Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Test your knowledge with our weekly news quiz.
- Hyundai CEO reaffirms the company’s commitment to Georgia.
- College Democrats and Republicans unite to decry violence.
Family matters
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Gov. Brian Kemp has sworn in plenty of state troopers as governor. But none hit closer to home than when he administered the oath to his 24-year-old daughter Lucy.
She was among 30 cadets who graduated last week from the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth, a joyful ceremony that Kemp presided over.
Lucy Kemp stood out in her class. She was elected vice president, earned the highest academic average and received the Corporal Chadwick LeCroy Scholarship — named for a trooper killed in the line of duty in 2010 — to continue her studies at Reinhardt University.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the governor and first lady Marty Kemp said their daughter was “inspired by that calling to put the well-being of your fellow Georgians above your own.”
“Like any parent, we were nervous for her safety and success,” the statement said. “But through this process, we saw firsthand how much training goes into preparing Georgia State Patrol Troopers to ensure the safety of our streets and are more confident than ever in their ability and mission.”
Lucy Kemp graduated after 22 weeks of academy training and another 12 weeks in the field — the same as every cadet. She’ll be assigned to a patrol post, where she’ll work with other troopers to enforce traffic laws, assist motorists, respond to emergencies and take on broader law enforcement duties.
Her new assignment carries a personal weight. In 2020, Lucy’s boyfriend Harrison Deal was killed in a crash on I-16 near Savannah while working for then-U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Now, after experiencing tragedy tied to the highway, she’ll help keep Georgia’s roads safe.
“No matter what people may try to say, she earned this honor every step of the way and endured every challenge that her fellow cadets had to endure on this difficult journey,” her parents said.
Friday news quiz
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Good morning! Lots of things happened this week in Georgia and beyond. How much of it do you remember? Find out with our quiz. And don’t forget to sign up to have this newsletter delivered to your email inbox every weekday morning.
Democrat Shawn Harris picked up an endorsement in his campaign to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia’s 14th Congressional district. Who was it?
- A) Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming.
- B) Geoff Duncan, a former Republican lieutenant governor who recently switched parties.
- C) Mary Trump, President Donald Trump’s niece.
- D) John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser.
Republican Derek Dooley’s U.S. Senate campaign got a boost this week from a GOP megadonor. Who was it?
- A) Jeffrey Sprecher, founder and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange.
- B) Donald Leebern III, president of Georgia Crown Distributing.
- C) Ben Tarbutton III, president of Sandersville Railroad Company.
- D) Rick Gaby, founder of retailer A.K. Rikks.
Chatham County officials are fighting a new state law. What does the law do?
- A) Reduce the number of appointees from the county on a local transit authority.
- B) Eliminates funding for an affordable housing program.
- C) Limits the county’s ability to rezone property for commercial uses.
- D) Bans the county from raising the minimum wage
The U.S. House approved the National Defense Authorization Act. Who was the only Republican in Georgia’s congressional delegation to vote against it?
- A) Andrew Clyde
- B) Barry Loudermilk
- C) Marjorie Taylor Greene
- D) Austin Scott
Delayed, but not forgotten
Credit: Ahn Young-joon/AP
Credit: Ahn Young-joon/AP
Hyundai’s decision to delay the opening of an electric vehicle battery plant following a large immigration raid at its sprawling Georgia facilities seemed to put the state’s largest economic development project in peril.
But Hyundai President and CEO José Muñoz sought to calm those fears on Thursday, saying the company’s “commitment to this state and its people is stronger than ever.”
“Georgia has been our home in America for more than 15 years, and our $12.6 billion investment in the Metaplant represents our unwavering confidence in this state’s future,” Muñoz said.
The vote of confidence from Hyundai’s top official is sure to soothe fears from coastal business leaders worried about the project’s future. And it’s also a reprieve of sorts for Gov. Brian Kemp, whose economic legacy is intertwined with the project that Muñoz says will create up to 40,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region.
The politics surrounding the raid are still fraught. On Thursday, the Trump administration released more than 300 workers who had been detained in the raid. Some of them flew back to South Korea on a Boeing 747 that took off while members as Korean journalists watched.
Kirk’s legacy
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
For University of Georgia sophomore JT Marshburn, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was a larger-than-life presence in politics for as long as he could remember. His assassination, Marshburn said, left him shaken.
“We all saw a man we looked up to murdered in cold blood. Assassinated. Wiped out from the face of the earth by a gunman,” he said. “It was vile. But now we need to lower the temperature.”
Marshburn, who chairs the College Republican National Committee, received an unexpected call from a student leader with the College Democrats of America who wanted to talk about de-escalation.
A few hours later, the two groups issued a joint statement born from that conversation, pledging a renewed commitment to “civic engagement and respectful dialogue.”
“Political violence of any kind is absolutely unacceptable,” the groups wrote. “We must always remember that members of the opposing party are not our enemies, but our neighbors and our fellow Americans.”
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns took a similar cue with a resolution honoring Kirk’s legacy, but also calling to tone down the rhetoric.
“Charlie Kirk’s passing represents an ongoing need to combat and condemn political violence and hatred of any kind.”
Fed showdown
Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP
Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP
Federal regulators on Thursday confirmed what you probably already knew: prices are going up, and more people are out of work.
The consumer price index, the key measure of how much Americans are paying for goods, rose 2.9% in August compared to last year. Meanwhile, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits jumped by 27,000, reaching its highest level in four years.
The spotlight now shifts to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Open Market Committee meets next week to decide whether to cut the federal funds rate, the benchmark upon which many lenders set interest rates for business and consumer borrowers. The Fed usually responds to inflation spikes by either raising interest rates or keeping them flat. They typically cut interest rates when unemployment is rising.
President Donald Trump has been pushing the Fed to lower interest rates, a policy goal that has prompted his attempt to reshape the board of governors. Senate Republicans are racing to approve Trump’s recent appointment — Stephen Miran — by Monday so he can participate in the Fed’s two-day meeting that begins on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Georgia native Lisa Cook remains on the board after a federal judge ruled Trump could not fire her yet. The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Cook from the board before the meeting. But unless the court weighs in before Tuesday, Cook will keep her spot on the board.
Warnock endorsement
Credit: Charlotte Kramon/AP
Credit: Charlotte Kramon/AP
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is backing Democrat Debra Shigley in her bid to flip a Republican state Senate district later this month.
It’s not a surprise that Warnock, an Atlanta Democrat, would back the only Democrat in the race. But it’s a sign that Democrats believe they have a chance to pull off a shock victory in a low-turnout special election.
In a news release, Warnock hailed Shigley as “laser-focused on lowering everyday costs,” a nod to Democrats’ pivot to economic issues following President Donald Trump’s victory in 2024.
“Debra understands firsthand the challenges families and small businesses face in our state,” Warnock said.
The seat covering portions of Cherokee and Fulton counties opened up when former Republican state Sen. Brandon Beach resigned to take a job in the Trump administration.
Shigley won about 40% of the vote in the special election and will face Republican Jason Dickerson in a runoff on Sept. 23.
Heavy heart
Credit: Tierney L. Cross/New York Times
Credit: Tierney L. Cross/New York Times
It was a chance encounter with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich that led U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock to make a speech on the Senate floor Thursday decrying political violence and hate speech.
Warnock, a Democrat who is also the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, ran into the Georgia Republican at an event in Washington Wednesday night. As they discussed the news of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death, Warnock decided he needed to use his platform to encourage people to abandon harsh rhetoric.
Warnock spoke for about five minutes, citing Kirk’s death as just the latest example of a tragedy fueled by political divisions.
Listen up
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Today in Washington
- President Donald Trump’s trip to New York City continues.
- The House and Senate are done for the week.
Shoutout
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Transition:
- Gov. Brian Kemp appointed former state Sen. Butch Miller to the board of governors for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
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: TNS
Credit: TNS
Answers to this week’s quiz:
- C: Mary Trump. President Donald Trump’s niece who has emerged as a fierce critic of her famous uncle.
- B: Donald Leebern III, who is a key ally of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Ben Tarbutton III, another Kemp ally, endorsed U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ campaign for Senate.
- A: It reduces the number of appointees from the county on a local transit board. The commission responded in part by voting to cut county funding to the authority.
- C) Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Rome Republican voted against the bill after bipartisan majorities rejected her amendments to restrict funding to Ukraine and roll back other types of foreign aid.
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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