Candidates jockey for Trump’s blessing in GOP governor’s race
Today’s newsletter highlights
- Test your knowledge with our weekly news quiz.
- An audit finds hand-marked ballots drove most discrepancies in the May primaries.
- Brian Kemp appoints Paige Reese Whitaker to an open seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals.
MAGA mantle
President Donald Trump never held a major rally for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the closing days of Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial runoff. But on Thursday, he offered a reminder of where he stands.
The president headlined a tele-rally last night for the lieutenant governor, praising Jones as a “fanatic when it came to election fraud” and urging supporters to turn out for the Tuesday runoff.
“It’s very important you get out and vote for Burt,” Trump said. “He’s been with me from the very beginning.”
The virtual event had all the familiar MAGA trappings. It opened with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” the unofficial anthem of Trump’s movement, before Jones introduced the president.
The president also revived his familiar, but disproven, claims about election fraud in Georgia, praising Jones for his help following the 2020 elections.
“He was a fanatic when it came to election fraud,” Trump said of the lieutenant governor. “He believed it and he knows that we’ve been proven right.”
Jones wasn’t the only candidate invoking Trump’s name Thursday ahead of the runoff.
An hour earlier, rival Rick Jackson was courting conservative activists at a campaign stop in Woodstock, where he cast himself as an outsider who can bring Trump-style business acumen to the governor’s office.
“I’ll do the same thing, like President Trump. I’m just going to have a southern tone,” Jackson said. “Mark my words, I’ll be his favorite governor.”
For all the money, strategy and insider maneuvering shaping this race, the final days also surface a simpler question: Which candidate can most convincingly claim the MAGA mantle?
Friday news quiz
Good morning! How closely did you follow the news this week? Find out by taking our quiz. You’ll find the answers at the end of the newsletter.
Audio recorded during a recent campaign stop raised questions about Republican Rick Jackson’s position on what issue?
- A) Exceptions to Georgia’s abortion ban
- B) Data centers
- C) Income taxes
- D) Climate change
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson asked to meet with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock this week. What did he want to discuss?
- A) Legislation that would change the name of Fort Benning, a U.S. Army base originally named after a Confederate general
- B) Warnock’s comments that House Republicans’ prayer before voting to cut Medicaid was “more performative rather than substantive”
- C) A Republican-backed bill that would spend $70 billion supporting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions
- D) Coordinating outfits for national seersucker day
Georgia has 159 counties. Which county was the only one where Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones finished in a tie during last month’s primary?
- A) Habersham
- B) Hall
- C) Hancock
- D) Haralson
State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Tuesday’s runoff, is suing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Why?
- A) He wants Raffensperger to allow observers into his office’s election night reporting center.
- B) He wants the Secretary of State’s office to institute a new paper-ballot voting system.
- C) He says Raffensperger is ignoring a court order to disclose more information from the state’s voter list.
- D) He is challenging a state regulation giving voters more time to turn in absentee ballots.
Judicial void?
In last month’s primary elections, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker was one of two judges ousted by prosecutors in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office.
Last night, she landed a promotion: Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her to an open seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Now comes the scramble to determine what happens to the Superior Court seat won by prosecutor Nikia Smith Sellers, who defeated Whitaker in May and is set to take office Jan. 1.
Under the Georgia Constitution, judicial vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment, and appointees serve until a successor is selected and qualified after the next general election more than six months after their appointment.
Some legal experts worry that could allow Kemp to appoint Whitaker’s replacement and leave Sellers’ victory in limbo until 2028.
Kemp’s office didn’t immediately comment.
Paper problems
A ballot image audit of all 2,081,900 votes cast in last month’s primary found 159 discrepancies, meaning 99.9924% of votes were correctly counted.
But a closer look at the numbers shows most of the issues were with the few ballots that were marked by hand. Only 43,833 ballots were marked by hand — just over 2% of all ballots cast. Yet hand-marked ballots accounted for 143 of incorrectly counted votes, or nearly 90% of all discrepancies.
Raffensperger, a Republican who finished third in last month’s primary for governor, called the findings “significant” because it shows the state’s touchscreen voting system and the machines that count those ballots are “fundamentally more accurate and more secure than relying on hand-marked, hand-counted ballots.”
The audit, and Raffensperger’s comments, come as lawmakers prepare to convene a special session next week, in part, to address how Georgia counts votes. Some Republican state senators have pushed to ditch QR-code vote tallying and the state’s touchscreen voting system and replace it with hand-marked ballots.
Lawmakers could also opt to keep the current system and continue using QR codes by extending a deadline to change how it counts votes.
Carr PAC spending
Attorney General Chris Carr isn’t just endorsing Jackson and forcefully backing his campaign for governor. The outside group that boosted Carr’s own bid is now financing a string of ads promoting Jackson.
Keep Georgia Strong Action spent roughly $2 million this campaign cycle backing Carr’s candidacy. Lately, it has also placed at least $900,000 in fresh ads supporting Jackson.
A spokesman for the group didn’t immediately comment on who was funding the new ad buy. The latest spots promote Carr’s endorsement of Jackson while battering Jones.
Buddy for Burt
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter has noticeably stayed out of the U.S. Senate runoff since he was eliminated in the May primary, having not endorsed either U.S. Rep. Mike Collins or former football coach Derek Dooley.
But Carter waded into the GOP governor’s race runoff Thursday to endorse Jones, whom he called “the real deal.”
“Georgians can’t be bought. That’s why we need Burt Jones as governor of the state of Georgia,” he said.
Carter finished with 25% of the vote in the Senate contest, with much of that support concentrated in his Southeast Georgia congressional district. His support could be a helpful last-minute boost for Jones as he and Jackson come down to what looks like a neck-and-neck race. So far, it looks like Carter’s Senate rivals won’t be so lucky.
Listen up
There is no “Politically Georgia” podcast today. We’ll be back on Monday.
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Base renaming
A bill moving through the U.S. House would change the names of two Georgia military bases that were originally named after Confederates. But a version moving through the U.S. Senate would leave those names alone.
The Senate’s version, which cleared a committee Thursday, would rename three bases in Virginia named for Confederates. The House version would change Fort Benning near Columbus back to Fort Moore. Fort Gordon near Augusta would be changed to Fort Shughart-Gordon.
Both versions agree to codify Trump’s renaming of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Lawmakers aren’t expected to finish work on the legislation, which would amend the National Defense Authorization Act, until the end of the year. That leaves plenty of times for more amendments.
Today in Washington
- Trump has no public events on his schedule ahead as he begins his birthday weekend.
- The House is out until June 23.
- The Senate returns on Monday.
FISA lapse
A vote in the U.S. House to temporarily extend a foreign surveillance program failed Thursday after 19 Republicans joined with all but seven Democrats to oppose the measure.
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, was among the conservatives who cited privacy concerns as the reason they opposed reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
“Congress needs to fix FISA, not kick the can down the road,” he wrote on X. “Get a warrant. Uphold the Fourth Amendment. End the surveillance state.”
Key provisions of FISA will likely lapse later today. Lawmakers left town Thursday. Because the House is out all next week, any attempts to reauthorize the program won’t happen until June 23 at the earliest.
A measure providing long-term reauthorizations does not have enough support from Republicans to pass without the support of Democrats. And few Democrats were willing to vote for the bill once Trump announced an ally with no relevant experience, Bill Pulte, would serve as the acting director of national intelligence.
Shoutouts
Today’s birthdays:
- State Rep. Clint Crowe, R-Jackson
- State Rep. Reynaldo “Rey” Martinez, R-Loganville
Upcoming birthdays:
- State Rep. Ruwa Romman, D-Duluth (Sunday)
- President Donald Trump (Sunday)
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
Before you go
Answers to this week’s news quiz
- A) Exceptions to Georgia’s abortion ban. A recording of Jackson interacting with a voter indicated he was willing to consider banning abortion in cases of rape. Jackson’s campaign noted he supports a rape exception in Georgia’s abortion law.
- B) Warnock’s comments about Republicans’ religion being “more performative.” Warnock said the two men agreed to disagree.
- A) Habersham. Jackson and Jones each received 2,640 votes in the county in last month’s primary.
- A) He wants Raffensperger to allow observers to watch election night reporting. Specifically, he wants members of the State Election Board to be in the room.
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.
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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