There’s more than a year to go until the 2026 midterm election. But in battleground Georgia, the races for U.S. Senate, governor and a host of other contests are already heating up. Georgia has played a critical role in recent elections, and it’s expected to again prove a bellwether.
At the state Capitol, there’s a wide-open race to replace Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is prevented by term limits from running for reelection.
In Washington, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, is seeking a second term and trying to prove that Georgia is still a swing state, despite backing Donald Trump for president in November.
Then there are a host of down-ballot races — from statewide constitutional officers to members of Congress to state legislators.
Congressman Mike Collins' announcement that he will seek the Republican nomination for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff has shaken up the race and drawn national headlines.
But on X, people are also talking about an unfortunate typo in a video posted on an account used to amplify Collins' campaign. In the teaser video, which Collins' team said was created by a fan, his home state is misspelled "Georiga" at the very end.
A spokesman for Collins said his campaign is aware of the typo but won't be taking the video down.
"They meant well, and it’s a nice video," the spokesman said. "It’s not the first and won’t be the last.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock is reintroducing federal voting legislation named for late Congressman John Lewis amid a national discussion on the politicization of the election process in states like Texas and California.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would set new national standards for voter registration and the administration of elections. It also would update the formula used to determine if states or localities have a history of discrimination warranting the need for federal oversight of their election systems.
The House version of the bill was introduced in March by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama.
With Republicans holding slim majorities in the House and Senate, the bill is unlikely to gain traction in either chamber. It was first introduced in 2021 when Democrats had control of Congress and the White House, but Republicans used the filibuster to block progress.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins launched his run for the U.S. Senate Monday.
The Jackson Republican's run adds to the drama in the GOP primary for the seat currently held by Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp told Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King that he would endorse former football coach Derek Dooley's bid the Senate. King then suspended his campaign. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter remains a force in the race.
Collins pledged to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“We need a senator who works for Georgia, not the California crazies or New York nut jobs,” he said in his opening video.
Read more here.
A push by some Republicans to eliminate the Georgia income tax continues to gain steam ahead of next year's election.
Sen. Blake Tillery, a likely candidate for lieutenant governor, will chair a committee that will study eliminating the tax in coming months. He made his pitch Thursday.
“My role as chair is not to debate whether we do away with the state income tax,” Tillery told reporters. “It’s to determine how we will do away with the state income tax.”
Tillery said it would be “premature” to lay out a specific plan to eliminate the income tax – that’s what the committee is for. But he expects lawmakers to adopt a “realistic and responsible” plan in 2026.
Tillery was appointed to lead the committee by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones – himself a candidate for governor and an advocate for eliminating the income tax. Look for this to be a hotly contested proposal.
U.S. Rep. Brian Jack was among three Republicans who voted with Democrats to obtain files related to the sex trafficking investigation involving deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein.
That could put Jack, who served as President Donald Trump's political director during his first White House term and remains close with him, on the outs with the president.
Jack, R-Peachtree City, supported a motion in the House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement on Wednesday to subpoena the Department of Justice's Epstein-related documents, Politico reported.
The subpoena request also includes former President Bill Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey, among others.
The motion passed 8-2, and a spokesperson for the committee told Politico the subpoena must now be issued.
Jack declined to comment.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is kicking off the first statewide tour of her campaign for governor this afternoon with a show of political muscle in DeKalb County, the most important Democratic stronghold in Georgia.
Bottoms plans to roll out endorsements during the stop in Clarkston from a slate of prominent DeKalb leaders, including former county CEO Burrell Ellis, former state Sen. Nadine Thomas and Decatur school board member Jana Johnson-Davis.
Bottoms, an ex-Biden administration official, is also set to meet with former staffers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were fired after President Donald Trump ordered sweeping cuts to the Atlanta-based agency.
But the Clarkston event also doubles as a warning shot to Michael Thurmond, the former DeKalb CEO who has signaled for months that he is weighing whether to join the race.
So far, Bottoms’ main Democratic rival is state Sen. Jason Esteves of Atlanta, who has locked up support from some of the party’s biggest names and an impressive seven-figure fundraising haul. A Thurmond candidacy could further fracture the field.
President Donald Trump won on Capitol Hill when Congress passed his “big, beautiful” tax and spending law. But the battle for public opinion is just beginning.
One Nation, the public policy organization aligned with Senate Republican Leader John Thune, is spending $5 million on TV ads in Georgia criticizing Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff for voting against the law.
Ossoff, undeterred, held a news conference on Wednesday highlighting the law’s cuts to Medicaid.
Read more in today's Politically Georgia newsletter, your daily jolt of news and analysis from the AJC politics team.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter paid tribute on the House floor today to the Coast Guard rescue swimmer who helped get his twin granddaughters to safety during the flooding in Texas earlier this month.
Carter, R-St. Simons Island, fought back tears as he thanked Scott Ruskin and the other rescuers who assisted dozens of campers as the Guadalupe River swelled.
"Scott, while leading the Coast Guard triage at Camp Mystic, was able to save over 160 people through his efforts, including my twin granddaughters, whose birthday is today," Carter said. "His selflessness and bravery in the face of danger is something we should all strive to embody."
Carter said he and his family attended the funeral last week of his granddaughters' cousin, 9-year-old Janie Hunt, who was also at Camp Mystic and is among those who died in the flood.
Georgia Congressman Barry Loudermilk will once again take the lead on a special U.S. House Committee investigating the Democratic-led investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol.
Loudermilk said the decision to restart the committee, which was first established by Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023, came at the request of President Donald Trump shortly after he took office.
"He wanted me to continue the investigation, and told him I was dedicated to doing it," Loudermilk, R-Cassville, said of the president. "And the speaker was dedicated to doing it."
The creation of the special committee must be approved on the House floor. Loudermilk had hoped to do that this week, but the Rules Committee canceled its meeting to avoid votes on the Epstein files.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms will meet with fired CDC workers Thursday as she begins a series of campaign events she is calling "Standing Up for Georgia."
The campaign event will take the former Atlanta mayor to the nearby suburb of Clarkston, where she will appear alongside local elected officials and community leaders.
A news release from the campaign said Bottoms will "discuss her plans as governor to stand up for Georgians against the chaos in Washington and to make Georgia more affordable."
The tour is expected to continue through the fall. Other dates and locations have not been announced.