Esther Panitch
Esther Panitch (Democratic Party) is a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, representing District 51. She assumed office on January 9, 2023. Her current term ends on January 11, 2027.
Panitch (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Georgia House of Representatives to represent District 51. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Esther Panitch was born in North Miami, Florida, and lives in Sandy Springs, Georgia.[1][2] Panitch earned a bachelor's degree and juris doctor from the University of Miami in 1992 and 1995, respectively. Her career experience includes owning The Panitch Law Group PC. Panitch has been affiliated with Hadassah.[1]
Sponsored legislation
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.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at:editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Panitch was assigned to the following committees:
Elections
2024
See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 51
Incumbent Esther Panitch defeated Keith Gettmann in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 51 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Esther Panitch (D) | 58.1 | 16,558 | |
| Keith Gettmann (R) | 41.9 | 11,959 | ||
| Total votes: 28,517 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51
Incumbent Esther Panitch advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51 on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Esther Panitch | 100.0 | 2,704 | |
| Total votes: 2,704 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51
Keith Gettmann advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51 on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Keith Gettmann | 100.0 | 1,755 | |
| Total votes: 1,755 | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Panitch in this election.
2022
See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 51
Esther Panitch defeated Peter Korman in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 51 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Esther Panitch (D) | 55.8 | 12,763 | |
| Peter Korman (R) | 44.2 | 10,111 | ||
| Total votes: 22,874 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51
Esther Panitch defeated Erendira Brumley in the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Esther Panitch | 53.3 | 2,069 | |
| Erendira Brumley | 46.7 | 1,811 | ||
| Total votes: 3,880 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51
Peter Korman advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 51 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Peter Korman | 100.0 | 4,682 | |
| Total votes: 4,682 | ||||
| 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. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Esther Panitch did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Esther Panitch completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Panitch's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Esther is an active volunteer with Hadassah, a Jewish women’s organization that advocates for improved medical research. For her work on education in stem cell research, she won the highest young leadership award, the Judith Epstein Memorial Leadership Award. She was also the local chair for Hadassah's 2016 National Convention in Atlanta and received the Power of Women that Do award.
She attracted national attention due to her work on some high-profile cases, which led her to become a trusted source on legal matters for media outlets local and national. She has made more than 100 appearances on Fox News, Fox Business, MSNBC, CNN, and WSB and has been frequently quoted as an expert in the AJC and the New York Times.
- I have spent my life advocating for the under-represented. When I was a teenager, I lobbied my state legislature to add seat belts to school buses. As a lawyer, I stood up for survivorsof domestic violence. Recently, I was on the front lines fighting to pass legislation protecting childhood survivors of sexual abuse. As your state representative, I will protect our voting rights to strengthen democracy.
- My mother and grandmother taught me that the strongest communities leave no one behind. I’ll work to rebuild our infrastructure, enhance public transportation and see to it that everyone has access to affordable, quality healthcare.
- For 26 years my clients have depended on my legal insight and compassion to represent them against powerful interests. From public defender to private practice, I’ve always emphasized protecting those who can’t protect themselves.
We desperately need to secure additional funding and expansion of Medicaid. While the number of uninsured Georgians has decreased in recent years, we remain among the three least insured states in the U.S. In addition to simply expanding Medicaid, we need to make sure specific issues are being addressed.
An expanded Medicaid should also include provisions that will improve access to LGBT healthcare, enhance reproductive healthcare and combat racial and regional disparities in healthcare access.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
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.
Scorecards
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 editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Georgia State Legislature was in session from January 8 to March 28.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Georgia State Legislature was in session from January 9 to March 29.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Georgia House of Representatives District 51 |
Officeholder Georgia House of Representatives District 51 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 3, 2022
- ↑ Georgia General Assembly, "Representative Esther Panitch," accessed April 11, 2023
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Josh McLaurin (D) |
Georgia House of Representatives District 51 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
