The resounding defeat Tuesday of Gov. Nathan Deal's proposal to empower state control of failing schools could prove a damaging political blow to the Republican's hopes for a vigorous second-term agenda in his final years in office.

That plan, the centerpiece initiative that emerged after his 2014 re-election, was defeated by 800,000 votes and lost in almost every one of Georgia’s 159 counties. It was a broad-based, nonpartisan thumping that could make some lawmakers nervous about trying to tackle bigger education legislation over the next two years.

Deal’s top aide, Chris Riley, seemed to welcome the challenge of being cast as a lame duck. And Deal indicated he won’t scale back his agenda an iota.

”I haven’t given up on those children,” Deal said. “We can’t afford to give up on any of our children.”

Read more about the fallout of Amendment 1's failure here.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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