Carolyn Bourdeaux

Carolyn Jordan Bourdeaux (born June 3, 1970) is an American politician, public policy scholar, and educator who served as the U.S. representative from Georgia’s 7th congressional district from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first Democrat to represent this district since its creation in 1993 and the first white Democrat to represent a district based in the Atlanta suburbs since Buddy Darden left office in 1995. Her single term in Congress coincided with a significant period in American history marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery efforts, and intense partisan debate over infrastructure and federal spending.

Bourdeaux is from Roanoke, Virginia, and is the daughter of Robert “Bob” Montgomery Bourdeaux IV and Jerry Jordan (née Ellis) Bourdeaux. She attended Northside High School in Roanoke before pursuing higher education. She graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in history and economics, and went on to earn a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. She completed her academic training with a Doctor of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2003, establishing a foundation for her later work in public finance and state and local governance.

Early in her career, Bourdeaux worked as a political aide to Ron Wyden for four years, serving on his staff when he was a member of the United States House of Representatives and continuing after he entered the United States Senate. In 2003, she joined the faculty of the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University as an assistant professor. From 2007 to 2010, she took leave from academia to serve as director of Georgia’s Senate Budget and Evaluation Office, where she advised on fiscal policy and state budgeting. After her tenure in that role, she returned to Georgia State University and founded the Center for State and Local Finance, focusing on training and research in public finance. She remained on the faculty of the Andrew Young School of Public Policy from 2003 to 2021 and, in 2021, was selected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Bourdeaux first sought federal office in 2018, running for the United States House of Representatives in Georgia’s 7th congressional district, a suburban district based largely in Gwinnett County northeast of Atlanta. She entered a six-way Democratic primary and finished first in the May primary, advancing to a July 24 runoff, which she won to secure the Democratic nomination. In the November 6, 2018, general election, she faced incumbent Republican Rob Woodall in what was initially considered a sleeper race but drew increasing national attention as Democrats gained momentum nationwide and as Bourdeaux consistently outraised Woodall. In the third quarter of 2018, she raised over $1 million, outpacing Woodall by more than three to one, and she received an endorsement from former President Barack Obama. The contest became the closest congressional race in the country that cycle; on election night it was too close to call, and litigation ensued over the counting of absentee ballots in Gwinnett County. On November 15, 2018, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May denied an emergency motion to force the county to count previously rejected absentee ballots. After a recount, Bourdeaux conceded on November 21, having come within 433 votes of unseating Woodall.

On February 7, 2019, the same day Rob Woodall announced he would retire at the end of his term, Bourdeaux declared that she would again seek the 7th district seat in the 2020 election. Her campaign quickly demonstrated strong fundraising, reporting over $100,000 raised in its first week and more than $350,000 in the first quarter of 2019, the highest total among congressional challengers nationwide at that time. She was endorsed by several prominent Georgia Democrats, including Congressman John Lewis, but still faced competition from local activists and community leaders in the Democratic primary. Bourdeaux won the primary outright with 52.7 percent of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff. With Woodall not seeking reelection, she faced Republican physician Rich McCormick in the general election and narrowly defeated him in November 2020. Aside from Deborah Ross and Kathy Manning in North Carolina, who won in districts that had been redrawn to favor Democrats, Bourdeaux was the only Democratic House candidate in 2020 to flip a seat previously held by a Republican.

Bourdeaux was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, 2021, representing Georgia’s 7th congressional district during the 117th Congress. Her victory marked the first time since the district’s creation in 1993—initially as the 4th district, later renumbered as the 11th in 1997, and designated the 7th since 2003—that a Democrat had held the seat, which had been represented by Republicans John Linder and then Rob Woodall from its inception until 2021. She was also notable as the only Democrat since 1994 to win as much as 40 percent of the vote in that area prior to her election. In Congress, Bourdeaux served on the Committee on Small Business, including its Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access, and on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, where she sat on the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit and the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. She joined several centrist and bipartisan groups, including the Blue Dog Coalition, the New Democrat Coalition, and the Problem Solvers Caucus. During her term, she participated in major legislative debates over infrastructure and budget policy. On August 12, 2021, she and eight other House Democrats signed a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi stating that they would not consider voting for a budget resolution until the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed the House and was signed into law. She indicated that her support for the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution was contingent on changes to the legislative timeline, though she ultimately voted in favor of the $3.5 trillion budget. As of August 2021, she had voted in line with President Joe Biden’s stated positions 100 percent of the time.

Following the 2020 Census, the Republican-controlled Georgia General Assembly significantly redrew congressional districts in the Atlanta suburbs. The 7th district was shifted westward, losing its share of Forsyth County and gaining parts of Fulton County that had previously been in the neighboring 6th district, represented by Democrat Lucy McBath. At the same time, the 6th district absorbed a large portion of Republican-leaning exurban territory from the 9th district, making it far more difficult for a Democrat to hold. Believing the new 6th district to be unwinnable, McBath chose to challenge Bourdeaux in the Democratic primary for the redrawn 7th district. On May 24, 2022, in what was widely described as a redistricting race between two incumbents, Bourdeaux lost the primary to McBath by a wide margin, ending her tenure in Congress at the conclusion of the 117th Congress in January 2023.

Outside of her public career, Bourdeaux is married to Jeffrey Skodnik, a sales manager at LexisNexis. They reside in Suwanee, Georgia, and have one son. Her family includes her sister, Margaret Bourdeaux, a researcher at Harvard University, who is married to astronomer David Charbonneau.