Democratic Party of Georgia

The Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG), until 1840 formally known as the Union Democratic Republican Party, commonly shortened to the Union Party (UP), is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia. Since its founding, it has been one of the major political parties in the state and is currently chaired by Charlie Bailey.

As of 2025, Democrats control both U.S. Senate seats, 5 out of Georgia's 14 U.S. House seats, and minorities in both houses of the state legislature.

Former Democratic president Jimmy Carter served one term as Governor of the state from 1971 to 1975.

During the later bit of the first party system and early second party system politics in Georgia was divided between two Democratic-Republican, later Democratic, political factions, the Troup party, earlier called the Jackson and Crawford parties, and the Clark party, informally called the Union party after Clark's departure from the state. During the years when the state was dominated by this rivalry, the parties were based around their personalities rather than actual policies. Both factions were extremely similar, supporting slavery, the War of 1812, Indian removal, and opposing protective tariffs, internal improvements, and the national bank. The Troup party were radicals who tended to lean more towards states' rights while the Clarkites were closer to the Union.

Support for the Troup party typically came from Virginian immigrants, aristocratic plantation owners, and residents of the more prosperous and populated areas of the state. In contrast, the Clark party was rooted in the state's poorer, more frontier areas. These affiliations, however, were not rigid, as historian Kenneth Coleman noted, describing them as "vague tendencies in a fluid, confused, highly partisan political milieu that defied logical explanation."

During the Nullification crisis, the factions fractured into nullifier and union (or anti-nullification) men. In the lead up to the 1833 elections, newspapers began appealing to so called "Troup Union", "Clark Nullifiers," "Troup Nullifiers," and "Clark Union" men. In the gubernatorial election, Union (Clark) nominee for governor, Lumpkin, won the governorship with the help of defections to the party from "Troup Union" men—who, while they might have agreed with the characterization of Troup as a staunch state rights man, believed that the Troup party had become dominated by Nullifiers.

In the aftermath of the elections, on evening of November 13, 1833, Troup party leaders joined the Troup members of the General Assembly in a caucus, passing resolutions changing the name of the party to the State Rights Party of Georgia (SRP), adopting the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions as the official creed of the party, and pledging to work for the repeal of the Force Bill. Eight days later, the Clarkites followed suit, creating the "Union Democratic Republican Party" (UP). Most Troupers, and Nullifer Clarkites, formed the former party, which favored Nullification; most Clarkites, along with Union Troupers formed the latter party, which opposed nullification. The SRP, though disliking the prominent northern Whigs, would gravitate towards the national Whig Party due to their anti-Jackson stance, while the UP, being a pro-Jackson party, would align more closely with the Democrats.

Right out of the gate, the new party was divided over how it would organize itself statewide. John A. Cuthbert's flagship paper, the Federal Union, advocated for the formation of county associations, as the SRP had done, but in counties where Union Troup men were in the majority, UP meetings refused to form associations, such as one in Warren County that thought forming an association would be "inexpedient, and dangerous to the peace of the good citizens of this county." The party was divided between Clark Union men, who believed Nullification threatened the union, and Troup Union men, who argued that Troup's doctrine of States' Rights was not the same thing as Calhoun's Nullification. More Troup Union men would join the party as they realised how pro-nullification members of the SRP were, though anti-nullifers did exist in the SRP. By 1835, the reorganization of the parties was complete, though they were neither in name or principle amalgamated with the national parties.