Brad Raffensperger test-drives potential stump speech

Today’s newsletter highlights:

Georgia lawmakers tackle college affordability.
Grover Norquist scheduled to speak about Georgia’s income tax.
Brian Kemp’s chief spokesman is moving on.

Sending signals

Credit: Mark Niesse/AJC

Credit: Mark Niesse/AJC

Crime, education and jobs aren’t the usual topics for a speech by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose job is to oversee elections and professional licensing.

But the two-term Republican focused on those broader political issues Monday during an address to the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Roundtable. It’s the latest sign that he’s preparing a bid for higher office, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports.

Raffensperger wouldn’t say whether his 20-minute speech was a preface to a campaign for governor or U.S. Senate next year. But other Republicans are expecting him to run. Two prominent GOP candidates — state Rep. Tim Fleming and contractor Kelvin King — are already in the race to succeed him, and his longtime deputy Gabriel Sterling is considered a top contender to join as well.

“My focus is always going to be on good-paying jobs, safe communities and then really making sure that we have good schools,” Raffensperger said. “When all three of those come together, what you really have is a thriving area — driving the county, driving the city, driving the state.”

Raffensperger would face a crowded GOP field in either race. And he would likely draw opposition from President Donald Trump, who famously berated him for refusing his demand to “find” exactly enough votes to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Trump has already endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones for governor.

But senior Republicans see him as a legit contender. He brings wide name recognition, a proven ability to earn crossover votes, a robust donor base thanks to his national profile and the ability to self-finance his campaign.

“He’s the kind of conservative that anyone could vote for,” said Sylvester Ford, a franchise consultant who attended Monday’s speech. “It was a good performance.”

Things to know

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

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

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins will officially kick off his Senate campaign tonight at a rally in Jackson. On Monday, he was endorsed by the mother and stepfather of Laken Riley, the Georgia college student killed by a man living in the country illegally.
Georgia’s mass cancellation of inactive voter registrations largely targets people who likely moved away and didn’t vote in the last two general elections. But it also threatens to impact eligible voters, too, the AJC’s Mark Niesse and Phoebe Quinton report.
Police reports show how federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents worked hand-in-hand with Chatham County police patrols to find and detain immigrants, the AJC’s Lautaro Grinspan reports.

Vance’s visit

Credit: AP

Vice President JD Vance is headed to Peachtree City on Thursday to promote the Republican-backed tax and spending law.

He’s the latest senior White House official to visit the west Georgia district represented by first-term U.S. Rep. Brian Jack, a former adviser to President Donald Trump who is a rising GOP star in state and national politics.

Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, the former U.S. senator from Georgia, joined Jack in April for a tour of Troup County firms. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright trekked to Spalding County in May to celebrate legislation rolling back energy efficiency standards.

And Trump visited the district for the first time in his political career in October, when he hosted a faith town hall event at Christ Church in Zebulon.

Vance’s visit to Peachtree City – Jack’s hometown – is the first trip by a sitting vice president to Fayette County since Dan Quayle visited Fayette County High School in 1992. Turns out that was quite the day for high-level trips to Georgia.

Sticker shock

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Georgia’s HOPE scholarship is one of the most widely successful — and copied — student aid programs in the country. But more than 30 years after its creation, Georgia students have the second-highest student loan balance of any state in the nation, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

That contrast is why state senators are holding hearings during the legislative off season to study higher education affordability. Lawmakers on Monday heard that Georgia has more than 1.6 million total student loan borrowers with a balance of $69.83 billion — an average of $43,200 per person.

But state Sen. Max Burns, a Republican from Sylvania and chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said it’s not fair to lump all student loan debt together. He said there’s a big difference between the cost of a graduate degree at a medical or law school and an undergraduate degree at a four-year college or university.

“If we lump it all into one bucket it might provide a different perception than if we parsed it into more appropriate subsets,” he said.

MJ Kim, a senior analyst at the Southern Regional Education Board, called it “a promising sign” that borrowing in Georgia declined at a slightly faster rate than the national average.

But she said the average student loan for a four-year degree still exceeds $20,000.

Be warned

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Lawmakers kicked off their study of recovery residences on Monday and state Sen. Randy Robertson let everyone know it might not always be pleasant.

“There is a real opportunity that we are going to upset somebody and hurt your feelings,” said Robertson, a Republican from Cataula. “We would not be here if there was not a problem.”

These residences provide people with housing as they work to recover from an addiction to drugs and alcohol. These are separate from rehabilitation centers, which are licensed by the state and must follow certain rules.

“What we’ve discovered is that anybody can establish sober housing,” Robertson said. “Churches have established sober housing … that weren’t necessarily tied to what I would classify as legitimate rehab.”

State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Republican from Marietta and a retired orthopedic surgeon, noted some of her constituents “have lost family members in recovery residences.”

“We’re just trying to figure out the best path forward for making sure that our citizens are safe who are in recovery,” she said.

Heavy hitters

Credit: TNS

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is getting top billing today as state senators meet for the first time in their quest to get rid of Georgia’s income tax. But don’t overlook Grover Norquist.

The founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform is scheduled to speak to the Special Committee on Eliminating Georgia’s Income Tax.

Georgians might remember Norquist helping former House Speaker Newt Gingrich write the “Contract with America” that led to the 1994 Republican resurgence in Congress. But he is most widely known for his “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” that has influenced generations of Republican policymakers.

Norquist has asked all state and federal elected officials to sign the pledge — a promise to oppose all tax increases. At one point in 2011, a majority of members in the U.S. House of Representatives had signed it.

The pledge is less influential today, but still has sway in Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp and all nine of Georgia’s Republican members of congress have signed it, along with 11 state representatives and five state senators.

Shooter sentenced

The Savannah man who shot a volunteer canvassing for U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign was sentenced to four years in prison and eight years of probation on Monday.

Jimmy Paiz, a Marine Corps veteran, shot 15-year-old Javonte Vann in 2022 when Vann came to his door on behalf of Warnock, a Democrat who was running for reelection against Republican Herschel Walker. Paiz did not open the door to Vann and instead fired a shot through the door, hitting Vann in the leg.

Paiz pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and aggravated battery in July. He apologized to Vann at that hearing, saying he thought Vann was trying to break into his home. Video of the incident was recorded by Paiz’s home security camera.

Warnock addressed the case’s end Monday during a visit to Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, an hour west of Savannah.

“It’s yet another example of the pervasiveness of gun violence in our country and, no matter what the sentence is, those are wounds psychological that he perhaps will never fully recover from,” Warnock said of Vann.

Warnock added:

“I'm glad that justice has run its course, and I hope that people will stay engaged in the political process, and they wouldn't be discouraged to engage their neighbors, knocking on doors, passing out flyers, talking to people. That's the democratic process at work."

Moving on

Credit: Courtesy photo

Gov. Brian Kemp’s chief spokesman is leaving the role for a new post in the governor’s inner circle.

Garrison Douglas is set to become the spokesman for the Georgians First Leadership Committee, the Kemp-aligned outside group that can raise unlimited cash. He’ll also work as a communications adviser to the governor.

The committee is expected to play a major role in the coming elections boosting the governor’s agenda, promoting his preferred legislative candidates and, likely, supporting former football coach Derek Dooley’s U.S. Senate bid.

Douglas, who joined Kemp’s administration in January 2023, made history as the first Black staffer to be the official spokesman and press secretary to a Georgia governor.

Carter Chapman, Kemp’s deputy press secretary, will take over the role when Douglas steps down at the end of the month. Annalise Morning, the office’s digital communications coordinator, will succeed Chapman.

Listen up

Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast, we discuss what President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones for governor means for the rest of the field. We’ll also talk about how U.S. Rep Mike Collins’ comments about his GOP rivals Derek Dooley and U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter mark an early, combative phase of the U.S. Senate race.

You can listen and subscribe to Politically Georgia 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.

Trump today

President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign a bill into law at 1 p.m.

In remembrance

The family of a woman whose death was blamed in part on Georgia’s restrictive abortion law will gather today to mark the three year anniversary of her death.

Amber Nicole Thurman’s family will be joined by loved ones of another woman, Candi Miller, who also died from abortion-related complications in 2022 shortly after the law took effect.

Both Thurman and Miller’s deaths were deemed to be preventable by the state panel that studies maternal mortalities. Abortion-rights groups say the state’s law made doctors and hospitals unwilling to give the women the treatment they needed. Anti-abortion advocates say the deaths were caused by a pill used to terminate their pregnancies and medical negligence.

The vigil, held in conjunction with the reproductive rights organization Free and Just, is tonight at a mural in Atlanta that honors the two women.

Shoutouts

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Today’s birthday:

Former state Sen. Mike Dugan.
State Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington.

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.