Democrat’s strong showing in state Senate race raises GOP concerns

Democrat Debra Shigley’s surge to the top in Tuesday’s special state Senate election has alarmed some senior GOP officials as the attorney and former journalist captured roughly 40% of the vote in a district that has overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump.

Shigley was easily the top vote-getter in the seven-candidate scramble, securing a spot in the Sept. 23 runoff election that both parties see as a midterm showcase. She’ll likely face Republican Jason Dickerson, who had a small lead for second place in the jumbled field, the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman reports.

It was an eye-opening result in a district spanning parts of north Fulton and Cherokee counties that was drawn to be safely Republican. Senior GOP officials were prepared for Shigley to make the runoff, but some were worried by her surge to the top of the pack.

Shigley outperformed the 2024 Democratic candidate by 10 percentage points — just months after Republican former state Sen. Brandon Beach carried the district with 70% of the vote to win another term.

His decision to step down to join Trump’s administration triggered the low turnout contest, which both parties see as an early test of the president’s popularity and future get-out-the-vote efforts.

Now party leaders are preparing major mobilization efforts. Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon said he’s working with local activists to “make sure our voters turn out in force.” Democrats are eyeing a statement win that could boost momentum headed into next year’s midterms.

Shigley lost last year to state Rep. Jan Jones, the No. 2 Republican in the Georgia House, by more than 23 percentage points. For this year’s campaign, she focused on bolstering health care and opposing GOP-led efforts to expand school vouchers and advance Trump-aligned policies.

“People are fed up. They are frustrated with the chaos and the status quo,” Shigley said last night.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey put it more bluntly: “There’s nothing like elections to tell us what voters think.”

Things to know

Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC

Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC

Good morning! We’re 69 days away from elections for city offices and seats on the Public Service Commission.

Here are three other things to know for today:

For the record

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

U.S. Rep. Rick Allen dismissed concerns that Georgia’s rural hospitals would be hurt by cuts in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law, saying the impact would be limited only to states that chose to expand their Medicaid programs under the federal Affordable Care Act.

“Not in Georgia,” the Augusta Republican said in response to a question from Savannah TV station WTOC about the bill’s impact. “No, Georgia didn’t expand Medicaid. He’s dead wrong there. It’s only in expansion states.”

But that’s not true, according to multiple analyses of the bill. Spending cuts will impact Georgia differently than most other states, but they will be significant, the AJC’s Ariel Hart reports.

Georgia won’t lose much money from Medicaid work requirements. But Georgia hospitals will see less money than they would have from Medicaid over time. A Medicaid funding stream for many Georgia hospitals called “state directed payments” is scheduled to tighten.

Plus, Georgia has a hefty population of people on subsidized insurance plans sold on the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace. More than 100,000 of them are expected to go uninsured as a result of the law. In total, the health research group KFF estimates about 150,000 Georgians could lose coverage, mostly low-income workers.

Family caregivers

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

State lawmakers today will hold their first hearing examining how to help the growing population of people who are caregivers for aging family members.

The issue is personal for Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, whose father had a stroke in 2019. That’s when Jones said he, his mother and his sister became his caregivers.

“There’s a lot of red tape that you have to go through to get a lot of services,” Jones told the AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu. “They’re there, but you have to go through different things.”

While today’s meeting is in Augusta, the remaining meetings will be held in Atlanta, Jones said.

He hopes the committee finds ways to help families care for their elderly relatives, whether it be cash payments or allowing employees to legally request more flexible work schedules. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that more than 20% of Georgia’s population will be 60 or older by 2030, an increase of almost 34% from 2012.

Emergency hearing

Senior Judge David Emerson is holding an emergency hearing today following up on his order directing the Fulton County Commission to appoint two Republicans to the local election board.

Republicans have asked Emerson to hold the commissioners in contempt for voting against the appointments. The consequences will be at Emerson’s discretion. But if he were to find the commissioners in contempt, he could fine them or even put them in jail — an outcome that would reverberate across the state’s political world.

It’s a big moment for Emerson, who spent more than three decades as a Superior Court judge in Douglas County. He stepped down in 2021. He’s now a senior judge, giving him authority to preside over cases all over the state whenever a local judge has a conflict.

Emerson was in the news back in 2017 when attorney Ashleigh Merchant accused him of speaking to her in a condescending way in court. Merchant would later be famous for revealing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ relationship with the special prosecutor in the 2020 election interference case.

In 2022, Emerson ruled Shelia Edwards — then a Democratic candidate for the Public Service Commission — could stay on the ballot despite not living in the district she wanted to represent. That election ultimately didn’t happen after another judge ruled the commission’s at-large elections violated federal law.

Voter turnout

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Nearly 14% of active registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s special Senate election spanning portions of Cherokee and Fulton counties.

Special elections are notorious for their low voter turnout. But participation in Tuesday’s election outperformed the statewide Public Service Commission primaries from earlier this year.

Voter turnout in the June 17 statewide primaries was just 2.8%. Voters in state Senate District 21 beat that number in early voting alone as 8% of voters cast ballots ahead of Tuesday’s contest.

Multiple county election officials considered consolidating polling places during the June runoff so they wouldn’t have to waste money staffing locations with hardly any voters.

The turnout was low, in part, because it was a special election for a position most voters don’t understand. A state Senate seat is more accessible to voters. And Tuesday’s race featured seven candidates, all of whom were spending money to turn out voters in a smaller district.

Listen up

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast Georgia State law professor Anthony Michael Kreis explains why President Donald Trump’s decision to activate the National Guard in Washington has raised constitutional concerns. Also, AJC business editor J. Scott Trubey and Ife Finch Floyd, director of economic justice at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, discuss troubling unemployment trends for Black women.

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 plans to lunch with Vice President JD Vance.

Military families

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop is hosting an event in Columbus today to identify ways to support military families.

Bishop, D-Albany, co-chairs the House’s Congressional Military Family Caucus with Rep. Jen A. Kiggans, R-Va.

They have invited members of the public to attend the daylong event that will include breakout sessions, panel discussions and a resource fair.

Condolences

Walton County Commissioner Bo Warren died Tuesday after a battle with colon cancer.

Warren served “with humility, integrity, and an unwavering focus on doing what was right for our citizens,” the commission said in a statement.

In a social media post, Attorney General Chris Carr called Warren “a true servant leader who impacted the lives of those around him.”

Shoutouts

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Before you go

Credit: Rogelio V. Solis/AP

Credit: Rogelio V. Solis/AP

After facing accusations it had gone “woke,” Cracker Barrel announced that it is ditching its new logo after just one week and reverting back to the old one.

That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.