Chris Carr says Georgia won’t join lawsuit against Trump administration

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Democrats launch website attacking Donald Trump’s tax and spending law.
• State Rep. Shelly Hutchinson plans to resign next month.
• Georgia House lawmakers will review custody rights for unwed fathers.

No resistance

Attorney General Chris Carr is running for governor in next year's Republican primary.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has resisted President Donald Trump before. But with his eyes on the Republican nomination for governor, don’t expect him to do it again anytime soon.

Education advocates have twice urged Carr to join other states in suing the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in education funding. Both times, Carr refused — most recently this week in a fight over K-12 education spending as students and teachers prepare to return to school.

“Legally, whether you like or do not like the policy, the President has the authority to ensure that these federal funds are being spent lawfully,” Carr told us in a statement. “Like Governor Kemp, I will make sure that public education is fully funded in Georgia.”

Carr drew Trump’s ire four years ago when he refused to back his attempt to overturn Georgia’s presidential election results. Trump even endorsed businessman John Gordon’s unsuccessful challenge of Carr in the 2022 GOP primary. But since then, Carr has worked to shore up his MAGA credentials.

More than 20 states, all in bluer parts of the country, sued the Trump administration on Monday to release billions of dollars in education funding to support teacher training, English-language learners and after-school programs.

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, took to the House floor to demand the Trump administration release the funds.

“No more excuses,” she said. “Secretary [Linda] McMahon and this administration must follow the law and immediately release the funding meant for our schools, our teachers and our families. It must happen.”

Things to know

Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:

• Democrat Peter Hubbard appeared headed to victory late Tuesday with a sizeable lead over former Atlanta City Council member Keisha Sean Waites in the primary runoff election for the Public Service Commission District 3 seat, the AJC’s Caleb Groves and Gray Mollenkamp report.
• State lawmakers are considering more changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2026 midterms. But state Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, says a special study committee won’t revisit President Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat in Georgia, the AJC’s Mark Niesse and Michelle Baruchman report.
• An elected Middle Georgia prosecutor resigned after being accused of improperly discussing criminal cases. But Washington County Solicitor Michael Howard blamed harassment by a county judge, the AJC’s Rosie Manins reports.

Tax attack

Ken Martin spoke with reporters after being elected the Democratic National Committee chair, in Oxon Hill, Md., in February.

Democrats are hoping to weaponize President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law to win over swing voters. Now they’re unveiling a new initiative to hammer that argument home.

The Democratic National Committee unveiled TrumpTax.com this morning to show how Georgians are impacted by federal cuts to Medicaid and other public programs, and the impact of his tariffs.

“While Trump plunges our economy towards crisis, the Trump Tax guarantees Georgians will feel the pain from his disastrous economic agenda,” DNC chair Ken Martin said.

Republicans, of course, are also making a bet that extending Trump’s tax cuts as well as bolstering immigration enforcement and national security spending will pay dividends in the midterms. Nearly every senior Georgia GOP official has endorsed the Trump-backed package.

Fundraising watch

Gainesville Mayor Sam Couvillon (right) hopes to defeat U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (left), R-Athens, in next year's Republican primary.

Tuesday was the filing deadline for candidates to file fundraising reports in federal races, giving us an updated look at where the candidates for Georgia’s top races stand. Here are some highlights for the three-month period that ended June 30.

U.S. Senate:

• Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff raised $10 million, including a $970,000 transfer, and has $15.4 million on hand.
• Republican Insurance Commissioner John King raised $518,000 and has $450,000 on hand.
• Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter raised about $1.1 million, including a $57,000 transfer, loaned himself another $2 million and ended with $4 million on hand.

9th Congressional District:

• Incumbent U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, raised $107,000 and ended with $170,000 on hand.
• Republican Sam Couvillon, the mayor of Gainesville, raised $173,000 and ended with $298,000.

1st Congressional District:

• Republican Jim Kingston raised $870,000 and ended with $857,000 on hand.
• Republican Kandiss Taylor raised $8,000 and has $3,000 on hand.

13th Congressional District

• Incumbent U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, raised $108,641, including a $45,000 loan to his campaign, and ended with $212,210 on hand.
• Democrat Everton Blair raised $227,579 and has $151,903 in cash on hand.
• State Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, raised $164,876 and has $148,289 on hand.
• State Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, raised $105,381, including a $30,000 loan, and ended the period with $85,981.

Moving on

State Rep. Shelly Hutchinson, D-Snellville, first took office in 2019.

State Rep. Shelly Hutchinson of Snellville, plans to resign from the Georgia House next month to care for a close family member who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The Democratic lawmaker’s last day will be Aug. 4.

“This has been one of the most difficult decisions of my life,” Hutchinson said in a news release. “Serving the people of Georgia House District 106 and the state of Georgia has been the honor of a lifetime. But family must come first, and right now, my greatest responsibility is to be by my family’s side as we face this cruel and challenging disease.”

Hutchinson, a licensed social worker, joined the House in 2019. The departure will create an open seat in the Gwinnett-based district, which will be filled in a special election at a date to be set by the governor.

Mounds of support

Congress may be short on bipartisanship, but cross-party partnerships are still the name of the game in Middle Georgia, at least when it comes to the area’s signature park project.

Dan Perdue, the Republican Chairman of the Houston County Commission, joined Macon Mayor Pro Tem Seth Clark for a joint commentary in the AJC calling on Congress to designate the Muscogee Mounds as a National Park and Preserve.

Perdue is the son of former Georgia Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue. Clark’s position is nonpartisan, but he has worked with Democrats in the past. They wrote:

Fatherhood

State Rep. Teddy Reese (center), D-Columbus, greeted Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, at the Capitol in Atlanta last year.

When a married couple has a child, Georgia recognizes them as the parents. But when an unmarried couple has a child? It gets complicated.

Unwed fathers must go to court to get visitation and custody rights — a process advocates have long complained takes too long and costs too much. Now, state lawmakers are looking at making it easier.

A House study committee will meet today for the first of three scheduled meetings examining the issue with the goal of introducing legislation next year. In 2022, more than 45% of all births in Georgia were to unmarried women, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s not just an issue for fathers. Children often face the same barriers when trying to inherit their fathers’ estates, said state Rep. Teddy Reese, a Democrat from Columbus and the vice chair of the committee.

Reese, an attorney, said he got the idea for the committee after meeting with fathers in a barber shop in Columbus.

“I was just so moved by the passion and by the determination and by the disappointment in some of those fathers,” he said.

Listen up

Josephine Rios, who works in nursing, was among those recently protesting cuts to Medicaid outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast AJC health reporter Ariel Hart discusses how Georgia could be affected by sweeping health care changes under Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill,” which President Donald Trump signed into law.

Then, AJC elections reporter Mark Niesse explains one of the largest voter registration cancellations in U.S. history — and what Georgians need to know to make sure they stay registered.

You can listen and subscribe to the show for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

House floor drama

U.S. Reps. Andrew Clyde (left), R-Athens, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, took a stance against cryptocurrency legislation and a defense spending bill on Tuesday.

Votes in the U.S. House were canceled on Tuesday after a dozen Republicans, including Georgia Reps. Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene, helped Democrats tank a procedural vote that would have allowed cryptocurrency legislation and a defense spending bill to advance to the floor.

Initially, GOP leaders indicated they would go back to the negotiating table in hopes of a revote later in the evening. But members were told to head home for the night once it became clear that no agreement could be reached quickly.

Greene, R-Rome, said she was unhappy that House Speaker Mike Johnson did not allow an amendment that would have ensured the Federal Reserve did not create its own digital currency.

“We need to get it right,” she said after the failed vote. “It shouldn’t be run through and us forced to vote on something when they take away our right to amend it.”

But this GOP opposition to one of President Donald Trump’s priorities may be short lived. Trump posted on social media that he met with the holdouts at the White House and 11 of the 12 are now willing to advance the bill during a revote today. It’s unclear who the lone remaining holdout is.

Today in Washington

Happenings:

• President Donald Trump will meet at the White House with the crown prince and prime minister of Bahrain and later with the prime minister of Qatar.
• The House will try again to advance cryptocurrency legislation and a defense appropriations bill to the floor.
• The Senate will vote on a package that would rescind $9 billion in funding previously approved by Congress for public broadcasting and foreign aid.
• The annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game, a charity event raising money for young breast cancer survivors, will be played tonight. U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, and Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, are expected in the cheering section for members of Congress competing against the media. McBath is a breast cancer survivor.

Shoutouts

U.S. Sen. Tonya Anderson, D-Lithonia, first took office in the Senate in 2017. She was previously in the House.

Today’s birthday:

• State Sen. Tonya Anderson, D-Lithonia.

Belated birthday:

• State Rep. Mack Jackson, D-Sandersville (was Tuesday).

Recognitions:

• State Rep. Eddie Lumsden, R-Armuchee, was named 2025 legislator of the year by the Georgia Council on Aging.