Georgia’s Top 10 political stories of 2025
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Georgia’s custody law complicates a father’s legal rights.
- Election security advocates sue to get rid of Georgia’s touchscreen voting system.
- Buddy Carter listed among Congress’ top talkers.
Looking back
Although this is our last newsletter of the year, we can’t close things out without ranking our top political stories of 2025. We’re counting down to what we believe is Georgia’s biggest political story this year. Disagree? Let us know.
Writing and editing this newsletter is a lot of work. We joke in the newsroom that “the newsletter is always hungry.” But publishing it is a joy because of you. Thank you for every email, subscription and share on social media. Let’s do it again next year.
Our list:
10. Jimmy Carter’s funeral. In life, Jimmy Carter pushed for peace across the globe. So it was fitting that his final act would be to bring together Democrats and Republicans for a solemn show of unity during his funeral in January. The good feelings wouldn’t last. But it was nice to see what the country was capable of.
9. Litigation overhaul. Georgia’s corporate titans have complained for years about juries going nuclear on them by awarding damages in the billions of dollars. Gov. Brian Kemp responded by pushing through legislation aimed at limiting those large verdicts. It took every ounce of political capital he had. The bill passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives by a single vote. Republican state Rep. Vance Smith lost his job as CEO of the Harris County Chamber of Commerce after voting against it.
8. New Georgia Project’s demise. The New Georgia Project briefly helped turn Georgia blue with its vast voter registration and outreach campaigns. But the group founded by Stacey Abrams folded in 2025 shortly after being assessed a $300,000 fine for illegally backing her unsuccessful 2018 campaign for governor. It was the largest fine ever assessed for violating state campaign finance laws. Both Abrams and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who was chair of the group in 2018, have distanced themselves from the organization. Abrams left the group in 2017 before her run for governor. Warnock said his role with the group did not include compliance decisions.
7. First Liberty Ponzi scheme. Brant Frost IV promised politically conservative investors a safe place to put their money. But federal regulators have accused Frost IV of operating a $140 million Ponzi scheme, costing investors millions of dollars. We’re still measuring the political fallout, as the AJC identified more than $1.4 million in political contributions from Frost IV and his family.
6. Government turmoil. Arguably the most impactful person in the first few months of the second Trump administration wasn’t the president, but Elon Musk. The billionaire owner of Tesla upended the federal government with his Department of Government Efficiency initiative. Atlanta’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was among the hardest hit, losing hundreds of employees and seeing top leaders resign in protest. Congress followed that up by shutting down the government for a record 43 days starting in October. The shutdown wreaked havoc at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, the busiest in the world, and left people who rely on federal food benefits in the lurch.
5. Democrats’ revival. Georgia Democrats began the year with a leadership fight as U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff pushed to oust U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams as the party’s chair. It ended with Democrats ousting two Republicans from the Public Service Commission and flipping a Republican state House seat near Athens. Now, new Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey says it’s his party that has the momentum heading into the 2026 midterms.
4. Republican infighting. Everyone agreed Gov. Brian Kemp would have been the strongest Republican candidate to take on U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026. So it left the party reeling when Kemp decided he wouldn’t run. Kemp threw his weight behind former football coach Derek Dooley, hoping Republicans would unite behind his choice. But President Donald Trump has stayed out of the race so far, and Kemp’s absence has opened the door for a contentious three-way primary with U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins. The AJC poll shows Collins has an early advantage.
3. Political violence. Two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed outside of the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington. The speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and her husband were fatally gunned down at their home. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah. A man tried to burn down the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion when Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were inside. And in Atlanta, a gunman fired 500 times at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing a police officer. The attack might have been driven by a mistrust of vaccines.
2. Hyundai plant raid. President Donald Trump spent much of the year bending the federal government to his will. But an immigration raid on Georgia’s new Hyundai plant showed the limits of his power. Immigration agents detained and deported some 300 South Korean nationals in a major embarrassment for the state. Trump backed off big time, calling the raid “stupid.” Hyundai’s CEO even said the White House called to apologize.
1. MTG’s MAGA divorce. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s political career began with her declaring she would be Democrats’ worst nightmare. It ended in 2025 with President Donald Trump labeling her a “traitor” and Greene announcing her resignation from Congress on Jan. 5. The stunning turnaround shows Trump still has plenty of power among Republicans. But Greene’s pushback inspired fellow Republicans to buck Trump on the Epstein files and health insurance subsidies in what could be early signs of a lame duck presidency.
Things to know
Good morning! Remember, this is the last newsletter of the year. We’ll be back on Jan. 5. Here are three other things to know for today:
- Mairo Akpose, the interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast has resigned, the AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu reports.
- A Georgia Lottery player won $1 million in a drawing this week, the AJC’s David Aaro reports. But the Powerball jackpot remains elusive, now at an estimated 1.7 billion before taxes.
- Steve Selig, who spent four years as President Jimmy Carter’s liaison to the business community, reflects on his career in an interview with the AJC’s Zachary Hansen.
Custody rights
Adriana Smith made international headlines earlier this year when her body was kept alive until her child could be born. But a quirk in Georgia law later required the child’s father, Adrian Harden, to file a lawsuit against his dead girlfriend for custody of his son, the AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu reports.
Georgia law does not automatically grant parental rights to the father of a child if the parents are not married. That means fathers must go through a legal process known as legitimation to secure those rights.
A judge granted Harden full custody earlier this month. Now, he is calling on state lawmakers to change the rules to make it easier for fathers who aren’t married to their child’s mother to have parental rights.
A special state House study committee has been examining the issue this year.
“While he’s worrying about the uncertain future of his medically fragile baby, Mr. Harden is confronted with the fact that legally, he could potentially not be able to take his baby home,” Harden’s attorney Melaniece Davis said during a news conference earlier this week. “Under no circumstance should a grieving father have to sue the deceased mother of his child for basic parental rights.”
Smith was on life support from February until June, a few days after the baby was delivered by an emergency cesarean section. He was born at about 1.7 pounds and remains in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, initially said officials at Emory Healthcare told her Georgia’s abortion law required Smith to remain on life support because she was pregnant. Newkirk later clarified the family chose to keep Smith on life support until the baby was born.
Election lawsuit
Election security advocates and Republican Party officials have filed another lawsuit seeking to end the use of Dominion Voting Systems software in Georgia, the AJC’s David Wickert reports.
This week the group VoterGA and the Republican parties of Chatham and DeKalb counties asked the U.S. District Court in Savannah to invalidate the federal certification of the software used in Georgia’s touchscreen voting system. The lawsuit says the software is not secure and “nullifies the fundamental right to vote by enabling malicious actors to alter election results without detection.” The lawsuit names the federal Election Assistance Commission, which certifies voting systems, as the defendant.
Georgia’s Dominion Voting Systems machines have come under intense scrutiny in recent years. But efforts to scrap the system through lawsuits have so far failed.
Election security experts have identified vulnerabilities that could allow someone to access the Dominion voting machines and tamper with results. State officials say security procedures make such tampering extremely difficult in practice.
There is no evidence that Dominion machines have ever been hacked during an election.
Listen up
There is no “Politically Georgia” podcast today or the rest of the week. We’ll be back on Monday. This newsletter won’t return until Jan. 5.
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.
Today in Washington
- President Donald Trump will participate in Christmas calls to children and service members from his Florida home.
- The House and Senate are on holiday break until Jan. 5.
Shoutouts
Upcoming birthdays:
- Former state Sen. Gloria Butler (Thursday).
- State Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta (Saturday).
- Kamau Marshall, CEO and founding principal of Think Toplines consulting firm (Saturday).
- State Rep. Segun Adeyina, D-Grayson (Sunday).
- Former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Boggs (Sunday).
- State Rep. Debra Bazemore, D-South Fulton (Tuesday).
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
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is once again among the most talkative House members, delivering floor speeches on 73 days, according to C-SPAN. That lands him at No. 7 on the list of the most talkative members this year.
That’ll do it for us today. But we can’t go before wishing you a Happy New Year. And 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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