Hunter Hill in the Georgia State Senate, 2013 to 2017

The district

Hill was elected under the map Georgia adopted after the 2010 census. Patch described the redrawn District 6 in 2012 as running from Smyrna and Vinings through Sandy Springs into Buckhead. By 2017 Rough Draft Atlanta summed it up as southern Cobb County, a large part of northern Buckhead and parts of southern and central Sandy Springs. The AJC called it an evenly divided suburban seat: Hill held it narrowly in 2016, the same year Hillary Clinton carried it.

Our District 6 explainer covers how the district has been drawn over time and who has represented it.

He was sworn in on January 14, 2013, succeeding Doug Stoner.

Committees and leadership

Ballotpedia records these committee assignments:

Wikipedia adds that Republican colleagues elected him vice chairman of the Senate Majority Caucus.

Bills he sponsored

SB 63 (2015): brewery tours

The bill carved a narrow exception into Georgia's three-tier alcohol system. Breweries could charge for tours, and a tour could include a limited amount of beer to drink on site and some to take home. The Senate passed it 51 to 5 on Crossover Day, March 13, 2015. AccessWDUN described the version Gov. Nathan Deal signed in May 2015 as "watered-down": up to 36 ounces on the premises and up to 72 ounces to go, depending on the tour price.

SB 203 (2015): World War I Centennial Commission

Hill also carried a bill creating a six-member Georgia World War I Centennial Commission to plan commemorations of the war's 100th anniversary. It passed the Senate 53 to 0 on the same day as SB 63.

SB 395 (2016): scholarships for military families

According to Wikipedia, citing the AJC, Hill introduced a bill in 2016 to let children of military personnel use a state private-school scholarship program then limited to students with disabilities. It stalled in committee.

Votes that drew attention

• Opportunity School District (SB 133, 2015). Vote Smart records Hill voting yes on the bill, which proposed letting the state take over chronically failing schools.
• 2015 transportation funding package. The AJC reported in 2018 that Hill voted against the 2015 package of transportation fees and taxes.
• "Religious liberty" bill (HB 757, 2016). Hill voted for the bill, according to the AJC and OnTheIssues. Gov. Deal vetoed it after objections from business leaders and gay-rights groups.
• Abortion coverage (SB 98, 2014). OnTheIssues lists Sen. Hunter Hill as voting for the bill barring abortion coverage in Affordable Care Act plans in Georgia, except in emergencies. Deal signed it.
• State budgets. The AJC noted during the 2018 race that Hill had voted for record state budgets as a senator, a point it set against his campaign pledge to cut spending.

Ratings and disputes over his gun record

Wikipedia reports that the NRA Political Victory Fund gave Hill several "C" ratings while he was a senator. In April 2018, during the governor's race, he publicized an "A" rating from the NRA, which the AJC said his campaign hoped would settle questions about his record.

In May 2018 GeorgiaCarry.org said it would oppose him. As 11Alive reported it, the group accused him of helping weaken a 2014 bill on carrying guns in churches and pointed to his shifting comments on the minimum age for buying rifles. Hill's campaign answered that he had voted for every pro-Second Amendment bill during his five years in the Senate, including HB 60, which the campaign called the largest expansion of gun rights in recent Georgia history, and that on the church question he had wanted to leave the choice to each church. Both positions are reported here as the two sides stated them.

Resignation and the 2017 special election

Hill announced on August 29, 2017 that he would resign. The AJC reported that he contrasted his decision with Republican rivals Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp, who were keeping their offices while running. Sources differ on the exact effective date (Wikipedia gives August 30; Ballotpedia gives September 6).

A special election on November 7, 2017 drew several Republicans and Democrats. Ballotpedia notes that Republicans together took about 50.7 percent of the first-round vote, but none finished in the top two. Democrat Jen Jordan beat fellow Democrat Jaha Howard in the December 5 runoff with 63.9 percent.

Reactions split along predictable lines. State Sen. Michael Williams, a rival for governor, blamed Hill for the loss of the seat; Hill called Williams's statements "false attacks." Speaking to Rough Draft Atlanta, Hill described the district as evenly split and the result as "a math problem" caused by the number of Republican candidates, and said he had resigned so voters, not an appointment, would choose his successor.