Hankinson will be opposed for the post by Steve Harris, who is currently serving as solicitor-general in Fayette County State Court.

Hankinson is a 1973 graduate of the University of Georgia law school. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General corps from Jan. 2, 1974 to Dec. 31, 1977.

Hankinson operated a general law practice in Thomaston for 25 years before he was appointed to the bench.

Hankinson has been a principal organizer of the judicial circuit's Domestic Violence Task Force, which has brought a number of agencies together to improve officials' response to victims of family violence.

Hankinson is also responsible for implementing a policy requiring all probationers to obtain a General Education Degree as a special condition of probation. He has also sought legislation to allow judges to require all probationers to provide DNA samples as a condition of probation at no charge to the taxpayers.

From 1987 through 2001, Hankinson served as a special assistant attorney general under Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers.

Hankinson has been a member of First Baptist Church of Thomaston since 1958 and currently serves on the Endowment Committee for the Cultural Arts of Fayette County, the Griffin Kiwanis club, Voice of Veterans, the Griffin-Spalding Historical Society, the Board of Directors of the Georgia Piedmont Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Thomaston-Upson Arts Council and the chambers of commerce in all four counties of the judicial circuit.