This story has been updated.

Atlanta, GA — A judge with the Office of Administrative Hearings ruled on April 4 that Nadine Thomas is qualified to run for state Senate District 44.

Krista Brewer, a resident of Senate District 44, challenged Thomas’ qualification to run for office because she owes over $38,000 in state and federal taxes, according to the complaint. Thomas and Brewer appeared before the judge for a hearing on April 2.

“Candidates for state office in Georgia must meet the ‘constitutional and statutory qualifications’ for holding the office being sought,” Judge Ronit Walker wrote in her decision. “Based upon the above Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the undersigned finds that the Respondent is qualified to be a candidate for the Georgia State Senate District 44.”

The Office of State Administrative Hearings is a state agency that holds hearings to resolve disputes between government agencies, including disputes about candidate qualifications. The administrative law judge who presided over Tuesday’s hearing will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, who will make the final decision. Either side can appeal the outcome of that decision to the Superior Court in Fulton County.

The Georgia Constitution prohibits anyone who has defaulted on their taxes from holding public office unless the taxes have been repaid or the candidate is on a repayment plan.

“The Petitioner argues that because the Respondent missed a payment to the IRS, she is not ‘making payments to the tax authority pursuant to a payment plan’ as required under [the Georgia Constitution]. The undersigned is not persuaded,” Walker wrote in the decision.

During the hearing, Brewer’s attorney, Jeremy Berry, focused on Thomas’ federal taxes. She also owes $16,667 in state taxes for payments due in 2013, 2015, and 2016. Thomas owes an additional $5,714 in state taxes in 2018. Thomas has been making payments to the Georgia Department of Revenue.

In 2018, the Internal Revenue Service filed a notice of federal tax lien against Thomas that reflected she owed $16,145 for taxes due in 2006 and 2015. Thomas said during the April 2 hearing that she entered into a payment plan with the IRS for unresolved taxes from 2015 and 2017-2022.

According to documents presented during the hearing, she owed about $28,576 on her payment plan as of Feb. 22, 2024.

During her testimony, Thomas said she knew she owed taxes when she qualified and that she was on a payment plan when she qualified.

She began making monthly payments in September 2023 and missed one payment in February 2024.

According to the decision, the Secretary of the Treasury can terminate a payment plan if the taxpayer does not make an installment payment on their due date and has to provide notice to the taxpayer. Thomas testified that she has not been notified that her installment agreement with the IRS has been terminated.

Thomas received a letter from the IRS dated March 4 that stated she would still be in good standing with her payment plan if the IRS received her next monthly payment on March 20.

Thomas paid $1,000 in March toward her tax balance.

During the hearing, Berry, Brewer’s attorney, questioned whether Thomas needed to solely make the next monthly payment or if the payment due in March should have been for two months to make up for February as well. He also asked the respondents for more documentation about payments that have been made.

“Pretermitting whether the March 4, 2024, letter requires the Respondent to make one or two payments by the March 20, 2024 due date, there is no evidence that the Secretary of the Treasury has terminated the Installment Agreement or that the Installment Agreement is in default,” Walker said in the decision.

To see the full decision, click here.

Senate District 44

Thomas is running against incumbent state Sen. Elena Parent in the newly-drawn Senate District 44. Both candidates will be on the ballot in the Democratic primary on May 21.

A federal judge approved Georgia’s newly-revised political maps for Congress and the state legislature in December, a win for Republicans who sought to preserve their partisan advantage while adding new majority-Black districts required by the court, according to WABE.

In some cases, the maps radically alter the constituency of districts in the Decatur area, meaning people who have had the same representative for years will find themselves in a new district with new representation.

District Court Judge Steve C. Jones ruled in October that the state’s 2021 maps illegally diluted Black voting strength and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, according to the Georgia Recorder.

“Completely new to the district is a good part of Clayton County, namely Morrow, Forest Park and Ellenwood,” Parent previously said. “The demographics of this new district are different, in that the Republicans decided to draw this district as a majority-Black Senate district.”

As the district have changed, it’s important for voter’s to check their registration and look at what state Senate and House, and Congressional districts you are in. To check your voter registration, click here. Once logged in, click on the “My Districts & Elected Officials” tab in the menu at the top of the page.

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