile as of August 2026 and found no stated position on this. Veterans policy does not appear in her published platform.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosWe reviewed her campaign launch coverage, campaign materials and Ballotpedia profile as of August 2026 and found no stated position on this. Immigration does not appear in her published platform.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosSupports new restrictions. Among the bills she says a Democratic majority could pass: “We can pass common sense gun laws.” She has not specified which measures.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosOpposes Georgia's six-week ban and wants it put to the voters. “Reproductive freedom, without apology,” her platform says. At her launch: “13 states have put reproductive freedom on the ballot since Roe was overturned… And here in Georgia, the Republicans put a six week ban on us. They didn't put it up for a vote.” She would repeal the ban and enshrine reproductive freedom in the state constitution by referendum.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Flagpole — Democrat Suzanna Karatassos launches House District 120 campaignWe reviewed her campaign launch coverage, campaign materials and Ballotpedia profile as of August 2026 and found no stated position on this. Her platform speaks generally of fighting for “your family, and your freedoms” but names no LGBTQ-specific position.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosWe reviewed her campaign launch coverage, campaign materials and Ballotpedia profile as of August 2026 and found no stated position on this. DEI does not appear in her published platform.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosWe reviewed her campaign launch coverage, campaign materials and Ballotpedia profile as of August 2026 and found no stated position on this. Cannabis policy does not appear in her published platform.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosWe reviewed her campaign launch coverage, campaign materials and Ballotpedia profile as of August 2026 and found no stated position on this. She has not addressed data centers directly, though her central affordability message includes “lower utility costs” — the ratepayer question at the heart of Georgia's data-center debate.
Source: Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house · Ballotpedia — Suzanna KaratassosAccountability File
None documented.
Campaign site · Ballotpedia — Suzanna Karatassos · Athens Politics Nerd — Karatassos launches campaign for state house