Most of Georgia's establishment interests picked the wrong horse in the race for governor. And Tuesday's Georgia Chamber of Commerce event might be a chance for them to recalculate their bets.
Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp will take the stage at the Macon Marriott City to present their best case for Georgia’s economic future.
Expect talk about tax policy, boosting rural communities and strengthening the K-12 education system to be front-and-center. Looming over the conversation, even if it goes unmentioned by the moderator, will be the “religious liberty” debate and the state’s pursuit of Amazon’s second headquarters.
This is a ripe opportunity for both candidates.
The bulk of the well-connected lobbyists, corporate interests and state powerbrokers flooded Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s campaign with cash, even if they felt betrayed by some of his positions.
With his thorough defeat in last month’s runoff, they are now looking for a new home.
Kemp, like Cagle, has pledged to sign the "religious liberty" bill that led to threats of boycotts from corporate titans. And he backed Cagle's move to scuttle a tax incentive for Delta Air Lines.
And although elements of the so-called Capitol Crowd have flocked to Kemp’s campaign, he’s still an unknown to some who worry about his Trumpian philosophy. The meeting will give him a chance for a new introduction.
Abrams sees an opportunity in the tumult. She's tried to reach out to corporate titans who remain on edge after last month's runoff by emphasizing her opposition to the "divisive" religious liberty measure.
She’s also frequently highlighted her support for Medicaid expansion, which she casts as a way to help rural communities attract jobs by keeping flagging hospitals open.
Just what will they do to woo the chamber crowd? Stay tuned.
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A picture of Abrams with hijab-wearing women's rights activist Linda Sarsour was making the rounds on conservative social media accounts earlier this month. Now it has prompted a 30-second campaign ad from Georgia Gun Owners.
The Second Amendment group warns that Sarsour is a “dangerous radical extremist who wants sharia law for America” and is backed by liberal megadonors Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg and George Soros.
“Sarsour and Abrams share the same radical left agenda, including gun registration and confiscation,” the ad’s narrator states.
Abrams has caught flack for her embrace of gun control, which puts her at odds with her party's decades-old approach to the debate in Georgia. She elaborates on her position here.
Sarsour, meanwhile, has provoked controversy for her outspoken opposition to Israel and Zionism.
The Abrams campaign previously said the Democrat had met Sarsour in her capacity as a leader of Georgia’s Women’s March earlier this year.
“To my knowledge, this is the one time they have met,” said Abrams spokeswoman Priyanka Mantha earlier this month. “Abrams and Sarsour disagree on many issues but share the commitment to advance women’s rights.”
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We told you last month about Tom Fanning's dire warnings about a cyber-intrusion into the nation's power grid.
Now the Southern Company CEO is bringing his message to Congress. Fanning will be in Washington this afternoon testifying before a Senate subcommittee about "cyber threats to our nation's critical infrastructure."
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Still, much of the focus among Washington's energy community today will be trained about a mile down the road at the EPA's headquarters. The agency brass is expected to unveil the contours of its proposal to ease former President Barack Obama's climate plan for coal-fired power plants.
From the AP's preview of the announcement:
A plan to be announced Tuesday would give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. The Environmental Protect Agency announced late Monday that acting administrator Andrew Wheeler planned to brief the news media by telephone Tuesday on what the administration is calling the "Affordable Clean Energy" rule — greenhouse guidelines for states to set performance standards for existing coal-fired power plants.
The news is likely to prompt cheers among the state's top GOP officials. Georgia joined more than two-dozen states in a lawsuit against the Obama administration climate standards in 2016, even as Gov. Nathan Deal initially directed the state's environmental protection agency to work on a compliance plan.
Georgia argued the reductions in carbon emissions mandated by the rule – roughly 25 percent statewide by 2030, a less stringent standard than initially proposed – constituted regulatory overreach that would harm customers and businesses. Environmentalists said the regulation was needed to curb climate change.
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One of Georgia's most under-the-radar members of Congress came out swinging yesterday against a proposal to shutter seven of nine polling locations in the predominately black Randolph County.
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop typically likes to focus his public outreach on his efforts to secure federal dollars for his district via his position on the pursestrings-holding Appropriations Committee. But the Albany Democrat, whose 2nd Congressional District includes Randolph County, wasn't ambiguous about where he stands in the latest voting rights scandal, which has made national news.
“This outrageous proposal is discriminatory and appears to be in clear violation of the federal Voting Rights Act as well as the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,” Bishop wrote in a letter outlining his opposition to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp:
I sent this letter to @USAGSessions & @BrianKempGA expressing my opposition to the recent proposal to close 7 of 9 voter polling stations in Randolph Co. All voters should be able to have their voices heard on Election Day. pic.twitter.com/aP6aTLuR8j
— Sanford Bishop, Jr. (@SanfordBishop) August 20, 2018
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Some eye-popping videos emerged last night from the campus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where a crowd of 250 toppled a controversial statue of an alum who served for the Confederacy during the Civil War. "Silent Sam" is the latest statue to come down as the country has grappled with the role of Confederate monuments in American society.
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Georgia's U.S. Sen. David Perdue was back at the White House Monday for a ceremony celebrating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other border and law enforcement officers. The first-term Republican and Trump ally said Democratic officials calling for the abolition of ICE have "failed their oath of office."
"It's unconscionable and frankly, I think it's downright unpatriotic," he said. "I just want everyone in (ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection) to know how highly thought of they are by most people in America and the U.S. Senate."
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