Rich McCormick rules out US Senate run in Georgia as GOP field takes shape

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Brad Raffensperger touts Georgia’s voter roll maintenance.
• Georgia lawmakers eye virtual learning to help with absent students.
• The Trump administration releases records about Martin Luther King Jr.

Taking shape

In November of 2022, newly elected members of Congress Mike Collins (left), R-Jackson, and Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee, posed for photos outside of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

The Senate dominoes are falling. U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee, has ruled out a challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026, according to a senior aide.

The decision provides more clarity for a growing GOP field that already includes U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and Insurance Commissioner John King. Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is expected to join the race.

And U.S. Rep. Mike Collins appears poised to announce his campaign at any moment after a not-so-subtle post on social media.

“Tires kicked. Fueling up,” the Jackson Republican posted to X on Monday. The accompanying 15-second video shows clips of President Donald Trump speaking about and appearing with Collins.

“Who can beat Jon Ossoff?” the video says. “Stay tuned.”

McCormick is an emergency room physician and U.S. Marine veteran who was considered a wild card in Georgia’s GOP congressional delegation. He narrowly lost a swing seat in 2020 before winning a redrawn, Republican-friendly district two years later.

He quickly carved out a maverick image, posting fitness feats and polar plunges on social media. Also, he was one of the few prominent Georgia Republicans to back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over Donald Trump for president, though he later aligned himself with the MAGA wing of the party.

He’s made waves with provocative remarks, including recent criticism of federal school lunch programs. A February town hall in Roswell went viral after he was bombarded with jeers, underscoring the squeeze some Republicans face.

In response to the backlash, McCormick urged the White House to slow federal layoffs — a hot-button issue Democrats have seized on ahead of 2026.

Things to know

A cutout image in a farmer's field near Athens showed Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, as a Georgia football fan before a game in 2021.

Good morning! We’re just 31 days away from the deadline for municipal candidates to qualify for the November election.

Here are three other things to know for today:

• State and local leaders say they’re cooking up something big in Fulton County. But they won’t say anything about it, only referring to it mysteriously as “Project Sasquatch,” the AJC’s Zachary Hansen reports.
• The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call between a military aircraft and a SkyWest Airlines plane operating under the Delta Connection brand, the AJC’s Emma Hurt reports.
• The State Ethics Commission rejected Attorney General Chris Carr’s complaint seeking an investigation into the source of a $10 million loan Lt. Gov. Burt Jones made to his campaign for governor, Greg Bluestein reports.

Sneak peek

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spoke to the news media at the Capitol last week.

Georgia’s top elections official is defending the state’s mass voter roll cleanup — and urging Congress to follow suit.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger sent U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., a four-page letter this morning ahead of a House hearing on “voter list maintenance standards,” promoting Georgia’s process as the national “gold standard.”

The timing is notable. Just this month, Raffensperger’s office began canceling nearly half a million inactive voter registrations, one of the largest such purges since 2017.

In the letter, Raffensperger said Georgia has issued more than 4 million “mass list maintenance notices” during his tenure. But he also pushed for a series of changes to federal voting rules, including relaxing the 90-day blackout period before federal elections.

He also called for a federal photo ID requirement for all forms of voting, a ban on ballot harvesting in federal elections, mandated risk-limiting audits after votes and a federal constitutional amendment barring non-citizens from voting.

Raffensperger, who’s often at odds with his own party over election conspiracies, has leaned into the security of Georgia’s voting system ahead of a potential bid for governor.

Job’s not done

Many schools across the country switched to virtual classes during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Politicians and parents alike decried the rise of distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic. But now some are eyeing it as a way to reach students who have never consistently returned to the classroom.

Chronic absenteeism in Georgia schools surged to 20% after the pandemic, where it has stayed ever since. State lawmakers passed a law earlier this year requiring some districts with the worst problems to create special attendance review teams to tackle the issue.

But lawmakers still want to do more. Today, a House study committee led by state Rep. Chris Erwin will hold its first meeting on the issue. The Republican from Homer noted districts have embraced the work-from-home concept during snow days and other disruptions.

“Can we do that same type of philosophy for the weather that we have for a chronically absent kid?” he said. “That is definitely an area we are going to explore.”

And they won’t explore it alone. The Senate also has a committee studying the issue, led by Republican John F. Kennedy of Macon, who is also running for lieutenant governor. Erwin said he hopes for the two committees to have a joint hearing in September.

From Buckhead to Belgium

Bill White, the former chairman and CEO of the Buckhead City Committee, has received an appointment from the Trump administration.

Bill White will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning for his confirmation hearing to be the U.S. ambassador to Belgium.

White was the often combative driving force behind the ill-fated attempt to slice the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood apart from Atlanta a few years ago. He then moved from Atlanta to Palm Beach, Florida, where he was a frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago.

He’s known President Donald Trump for more than 30 years since their days in Manhattan, so a nomination of some sort for White was not a surprise, although a role in diplomacy might have been.

If confirmed, White has said his priority will be advancing Trump’s “America First” policies overseas. But first, he’ll have his hearing, where we’re told to expect Buckhead to get an honorable mention.

Listen up

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell discuss where U.S. Rep. Mike Collins fits into the broader Republican landscape as he prepares for a U.S. Senate run.

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.

No meetings

Republicans say they won’t hold any more meetings of the U.S. House Rules Committee this week out of concern that Democrats would force a vote on legislation to compel the release of files related to the investigation of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 while in a New York correctional center.

Without a meeting, the House can’t advance any legislation to the floor that can pass by a simple majority vote. That means the only things the House will consider this week before taking it’s summer recess are non-controversial bills that can be fast-tracked but require a two-thirds majority for passage.

Republicans say they are robbing Democrats of an opportunity to grandstand on the Epstein controversy, which has caused a rift among MAGA Republicans. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican on the committee, told Politico that his party refused to give Democrats “an endless microphone.”

Today in Washington

Happenings:

• President Donald Trump will meet at the White House with Ferdinand Marcos Jr., president of the Philippines.
• The House has afternoon votes scheduled.
• The Senate will vote on more of Trump’s nominations.
• Bill White, Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Belgium, meets with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

MLK files

The Trump administration on Monday released more than 240,000 pages of FBI records related to its surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. until his 1968 assassination.

King’s family, including his two living children, Martin Luther King III, 67, and Bernice King, 62, opposed the document dump, which they were informed of about two weeks ago. They encouraged people reviewing the files to consider the historical context.

“As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief — a devastating loss for his wife, children, and the granddaughter he never met — an absence our family has endured for over 57 years,” they wrote. “We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continuing grief.”

But Bernice King also had a bit more to say on social media, where she posted a picture of her father giving a side eye with the caption: “Now, do the Epstein files.”

Shoutouts

State Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, first took office in 2010.

Today’s birthday:

• State Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper.

Transition: