Democrats push economic message ahead of 14th District runoff
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Gov. Kemp’s biggest post‑session question: whether to call lawmakers back.
- Brad Raffensperger pitches himself as a calmer alternative in the governor’s race.
- A new snag hits negotiations to end the partial government shutdown.
Economic push
With gas prices, inflation and jobs at the top of voters’ minds, Democrats are hoping an economic message will help Shawn Harris win Tuesday’s 14th District special election runoff to fill the unexpired term of former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Harris finished in first place with 37% of the vote in last month’s special election, which was crowded with a multitude of Republican candidates competing against one another. Clay Fuller, the Republican with President Donald Trump’s endorsement, dispatched his Republican opponents but came in second and now will face off against Harris in the heavily Republican district.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock campaigned with Harris last week to hear from business owners like LaToya and Deon Edwards at Tips and Clippers Nails and Barber Bar in Hiram. They told the politicians skyrocketing costs for supplies and energy are making it harder for small-business owners like them to make ends meet.
“Right now, we’re trying to keep it to where we don’t pass it on to the customer,” LaToya Edwards said. “So I have to pay it out of my pocket. Not the business’ pocket. I just pay it out of my pocket.”
She said she wants Congress to do more to push back against the president’s economic policies, like tariffs.
“They need to stand up. They need to take more control over what’s going on,” she said.
Her husband, an Air Force veteran, said Harris’ background as a retired Army Brigadier General appeals to him as the war in Iran rages. “As a general, you’ve got your own mind, you’ve got your own thoughts, and you bring your own abilities to the table. That’s what I want.”
Fuller, who is also a veteran, spent the week crisscrossing the district to get out the vote, including in Dade, Whitfield, Floyd and Paulding counties. He has focused his pro-Trump economic message on the tax cuts passed in Republicans’ “Big, Beautiful Bill” and on a push to add more manufacturing jobs in northwest Georgia.
Things to know
Good morning. Here are three things to know for today:
- As the dust settles on the flurry of bills that passed in the final hours of the 2026 legislative session, the high-profile effort to protect Georgians from the cost and consequences of data centers failed, the AJC’s Drew Kann and Kristi E. Swartz report.
- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a lobbyist whose private banking records were subpoenaed by the city of Atlanta’s former government watchdog, the AJC’s Shaddi Abusaid reports.
- The Georgia Legislature concluded its regular session Thursday without approving a proposed overhaul of the state’s voting system or a delay in a self-imposed deadline, leaving how the state will handle midterm elections in limbo, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.
Not so fast
A failure to pass an elections overhaul isn’t the only reason Gov. Brian Kemp could be forced to summon lawmakers back to Atlanta for a special legislative session later this year.
Democrats are warning that legislators may have to start over on a property tax measure approved in the final hours of Thursday’s session.
In a letter sent to the governor this morning, Democratic state Rep. Scott Holcomb argued that Senate Bill 33 is unconstitutional because it originated in the state Senate. Georgia’s Constitution requires revenue-raising bills to start in the House.
“It is so obvious as not to be a close call,” Holcomb wrote.
Kemp’s office has not yet tipped its hand.
“The Governor’s office will begin a thorough bill and budget review process on Monday,” Kemp spokesman Carter Chapman said, “and will analyze all the bills that passed the General Assembly, as well as the consequences of those that did not pass.”
Raff’s path
While Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and health care executive Rick Jackson have been pummeling each other on the airwaves, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is betting the slugfest gives him an opening in the GOP race for governor.
That’s the core message of a new campaign memo from the secretary of state’s team, which argues the increasingly expensive feud between the two could help Raffensperger slip into a runoff.
The memo casts the Jones-Jackson clash as a “high-dollar food fight,” noting both have spent more than $40 million on the airwaves.
The campaign’s theory, outlined by Raffensperger’s longtime deputy Jordan Fuchs, is that the barrage of negative ads leaves a sizable bloc of GOP voters looking for an alternative.
Raffensperger’s team is now launching its own multimillion-dollar paid push, funded largely through a personal loan, starting with digital and direct mail and building toward a TV blitz this month.
The strategy is to let Jones and Jackson continue to bloody each other while Raffensperger quietly appeals to undecided voters focused on taxes, school safety and economic issues.
“If anyone believes they already know how this race will end,” Fuchs writes, “they haven’t been paying attention to Georgia politics over the last two decades.”
Whoops
Well, it was a nice thought.
Nathalie Kanani, a Democratic candidate for a Sandy Springs-based Senate seat, published an ad in the Atlanta Jewish Times wishing readers a “blessed Passover.”
There was just one problem: The ad featured a picture of challah, the braided loaf traditionally eaten on Shabbat — and exactly the kind of leavened bread observant Jews avoid during Passover.
The mix-up quickly made the rounds online and prompted an apology from Kanani, who called it an honest mistake.
“My intent was to honor our Jewish neighbors and friends,” she said. “We are all human, and even with the best intentions, honest mistakes can happen.”
Kanani faces fellow Democrats Kevin Abel and Kay Howell in the May 19 primary to succeed state Sen. Josh McLaurin, who is running for lieutenant governor.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast, we’re wrapping up Georgia’s 2026 legislative session after a chaotic final night under the Gold Dome. Then, how the unresolved fight over voting systems could trigger a special session, and why tensions, unfinished business and internal divisions could spill into campaign season.
You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on 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.
Partial shutdown continues
Congress is midway through its recess, and there are no signs the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security will end this week.
Some of the pressure is off. Trump used his executive powers to move money around and pay DHS workers, including airport security screeners, the Coast Guard and employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. So in many ways, this is now a shutdown in name only.
The larger question is how does Congress get out of this?
The Senate last week unanimously agreed to push forward with part one: funding all of the Department of Homeland Security except for agencies tied to immigration enforcement. Republicans alone will be responsible for part two: using a special budget process called reconciliation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agencies for three years.
Some House budget hawks, including Georgia U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, are insisting this reconciliation bill should go first. And they say they are willing to put the rest of DHS on hold, even if it means extending the shutdown for weeks, if not months.
“CBP and ICE would have to be funded first before the others are funded to ensure that they don’t get hung out to dry,” Clyde, R-Athens, told us last week. “We’re not ever going to hang our law enforcement out to dry.”
Today in Washington
- Trump will host the annual White House Easter Egg Roll and later will meet with Jewish leaders to deliver a Passover greeting.
- The House and Senate are out this week.
Shoutouts
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Before you go
Buzz is growing in Georgia about plug-in solar as a cheap solution for homeowners and renters to harness the sun and shrink their energy costs.
That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider information to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
Correction
This newsletter has been updated to correct LaToya Edwards' last name.
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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