Prominent Georgia Democrat crosses aisle for Rick Jackson
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Residents seek medical monitoring after 2024’s BioLab fire.
- Keisha Lance Bottoms turns one of Rick Jackson’s own primary ads against him.
- Mark Kelly’s Georgia swing isn’t only about boosting Jon Ossoff.
Party crossover
Billy Linville is a veteran of Georgia Democratic politics and a longtime Atlanta mover-and-shaker who played a major role in helping defeat the Buckhead cityhood movement.
Now he’s crossing party lines to back a top GOP contender.
Linville is leading a new group launching today to steer Democrats and swing voters toward Republican Rick Jackson in the governor’s race against Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms.
The group, Democrats and Independents for Rick Jackson, is targeting the swing voters who have helped decide Georgia’s last four statewide elections.
They’re also increasingly central to U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s effort to peel support away from his GOP challenger, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins.
Consider Linville’s group an attempt to build a safe harbor for split-ticket voters in the governor’s race.
Linville, who said he remains a staunch Democrat, said he’s known Jackson for more than 10 years, and considers him a “good and decent man who will represent everyone.”
“I also know Keisha Lance Bottoms,” Linville said. “By any objective standard, she is the worst mayor in modern Atlanta history. She refused, or was unable, to lead and govern.”
The launch comes on the heels of endorsements for Jackson from two conservative Democrats: Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk and Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy.
“The Georgians joining us aren’t abandoning their values, they’re recognizing that a man who grew up in foster care and built a company employing thousands is uniquely positioned to bring this state together in a way a career politician simply cannot,” Jackson spokesperson Garrison Douglas said.
Linville isn’t yet ready to disclose more details about the coalition, which is coordinating with Jackson’s campaign. But he said to expect more announcements in the coming weeks.
“I plan to communicate, remind and inform Democrats and Independent voters that, in fact, Rick Jackson, is a better choice,” he told us. “I don’t agree with Rick on every policy position. But his life story and struggle are a window into his character.”
Things to know
Good morning! The midterms are in 76 days. You have 47 days left to register to vote. Here are three things to know for today:
- For some of Georgia’s Jewish voters, the U.S. Senate race offers a complex choice, writes Greg Bluestein.
- An Iranian woman in Georgia immigrant detention could soon be deported to the Central African Republican, a country unknown to her, Lautaro Grinspan reports.
- Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens told a constituent to “shut up” in an Instagram comment. Shaddi Abusaid reports it has prompted a debate about social media etiquette.
Taking a pass
Some people who live near the Bio-lab facility that burned two years ago and spewed toxic chemicals into the air don’t have major health problems yet. But their risk is a lot higher. They want the company to pay for “medical monitoring” — regular health checks to make sure doctors can catch any issues early.
The only trouble is no one seems to know if that is legal.
A federal judge asked the Georgia Supreme Court to weigh in. The justices held a hearing about it in April. Four months later, they decided they don’t know, either.
“We acknowledge that this is a surprisingly thorny issue,” Justice Charlie Bethel wrote for the court, adding that the relevant case law “is not exactly a beacon of clarity.”
“The appropriate form and scope of equitable relief must be determined as a matter of federal law,” Bethel wrote.
That’s not to say the Supreme Court can’t decide the issue. Bethel noted if a federal court decided the people who brought the lawsuit are entitled to some relief, then they could “potentially” decide the case.
But for now, the ball is in the federal court.
All a game?
Bottoms’ latest broadside turns one of Jackson’s own primary ads against him.
The 30-second spot released this morning casts Jackson as using his fortune to build political influence. Then it flashes to footage from one of Jackson’s ads in which the Republican says directly to camera: “I’ll send them all a ton of cash. Politicians, good and bad.”
Jackson was arguing that he had donated broadly to politicians who delivered bupkis for him until President Donald Trump came along. But Bottoms weaponized it.
She linked those contributions to one of the Democrat’s favorite lines of attack.
“That’s paid off in nearly a billion in taxpayer funded no-bid contracts for Jackson,” the narrator says. “Now he’s running for governor to protect that rigged system.”
It’s a reference to the contracts Jackson’s company secured during the coronavirus pandemic, which Jackson has defended as critical to keeping Georgia hospitals staffed during the COVID crisis.
Campaign watch
Mark Kelly’s Georgia swing isn’t only about boosting Ossoff. The potential 2028 presidential candidate is also lending his profile to Democrats farther down the ballot.
He’ll stop today at Laundry Lounge in Sandy Springs with state Sen. Josh McLaurin, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, and state Rep. Tanya Miller, the party’s nominee for attorney general.
The location is no accident. Laundry Lounge is in McLaurin’s state Senate district, once reliable Republican territory that now illustrates the leftward shift of Atlanta’s suburbs.
Also scheduled to attend:
- Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Gifforts (Kelly’s wife.)
- Sandy Springs Councilmember Melody Kelley.
- Laundry Lounge owner Sherwin Clemons.
Kelly joined Ossoff Tuesday in Columbus, where both invoked the Arizona Democrat’s clash with Trump to sharpen his case against Collins.
Ossoff called Trump a “draft-dodging crook president who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he does not know how to end or to win (and) tried to imprison this man who embodies American heroism.”
Then came the pivot to Collins: “We will teach Mike Collins a lesson he’ll never forget.”
Meanwhile, Collins blasted his “punk move” for insulting Trump aide Natalie Harp during his Sunday rally.
“We can see that she’s doing her job,” Collins said. “But Jon Ossoff can’t seem to do his. He resorts to these baseless personal attacks because he doesn’t have a record to run on.”
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast Tia Mitchell and Ernie Suggs recap the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta last week, including an appearance by Bottoms and the group’s decision to give a thumbs-down to ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith.
You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube 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.
ICE oversight
U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, and Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, visited an immigration detention facility in Lumpkin on Tuesday as part of a delegation of House Democrats.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state lawmaker who is the top-ranking Democrat on the House Immigration Subcommittee, said they picked the Stewart Detention Center for an inspection because of the horror stories they’ve heard.
“This facility is one of the largest and one of the worst in the country in terms of reports of unhygienic conditions, in terms of medical reports, in terms of the number of complaints that we’ve gotten,” Jayapal said.
The group spent more than three hours inside, touring the living areas and immigration court room and speaking with three detainees. Williams said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel would not answer questions about how the facility is operated or the migrants housed there, but the lawmakers won’t stop asking.
“I‘m going to continue to do this work because everyone in this country, regardless of where you’re born, regardless of your documentation, should be treated with dignity and respect,” she said.
Today in Washington
- Trump will meet at the White House with the leaders of cryptocurrency and other technology companies.
- The House and Senate are in recess.
In memory
Charles Walker, the first Black majority leader of Georgia’s Senate, died Tuesday, the Augusta Press reported.
Walker, 78, was a wealthy Augusta businessman who served four terms in the state House before being elected to the Senate in 1990. He became majority leader in 1996, and earned the nickname “The Hammer.”
Walker lost his seat to a Republican in 2002 as the GOP took power across the state. Two years later, he won back his place in the Senate but also faced a federal indictment that resulted in him being convicted on mail fraud and other charges.
After serving about eight years in prison, he never returned to politics publicly. Instead, he wrote a book about his life and political philosophies and continued to engage privately with movers and shakers in Augusta, according to an AJC article from 2017.
Shoutouts
Today’s birthdays:
- State Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, the Republican nominee for secretary of state.
- Former state Sen. Mike Dugan.
Happy anniversary:
- Larry and Diane Bettenhausen, faithful readers of this newsletter who were married 54 years ago today.
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
Trump will appoint Dr. Heidi Overton as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. There had been speculation the job could have gone to U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, who did not seek reelection because he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate.
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.