Ex-Democrat Mesha Mainor launches GOP bid for state school superintendent
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Derek Dooley’s U.S. Senate bid gets a big fundraising boost.
- Lawmakers are worried about layoffs in Georgia’s forestry industry.
- Chatham County officials fight against new state law.
Mainor returns
Former Democratic state Rep. Mesha Mainor, who switched parties after breaking with Democrats on private school vouchers, is running for state school superintendent as a Republican.
Her 2023 defection made her the first Black woman to serve as a Republican in the General Assembly. Democrats quickly disowned her, and she lost her liberal Atlanta-based seat in November to Democrat Bryce Berry, who campaigned on his opposition to vouchers.
Now she’s challenging GOP incumbent Richard Woods, who recently filed paperwork to seek a fourth term. Another Republican in the race is Randell Trammell, the chief executive of the Center for Civic Engagement.
“Education shouldn’t be political — it should be personal,” Mainor said, pledging to fight “radical Democrats” and burdensome teachers unions.
“I’m running to give parents a voice, protect our children, and make Georgia the number one place to educate a child no matter where the child lives,” she said.
Mainor had a long history of flouting her party that went beyond the private school voucher bill.
She also voted to give state more power to investigate district attorneys, ban COVID-19 vaccination requirements and restrict local governments from passing budgets that “defund” the police.
She won’t be the first party-switching Democrat to seek higher office as a Republican. Former Govs. Nathan Deal and Sonny Perdue made the leap successfully.
More recently, then-state Rep. Vernon Jones, a former chief executive of DeKalb County, endorsed Donald Trump’s reelection bid and later flipped to the GOP.
But longtime Republicans never forgot his liberal voting record and history of misconduct as he waged failed campaigns in 2022, first for governor and then the U.S. House.
Things to know
Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:
- Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has begun circumventing the State Election Board by bringing accusations of double-voting directly to local district attorneys, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports.
- A federal judge ruled Georgia native Lisa Cook can remain a Federal Reserve governor while she fights President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire her.
- U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she has no plans to endorse anytime soon in Georgia’s races for governor or U.S. Senate, Tia Mitchell reports.
Big money
Republican Senate hopeful Derek Dooley has landed a heavyweight backer. Executive Don Leebern III, a GOP megadonor, will serve as his campaign chair.
That gives the former football coach a well-connected financier with a national donor network. It’s another clear sign of Gov. Brian Kemp’s imprint on Dooley’s outsider campaign.
Kemp and Leebern III are longtime allies. The governor has urged donors to go all-in for Dooley’s campaign to win the GOP nod against U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, the Democratic incumbent.
“Derek Dooley is the only political outsider in this race and the only candidate who can defeat Jon Ossoff next November,” Leebern III said.
Leebern III, head of Georgia Crown Distributing, has poured roughly $700,000 into Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns over the past two cycles, plus more than $1 million to the Republican National Committee and various GOP causes.
He’s also dropped more than $20,000 to back U.S. Rep. Mike Collins of Jackson since his first congressional run in 2014. Collins is now one of Dooley’s top rivals.
The fight to lock up donors is quickly escalating. In July, Collins tapped railroad executive Ben Tarbutton III, another Kemp ally, as his finance chair. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of St. Simons Island has said he’ll draw deeper into his own fortune to help bankroll his campaign.
Forestry fretting
More than 1,000 people are likely to lose their jobs at the end of this month when International Paper shutters four southeast Georgia facilities. It’s not just the forestry industry that is worried.
Business and policy leaders from across the state are gathering today in Douglas to discuss the crisis, including top officials of the Georgia Ports Authority and the Georgia Manufacturers Association. The lineup also includes officials from the state’s technical college system and multiple chambers of commerce, plus House Speaker Jon Burns and Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper.
The somewhat impromptu summit comes as the AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer reported the paper industry appears to be moving more toward packaging from recycled paper, which has a higher profit margin than pulp.
“Obviously paper and pulp is not the way to go anymore, and so we’ve got to figure out what is,” said state Rep. Leesa Hagan, a Republican from Lyons who is leading today’s summit.
Hurricane Helene severely damaged Georgia’s timber industry, and state lawmakers responded by approving tax breaks and other aid for timber owners. But the industry has been roiled by reduced demand for cardboard boxes, with some International Paper executives citing “economic uncertainty from tariffs.”
“A lot of us didn’t know this was coming,” Hagan said. “I feel a responsibility to the people I represent to get to the bottom of it and to do everything I can to help us move forward.”
Chatham resistance
They say you can’t fight city hall. But what happens when a local government fights the Georgia Capitol?
The Chatham Commission in Savannah is fighting a state law passed earlier this year that diluted the county’s influence on the local transit authority board. The dustup has been stewing for months and pits the commission and its chairman, Chester Ellis, against the Savannah-area state legislative delegation.
State lawmakers from both political parties voted to expand the number of seats on the board and reduce the number of city of Savannah and Chatham County appointees. The attempt is meant to broaden representation to include appointees from other municipalities the bus system serves.
Ellis pushed back. The county filed a lawsuit that was dismissed by a judge in July and has since been appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Not willing to wait on the state’s high court, Ellis and the commission voted Friday to cut county funding to the transit authority and for a resolution to repeal the law.
However, the bus system is a state entity, and members of the transit authority board have taken legal action to block the county commission’s efforts.
Budget watch
Georgia collected more than $2.4 billion in taxes last month, a 3.2% increase from the same month a year ago, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday.
Individual income taxes — the ones that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and his allies want to get rid of — accounted for roughly half of that total.
Compared to last August, collections for sales, gas and individual income taxes all increased. Corporate income taxes were down. So were motor vehicle tag and title fees.
State agencies had to turn in their budget requests by Friday of last week. With some exceptions, Gov. Brian Kemp had told them not to ask for any increases as the state prepares for the impact of federal spending cuts.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome joins the show to talk about her push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, her willingness to break with President Donald Trump and why she’s not inspired by any of the Georgia Republicans running for governor and the U.S. Senate in 2026.
The hosts also discuss Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to send Georgia National Guard troops to Washington.
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.
Today in Washington
- President Donald Trump will receive an intelligence briefing and host a dinner at the White House.
- The House is expected to vote on the annual National Defense Authorization Act. They’ll also vote on whether to begin negotiations with the Senate on one of 12 appropriations bills.
- The Senate is working on its version of the NDAA.
Faith and freedom
The Georgia Faith & Freedom Coalition added another big name to its Victory Dinner on Monday: Tom Homan, the White House “border czar.”
He’ll join a lineup that already includes Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, talk show host Leo Terrell, Pastor Michael Youssef, Georgia U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk and several GOP candidates for statewide office.
Organizers are billing the dinner as the state’s premier gathering of conservatives and people of faith.
Rest in peace
Former state Rep. Judy Manning died Friday. She was 82.
A Georgia native, Manning spent 15 years in the House representing Cobb County. She chaired committees for the Department of Natural Resources, Child Services and Appropriations.
“Chairlady Manning’s years of dedicated and passionate service to her community undoubtedly created a brighter future not only for her constituents in Cobb County, but for the entire state of Georgia,” House Speaker Jon Burns said.
Visitation is from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Historic Marietta Chapel. The funeral is at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Shoutouts
Today’s birthdays:
- State Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates.
- State Rep. Steven Meeks, R-Screven.
Recognition:
- Charles Davis, dean of the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, will be honored with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation’s Charles L. Weltner Freedom of Information Award. The foundation notes Davis has a long record of “holding public officials to account when government strays from Georgia’s sunshine laws.”
Milestone:
- Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols and his wife, Windy, are celebrating 42 years of marriage today.
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
A Fulton County judge said he will dismiss racketeering and arson charges against dozens of activists who protested Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center.
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.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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