# Bethany Ballard

Bethany Ballard is a Republican member of the Georgia House for district 147.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Georgia House, district 147
- Serving since: 2023-01-09
- Current term: GA 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/8b4b00cb-6f78-4b69-b788-796b19d94752

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/8b4b00cb-6f78-4b69-b788-796b19d94752 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

100% of Ballard’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Georgia, in the top quarter of State House Republicans.

## What Ballard says (GA 2025–26 session)

28 classified statements: 28 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State House Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Ballard | State House Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.9% | 642 of 791 |
| Policy criticism | 0.0% | 9.3% | 735 of 791 |
| Policy discussion | 50.0% | 31.9% | 130 of 791 |
| Bipartisanship | 7.1% | 1.8% | 30 of 791 |
| Credit claiming | 17.9% | 12.7% | 214 of 791 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.4% | 618 of 791 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 71% (State House Republicans 15%); Armed Forces and National Security 14% (State House Republicans 4.9%); Government Operations and Politics 14% (State House Republicans 18%); Agriculture and Food 7.1% (State House Republicans 4.4%); Health 7.1% (State House Republicans 10%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.53 (standard error 0.04), from 166 donors and 526 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 78% of State House Republicans score lower.

## Votes (GA 2025–26 session)

1,391 roll calls. Attendance 99.4% (Georgia House 93.5%). Party unity 99.7% (97.2%). 4 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 78 Tifton, City of; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB78/
- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · PASSAGE · SB 3 Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee; establish · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/SB3/
- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 78 Tifton, City of; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB78/
- 2026-06-23 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 78 Tifton, City of; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB78/
- 2026-06-22 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 61 Twiggs County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB61/
- 2026-06-22 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 30 Early County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB30/
- 2026-06-22 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 30 Early County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB30/
- 2026-06-20 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 30 Early County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB30/
- 2026-06-20 · voted yea · Local Calendar · HB 61 Twiggs County; ad valorem tax; provide homestead exemption · fail · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HB61/
- 2026-04-03 · voted yea · House Vote #880 - 2025-2026 Regular Session · HB 1409 Domestic relations; revise mandated reporting of child abuse · pass · https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1409/

## Legislation (GA 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 88 bills: 66 reached committee, 56 passed one chamber, 18 passed both, 15 became law. Cosponsored 0. 63.6% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Georgia House 65.7%; rank 111 of 177).

Recent sponsored bills:

- HR 47: Hilton, Robert Lund; Chris Ann Chapman Hilton; commend (passed one chamber, 2026-06-22) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2026_ss/HR47/
- HR 2005: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; 75th anniversary; recognize (passed one chamber, 2026-03-27) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR2005/
- HB 1585: Income tax; donations to nonprofit corporations that provide housing to cancer care patients; provide credit (introduced, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1585/
- HB 1555: Fort Valley, City of; deannex certain territory (became law, 2026-05-12) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1555/
- HB 1550: Byron, City of; change corporate limits (became law, 2026-05-12) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HB1550/
- HR 1734: Georgia Pre-K Week; October 5-9, 2026; recognize (passed one chamber, 2026-03-16) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1734/
- HR 1716: Myositis Awareness Month; May 2026; recognize (passed one chamber, 2026-03-16) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1716/
- HR 1656: House Study Committee on School Nutrition, Student Food Security, Georgia Agriculture, and Student Success; create (introduced, 2026-03-16) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1656/
- HR 1529: House Study Committee on the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI); create (in committee, 2026-03-16) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1529/
- HR 1555: Mitchell, Malcolm; commend (passed one chamber, 2026-03-03) https://openstates.org/ga/bills/2025_26/HR1555/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $76.5K (State House Republicans median $33.7K). 100% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-04-29 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/2049565383162528230
- 2026-04-04 · Post on X · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/2040454802765664741
- 2026-03-18 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, bipartisanship · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/2034064561045966995
- 2026-03-04 · Post on X · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/2029235364238373319
- 2026-02-26 · Post on X · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/2027067455244292347
- 2026-02-21 · Post on X · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/2025323826414776676
- 2025-11-27 · Post on X · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/1994105546379833480
- 2025-10-03 · Post on X · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/1974213832995139944
- 2025-07-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/1948078378378277372
- 2025-07-22 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/BethanyHBallard/status/1947706975178866878

## Links

- Official site: https://www.legis.ga.gov/members/house/5051?session=1033
- Campaign site: https://bethanyballard.com/
- X: https://x.com/BethanyHBallard
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepresentativeBethanyBallard
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethany.ballard.54

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/8b4b00cb-6f78-4b69-b788-796b19d94752