If you pull up your ballot for Georgia House District 107 this year, you’ll see two names—one Democrat, one Republican. That’s usually a sign of a contest.
In this case, it’s more of a formality.
Now that’s not a knock on anybody. It’s just the reality of where this district sits in 2026. And if you want to understand this race, you’ve got to look past the names and take a hard look at the ground they’re standing on.
Who’s on the ballot
On the Democratic side, you’ve got the incumbent, Sam Park. He flipped this seat back in 2016 and hasn’t looked back since. These days he’s part of House Democratic leadership, which tells you he’s not just holding the seat—he’s comfortable in it.
On the Republican side is Murray Berkowitz. And I’ll be straight with you—if you haven’t heard much about him, you’re in good company. I went looking. There’s not much there right now in terms of a public campaign footprint—no website, no clear platform, and not a lot of public engagement.
So yes, there are two names on the ballot. But at the moment, only one of them is really running a visible race.
It didn’t used to be this way
Roll the clock back a few years and this seat looked a whole lot different.
Before Park, this area was represented by Republicans like Buzz Brockway. Gwinnett County, especially on this side of it, used to be reliable Republican territory. Not a landslide every time, but you didn’t have to guess which way it leaned.
Back then, the formula looked like this:
- More traditional suburban conservative voters
- Less demographic turnover
- A political environment where Republicans started with the edge
Then things started shifting. Not overnight, but steady enough that by 2016, the ground had moved—and Park flipped the seat.
That wasn’t lightning in a bottle. That was the beginning of a trend.
What changed?
Gwinnett changed. And it didn’t ask permission.
District 107 today is:
- More diverse
- More suburban-professional
- More focused on growth, schools, traffic, and economic opportunity
You can see it in who’s moving in, what businesses are opening, and what people are worried about when they sit down at the kitchen table.
Politics follows people. And people changed here.
Let’s talk about the maps
Anytime a district flips and stays flipped, somebody’s going to ask if the lines were drawn that way.
Fair question.
But in this case, the timeline matters.
District 107 was already moving blue before the post-2020 redistricting. What the new maps likely did was take a district that was leaning and make it a little more comfortable staying that way.
Or put another way:
The voters did the flipping. The map just made it harder to flip back.
So what is this primary, really?
If you’re looking for a head-to-head contest where both sides are laying out competing visions and fighting for every vote, you’re not going to find it here—at least not right now.
What you are looking at is a district that has largely made up its mind, paired with an incumbent who fits it well, and an opposing candidate who—so far—hasn’t made much noise.
That can change. Candidates can step up. Campaigns can catch fire. I’ve seen stranger things in Georgia politics.
But as of today, this race tells you more about District 107 than it does about the candidates themselves.
What I’m watching this week
On Wednesday, I’m going to take a closer look at Sam Park—what he’s promised, what he’s delivered, and where those two line up.
On Friday, I’ll do the same for Murray Berkowitz with what information is available—and I’ll be just as clear about what isn’t.
I’ve sent both candidates the same questionnaire. If they respond, I’ll publish their answers in full. No spin, no editing, just their words.
Because at the end of the day, I don’t put a whole lot of stock in what a candidate says on the campaign trail.
Around here, I’m a lot more interested in how they walk.
The musings of Larry D Burton 
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