Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Democratic lawmakers back Fulton County Commissioners’ resistance of court order.
- Congressional Republicans seek to rename financial aid program.
- Georgia lawmakers eye expansion of business investment venture.
Ad watch
Credit: AJC, courtesy photo
Credit: AJC, courtesy photo
“Trusted by Trump.”
That’s the new tagline for what U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter’s campaign describes as a seven-figure statewide ad buy for his Senate bid.
The Savannah-area Republican unveiled the ad this morning as he presses for President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The ad features a clip of Trump calling Carter a “warrior” and “great guy.” It also credits Carter with “passing the Laken Riley Act,” a law named for a college student who was killed on the University of Georgia’s campus by a man who was in the country illegally.
While Carter voted for that law, its chief sponsor was U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, one of Carter’s opponents for the GOP Senate nomination. Riley’s mother and stepfather have endorsed Collins.
Carter’s campaign has pitched Trump’s endorsement as nothing short of crucial in his three-way GOP contest against Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley to take on incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Carter, a pharmacist, is pumping more of his considerable fortune into the race. He’s already loaned his campaign at least $2 million and his aides have said he’s prepared to spend far more. He also told the “Politically Georgia” podcast that he’s not afraid to open his checkbook.
“I’m not going to put any figure on it, but this is very important and very important to me and very important to my family. We’ve been very, very blessed. There’s no question about that. And we’re going to use the resources that we have.”
Both Carter and Collins are chasing Trump’s MAGA base with fiery rhetoric and pledges of unshakable loyalty to the president. Dooley is also pitching himself as a Trump backer, but as an outsider more closely tied to Gov. Brian Kemp’s political brand.
Things to know
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:
- A federal judge in South Georgia has vacated a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule requiring graphic warnings on cigarette packaging and advertising, the AJC’s Rosie Manins reports.
- Several key Democrats in the Georgia House of Representatives are seeking higher office, leaving behind seats that the party will need to fill if they have any hope of chipping away at the Republican majority, the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman reports.
- Eight former leaders and employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared their concerns about the nation’s health and the safety of federal workers during a meeting at the state Capitol on Tuesday, the AJC’s Ariel Hart reports.
Defiant support
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
The Fulton County Commission will have another chance today to comply with a court ruling ordering them to appoint two Republican members to the local election board. At least 24 Democratic state lawmakers, including two candidates for governor, say they shouldn’t do it.
State Sen. Jason Esteves and state Rep. Derrick Jackson, both Democratic candidates for governor, are among lawmakers who say they will attend today’s meeting to urge commissioners to not appoint Republicans Jason Frazier and Julie Adams to the county’s election board.
That’s despite Senior Judge David Emerson ordering the commission to appoint the Republicans. Last week, Emerson found the commission in contempt of court for defying his order and fined them $10,000 per day. Emerson later stayed those fines while the commission appeals.
Democrats have objected to the appointments because Frazier has challenged the eligibility of thousands of voter registrations while Adams voted not to certify the 2020 election results.
“These are not neutral administrators — they are active participants in a partisan scheme to undermine public confidence in elections,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the commission.
Other lawmakers scheduled to attend today’s hearing: state Reps. Michelle Au, Debra Bazemore, Bryce Berry, Park Cannon, Robert Dawson, Stacey Evans, Lydia Glaize, Betsy Holland, Sheila Jones, Mekyah McQueen, Tanya Miller, Phil Olaleye, Esther Panitch, Shea Roberts, Kim Schofield and Inga Willis.
Also attending: state Sens. Sonya Halpern, Donzella James, RaShaun Kemp, Josh McLaurin, Nan Orrock and Donzella James.
Trump Grants
Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
President Donald Trump loves to put his name on things, whether skyscrapers towering over major cities or federal stimulus checks. Now, Republicans in Congress want to go a step further by placing Trump’s name somewhere new: Pell Grants.
The famous federal financial aid program for low-income college students is named after former Rhode Island U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, who died in 2009. An appropriations bill moving through Congress would rename a new offshoot of that program as “Trump Grants.”
Traditional Pell Grants have been limited to students enrolling in programs lasting at least 600 clock hours or 15 weeks. That excludes lots of industry-specific training programs in fields such as health care and information technology that don’t last that long.
The “big, beautiful bill” that Trump signed into law in July includes a new Workforce Pell Grant that, beginning next year, will offer aid to students enrolled in programs lasting at least 150 clock hours or eight weeks.
This new financial aid could soon be known as Trump Grants if Republicans in Congress get their way. The proposal cleared a House subcommittee on Tuesday.
That same proposal also includes an extension of the Hyde Amendment, the prohibition on federal funding for abortion named for former Republican U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, who died in 2007. But Republicans haven’t proposed renaming that. At least not yet.
Georgia invests
The U.S. government recently shook up the business world by acquiring a 10% stake in Intel, representing a rare mix of public and private spending. But in Georgia, taxpayers have been indirectly investing in private companies for nearly a decade — something lawmakers could look to expand next year.
Lawmakers created Invest Georgia to give state-based startups a leg up on financing. The program doesn’t invest in companies directly. Instead, it gives money to investment funds that in turn spend the money on Georgia companies.
The idea is to keep some promising new ventures to stay in Georgia instead of bolting for other states where more funding might be available.
Since 2016, Invest Georgia says it has spent $50 million — money that has made its way to more than 100-Georgia based companies responsible for about 4,300 new jobs.
They could have done more. The original legislation creating Invest Georgia authorized up to $100 million in state funding. But so far, lawmakers have only appropriated $50 million.
Now, a House committee is spending the legislative off season taking a closer look at the program. It could give lawmakers an opening to restart funding next year when every seat in the state Legislature will be on the ballot.
“We all want to see how we can expand this thing and bring more businesses into Georgia,” said state Rep. Lehman Franklin, R-Statesboro.
Listen up
Credit: Frank Franklin II/AP
Credit: Frank Franklin II/AP
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, joins the show to talk about his campaign for the U.S. Senate and why he thinks Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce should have their wedding in Savannah.
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.
Epstein files
Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP
U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are collecting signatures in hopes of forcing a vote to release files related to the investigation of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019.
While the duo has roughly half of the signatures they need already, it is unclear if enough of their colleagues will sign onto the discharge petition for it to be successful. One reason some members, particularly Republicans, are hesitant to sign on is that many Epstein documents have been released already, including a 33,000 page dump on Tuesday.
However, supporters of the discharge petition say that what has been released through the House Oversight Committee mostly consists of information that was already in the public domain. They say Massie and Khanna’s bill is needed to ensure nothing is kept a secret.
In addition to Massie, only three other Republicans have signed the petition. But that number includes Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had long pledged to sign and said her goal is to get justice for Epstein’s victims, many of whom were underage.
For the petition to succeed, it is likely that every House Democrat will need to sign it. So far, only three of Georgia’s five Democrats have done so: U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson of Lithonia, Lucy McBath of Marietta and Nikema Williams of Atlanta.
Today in Washington
Credit: Angelina Katsanis/AP
Credit: Angelina Katsanis/AP
- President Donald Trump will meet at the White House with President Karol Nawrocki of Poland.
- The House will vote on several bills that would roll back policies implemented by former President Joe Biden. Members could also vote on a resolution to censure U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-New Jersey, and remove her from the Homeland Security Committee after she was involved in a confrontation at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in May.
- The Senate could take additional procedural votes on the National Defense Authorization Act.
Shoutout
Transition:
- Alexa Hernandez is now an attorney with the Georgia Lottery Corporation. The recent graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law was previously an extern for Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr and also a policy intern for former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.
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.
Before you go
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
State Reps. Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, and Tim Fleming, R-Covington, want Georgia to replace touchscreens in some polling places this fall with hand-marked paper ballots.
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.
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