The election is over, and we know who our president and members of Congress are going to be. Let’s take a few minutes and look at some of the other winners and losers in Georgia politics.

Winner: Gov. Nathan Deal.

After losing the T-SPLOST transportation tax referendum, the governor recovered to lead the charge on the charter school constitutional amendment, approved by more than 58 percent of the state’s voters. Besides the morale boost he received from winning that issue, Deal also set himself up to benefit handsomely when he cranks up his 2014 campaign for another four years in the governor’s mansion.

With a state commission to approve charter schools and spend millions of dollars in education funds on them, you will see a gold rush of out-of-state companies signing lucrative contracts to manage the new schools. These companies contributed heavily to the campaign to approve the charter school amendment, so I think they will be more than happy to help out Deal in his campaign for a second term.

Loser: State School Superintendent John Barge.

In opposing the charter school constitutional amendment, Barge was trying to uphold his constitutional duty to support the state’s public school systems. Barge’s opposition to the amendment angered Deal and influential legislators like House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones and House Majority Leader Ed Lindsey. They are going to come after him with a vengeance, and if they can’t abolish the office of state school superintendent, they will surely pass new laws stripping Barge of his administrative powers.

Winner: Georgia Republican Party.

GOP voters delivered the state’s electoral votes to Mitt Romney, and it looks like Republicans will also have “super-majority” control of two-thirds of the seats in the General Assembly.

While Republicans are in good shape to command state politics for another eight or 10 years, election results show that they may have gone as far you can go by relying only on white voters.

There were several House races that Republican consultants figured they would take, only to see Democrats like Scott Holcomb in DeKalb County and Pedro Marin in Gwinnett County win surprising victories.

Winners: Stan Wise and Chuck Eaton.

The two incumbents on the Public Service Commission both won another term on the panel that regulates utility giants Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light. Their next term may not be quite as easy as the last one, however. Georgia Power could have some major cost overruns on the nuclear reactors being constructed at Plant Vogtle. Wise and Eaton will have to vote on whether the utility can pass along these cost increases to its customers in the form of higher bills, or whether the utility’s shareholders should assume part of the financial risk. If the commissioners decide in Georgia Power’s favor, they’re going to have a lot of explaining to do to angry ratepayers.

Possible Loser: Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Chambliss and his “Gang of Six” in the U.S. Senate have long been trying to work out a deal on reducing the massive federal deficit. With the reelection of a Democratic president, it’s more likely that a deal would have to include some kind of tax increase—and that’s something a large number of Chambliss’ supporters would never forgive. He would find himself under attack on every talk show and conservative website in the country. Chambliss would also be setting himself up for a strong Republican primary challenge in 2014 from Rep. Tom Price, who will have a ton of money he’s raised from the healthcare industry.

It may be that Chambliss is a genius who can work out a deficit deal and still hold off opposition from a challenger like Price. It’s more likely that the results of last week’s elections will convince him it’s time to retire from elective politics.

Tom Crawford is editor of The Georgia Report, an Internet news service at gareport.com that reports on government and politics in Georgia. He can be reached at [email protected].