Today’s newsletter highlights:
- U.S. Supreme Court considers a key tool of the Voting Rights Act.
- Herschel Walker, Bill White receive Buckhead send-off.
- Georgia parents lose fight over Atlanta Public Schools’ boundary.
Trump takes time
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
President Donald Trump is in no hurry to weigh in on Georgia’s Republican contenders in the closely watched U.S. Senate race.
That much was clear at the tail end of a White House news conference Wednesday when Bloomberg’s Mica Soellner asked him whether he’s wading into the three-way GOP race to take on incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
“A lot of good people in that field. I know all of them, actually. I haven’t made a decision on that, but you have some very good people in that Georgia Senate race,” Trump said.
U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, along with former football coach Derek Dooley, are all vying for Trump’s endorsement — and for the upper hand in what’s quickly becoming one of the nation’s most competitive GOP primaries.
Trump acknowledged that Gov. Brian Kemp has personally lobbied him to back Dooley, Kemp’s preferred pick.
“He’s spoken to me about that a lot. He likes that candidate a lot. I understand that. I haven’t made a decision yet,” Trump said. ”But I’m following that race very carefully. I think it’s very important for Georgia to get a real senator, because the senator they have now is a horrible senator.”
Things to know
Credit: Anna Rose Layden/The New York Times
Credit: Anna Rose Layden/The New York Times
Good morning! It’s day 16 of the federal government shutdown. A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from firing workers during the impasse. The decision comes after about 600 people lost their jobs at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the weekend.
Here are three things to know for today:
- The New Georgia Project is shutting down this week, marking a stunning fall for an organization that pushed to advance Democratic causes for more than a decade, Greg Bluestein reports.
- The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday created a path for people to sue cosmetic companies over their chemical hair relaxers. But the path is narrow, making success difficult, the AJC’s Rosie Manins reports.
- Georgia has given Dublin City Schools a $1.45 million cash advance to cover its employee salaries and benefits. State School Superintendent Richard Woods called it “an absolutely unprecedented request,” the AJC’s Cassidy Alexander reports.
Redistricting window
Credit: Cliff Owen/AP
Credit: Cliff Owen/AP
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday indicated it might strike down a majority Black congressional district in Louisiana. If it does, it would open the door for Republicans to redraw Georgia’s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The court is weighing a challenge to Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which bans racial discrimination in voting. Striking it down would clear the way for state legislatures to eliminate majority Black and Latino districts that Democrats usually win.
A report from the voting rights groups Black Voters Matter and Fair Fight Action — the latter group founded by former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams — says 19 Congressional districts could be at risk, including two in Georgia. The report doesn’t say what districts would be at risk, instead noting Republican lawmakers could conceivably eliminate two “minority opportunity” districts.
The timeline would be tight to do so before the 2026 midterms. The court’s decision isn’t likely to come until next year. Georgia’s legislative session ends in early April.
Asked if Georgia’s Republican majority would attempt to redraw the state’s congressional lines, Kayla Green, spokesperson for Georgia Republican House Speaker Jon Burns, said any comment prior to the court’s ruling “would be premature and speculative.”
“The House deals with the facts, not hypotheticals,” she said.
Belgium bound
Credit: Screenshot
Credit: Screenshot
Fresh off of his confirmation as the new U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Bill White and his husband Bryan Eure got a Buckhead send-off at Bones Steakhouse on Wednesday, deep in the heart of the neighborhood that White had once tried to split from the city of Atlanta.
Along with the friends and family you’d expect, White also invited several you might not. That included Kenyatta Mitchell, who was a top aide to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens at the height of the Buckhead cityhood effort. And Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts, another official who, like Dickens, vocally fought the move to split the city.
All of that seemed to be in the past during the event, as White praised Dickens as “a good mayor and a good man.” He noted that Pitts introduced the original Atlanta City Council resolution declaring Atlanta and Brussels to be sister cities.
Although White left Atlanta in 2023, he said he plans to use part of his time in Brussels strengthening ties between the two cities and encouraging Belgian investment in Georgia. He also reminded the crowd he still owns property in Rabun County.
“I’ll be back,” he laughed.
Also at the event were fellow honoree Herschel Walker, U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas; GOP Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson; state Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, a candidate for lieutenant governor; Republican money man Donald Leeburn III, Belgian Consul General Katherine Raeymaekers and lobbyist John Garst.
Walker’s next act
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Wednesday night’s Buckhead send-off was also a going away party for Georgia’s other newest diplomat, Herschel Walker, who was confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas last week.
Walker did not mention his 2022 Senate run in his remarks, but did explain that his path to becoming an ambassador began earlier this year after an interview with Fox News about his decision to return to the University of Georgia at 63 to complete his college degree.
“They asked me what I would do next, and I joked, ‘Well, I think I need to go out and get a job,’” Walker said. “The president must have been watching because he called about an hour later and said, ‘Herschel, I’ve got a job for you.’”
Walker has ties to the island nation. His wife’s parents had owned a home there for decades and his mother-in-law still lives there. His portfolio will include overseeing U.S. drug interdiction efforts in the area, along with developing trade and tourism.
Off target
Credit: AJC file photo
Credit: AJC file photo
When Luke Pilato and Ashley McCullough tried to enroll their daughter in an Atlanta Public School, the district told them a state law wouldn’t allow it.
The parents sued the state to overturn that law. But on Wednesday, they learned their lawsuit was misplaced. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled they should have sued the school district instead instead of the state.
“The decision of (Atlanta Public Schools), not any enforcement action of the State, resulted in the alleged infringement of rights about which they complain,” Justice Verda Colvin wrote for the court.
The ruling leaves in place Senate Bill 209, which lawmakers passed in 2021 amid what lawyers have described as “an ongoing legal war” between Atlanta and DeKalb County. The county’s lawyer accused the city of trying “to cannibalize the public-school funding of its neighbor” by annexing properties in unincorporated DeKalb County.
Senate Bill 209 says if Atlanta annexes a property in DeKalb County, it does not automatically extend the boundaries of Atlanta Public Schools. The city of Atlanta and Atlanta Public Schools have been separate entities since 1973.
Listen up
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast you’ll hear from workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the turmoil at the Atlanta-based agency. Then Yolanda Jacobs, a union leader representing CDC workers, joins the show to talk about how politics are threatening morale.
You can listen and subscribe to Politically Georgia for free an 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.
Tax questions
Credit: Adam Beam/AJC
Credit: Adam Beam/AJC
For more than 100 years, local governments have skirted constitutional limits on some taxes because the state Supreme Court said they could call them “fees.”
Now, Georgia’s new chief justice is wondering if the court got it wrong.
Chief Justice Nels S.D. Peterson, who took over the court’s top job in April, noted the court has long justified these fees because local governments have the power to tax. But at the same time, the court has exempted those fees from constitutional restrictions on taxes.
“I have no idea how to reconcile our historic precedent with itself, much less with the constitutional text it purported to interpret and apply,” Peterson wrote.
But even if the court got it wrong, Peterson said “it may be too late to change course now.” He noted the court’s precedent has been in place since 1884. He cited the legal doctrine of stare decisis, which says courts should follow precedent when making decisions.
It’s why Peterson on Tuesday voted to uphold a stormwater fee in Athens-Clarke County. But he noted that, even if the fee were to be ruled a tax, there could be ways to construct it so that it is legal.
Today in Washington
- President Donald Trump will receive an intelligence briefing and make an announcement from the White House.
- The House is out this week.
- The Senate will take a procedural vote on a defense spending bill and vote again on the government funding bill passed by the House.
Shoutouts
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Today’s birthday:
- State Rep. Carmen Rice, R-Columbus.
Belated birthday:
- Ines Owens, a top legislative and communications staffer to Lt. Gov, Burt Jones (was Wednesday).
Transitions:
- Cindy Owens Morley is now special adviser to Georgia Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon. Morley is chair of the Douglas County Republican Party.
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: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
The DeKalb County Board of Education accepted the resignation of Superintendent Devon Horton on Wednesday. Last week, he was indicted on charges of accepting thousands of dollars in kickbacks during his previous job in Illinois.
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.
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