Johns Creek Democrat Laura Murvartian Enters Georgia Senate District 48 Race

Laura Murvartian raised and spent more than $300,000 chasing a Georgia House seat in 2024, lost, and is already back. The Johns Creek Democrat qualified to run for Georgia State Senate District 48, a district that covers parts of Fulton, Forsyth, and Gwinnett counties, with her sights set squarely on a seat that reaches into southern Forsyth County.

Murvartian and fellow Democrat Nathan Hombroek are running in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 48 on May 19, 2026. Incumbent Shawn Still, a Republican, is also running in his own primary that same day. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution identified Senate District 48 among five districts most likely to flip from Republican to Democratic control in 2026.

After graduating, Murvartian served as a corporate executive at multiple Fortune 500 companies, including Turner Broadcasting System and Equifax. She currently serves as the Founder and Executive Director of Arte GA, a nonprofit that supports Latino professional creatives. A first-generation college graduate, she earned a BA in Political Science with honors from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, before receiving the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to pursue a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan with a focus on International Economics.

Her personal story anchors her campaign pitch. Her paternal grandfather migrated to Mexico after losing both parents in the Armenian Genocide, and her own parents moved the family from Mexico to the United States when she was eight years old, settling in St. James, Minnesota, a town of 4,800, in search of better opportunities. Murvartian and her husband moved to Johns Creek 12 years ago, drawn by the strong public school system, and their children attended Autrey Mill Middle School before graduating from Johns Creek High School.

On why she is running, Murvartian writes that "silence and inaction means acceptance, and I refuse to accept less than what hardworking Georgia families deserve." Her campaign priorities include better healthcare, protecting democracy, strengthening Georgia's economy for families, and thriving schools.

Incumbent Scott Hilton defeated Murvartian in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 48 on November 5, 2024. During that campaign, finance disclosures showed she raised $310,811 and spent $290,982 — a significant financial commitment for a state legislative race. She advanced through her 2024 Democratic primary unopposed, with Ashwin Ramaswami having been the Democratic nominee for Senate District 48 that same year, a race Shawn Still won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Still was indicted along with former President Trump and 17 others for interfering in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. That backdrop makes District 48 one of the more closely watched legislative contests in the state heading into November 2026, with the general election scheduled for November 3.