What Georgia Republicans’ Tillman Rally revealed ahead of November
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Mike Collins meets with Spanish-speaking voters.
- Donald Trump is trying again to fire Lisa Cook.
- The DOJ has appealed a ruling blocking the release of Fulton election workers’ identities, personal information.
Grassroots gut check
The annual Tillman Rally has come a long way from the sweltering airport hangar where hundreds of Republican activists once crowded in with hand fans and ice-cold lemonade.
After more recent stops at the local fairgrounds, Saturday’s gathering moved to Taylor Estate, a lakeside venue more accustomed to weddings than political rallies.
The scenery has changed, but the rally remains a marquee stop on the GOP calendar and a useful barometer of the party’s grassroots mood. Here are a few takeaways:
Unity, sort of. U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins enters the fall campaign in a tougher position than GOP nominee for governor Rick Jackson. Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff leads Collins in every major poll, while the race between Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms is tighter.
Until Saturday, Collins and Jackson had kept their distance on the campaign trail, a contrast with Bottoms and Ossoff, who have campaigned together as something close to a Democratic ticket. Democrats even challenged Jackson last week to refuse to campaign with Collins.
So much for that. Collins and Jackson posed side-by-side for photos at the event. Don’t expect them to form the same tag-team partnership as Bottoms and Ossoff. But the Tillman Rally made clear they aren’t steering clear of each other, either.
Red meat. The applause meter offered its own snapshot of the GOP base. Some of the biggest ovations came for calls to ban Sharia law, end birthright citizenship, pass the SAVE Act in Congress, cut property taxes and impose the death penalty on convicted child molesters, a proposal promoted by U.S. Rep. Clay Fuller.
Compassionate conservatism. That made Jackson’s closing message stand out. Rather than finish with another ideological broadside, he invoked his Christian faith and a pledge to focus on vulnerable Georgians.
“I told my staff that I didn’t think that God sent Jesus here to save Republicans or Democrats. He came to serve everybody, and that’s who I’m going to serve. My goal as governor is to be the No. 1 governor to take care of the least of these.”
It drew a standing ovation.
Enthusiasm gap? One of the prevailing themes was anxiety about Republican energy heading into November. Candidates and activists wrestled with the prospect that the GOP may need to shore up not only swing voters but its own base.
Fuller dismissed those concerns, predicting partisans would become more energized as the stakes became clearer.
“We are in an asymmetric war against communism,” he said, adding: “The Democrat Party is dead, and Communists are wearing the Democrat Party as a skin.”
State Sen. Greg Dolezal, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, offered a different diagnosis. He warned that Republicans risk depressing their own voters if they don’t lean into MAGA issues.
“Guys, I’ll give you the raw truth: Republicans bear some culpability in this because for far too long, Republicans have campaigned like Donald Trump and then governed like Mitt Romney.”
Democratic counterpoint. Shawn Harris, the Democrat challenging Fuller in the deep-red district, used the gathering to highlight his own case against Jackson:
“He’s made money off the backs of Georgia taxpayers, and now he thinks he can just swoop in and buy our vote. And while Rick Jackson pledges that he’s running to be Donald Trump’s favorite governor, I’ve never heard him say that he wanted to be Georgia’s favorite. We need a governor that will truly fight for us, not for profit or prestige.”
Things to know
Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:
- Riley Bunch reports on what Jackson’s role in an Alabama hospital reveals about his healthcare strategy.
- Georgia voters won’t just decide who holds office this November, Sophia Eppley reports. They’ll also weigh in on three proposed amendments to the state constitution.
- Jackson won the Republican nomination for governor after pouring more than $108 million of his own fortune into his campaign. He’s taking a different tack in the general election, Greg Bluestein reports.
Fulton County update
The U.S. Department of Justice last week appealed a federal judge’s ruling rejecting a demand for the identities and personal information of thousands of 2020 Fulton County election workers.
It’s the latest in the DOJ’s investigation into Georgia’s most populous county, which President Donald Trump has long claimed, without evidence, had widespread voter fraud that cheated him out of victory in 2020.
The Justice Department has poured significant resources into the investigation. FBI agents seized troves of records from the county’s 2020 election in January. The bureau also surged more than 250 analysts, requiring each to perform hundreds of records checks. But months into the investigation, the Trump administration has revealed no public evidence of wrongdoing in the election.
U.S. District Court Judge Billy Ray, who was nominated by Trump, cast doubts on the demand in his July ruling quashing the DOJ’s grand jury subpoena, calling it an arbitrary fishing expedition.
Collins Latino outreach
Collins held a campaign event Friday night aimed at Spanish speaking voters at Plaza Las Americas, a shopping mall in Lilburn with shops selling Argentine soccer jerseys and quinceañera dresses.
He spoke about the 91,000 businesses in Georgia owned by Latinos. He said these voters, like any other, are concerned about affordability, safety and opportunities for their children. Collins said unlike Ossoff he is ready to represent their interests in Washington.
“He does not stand up for the working families of this state,” Collins said of Ossoff.
Collins supports the Trump administration’s crackdowns on immigration and was the lead sponsor of the Laken Riley Act, which allows migrants accused of a variety of crimes to be detained by immigration agencies. He also has been criticized for posts on social media appearing to advocate for killing immigrants accused of crimes who are living in the country illegally.
He said his pitch is to those in the country legally. Campaigning alongside him was state Rep. Reynaldo “Rey” Martinez, R-Loganville, who pressed authentic Cuban sandwiches on site.
Coming for Cook
Trump is trying again to fire Lisa Cook, the Georgia native who is the first Black woman on the Federal Reserve Board.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Cook could stay in her job while she fought Trump’s effort to oust her over allegations, so far unproven, that she committed mortgage fraud. The justices ruled that she had not been given proper notice or a chance to contest the claims.
The White House recently sent Cook a letter that said the president was “considering” removing her and giving her three weeks to submit an initial response to the allegations, ABC News reported.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell answer questions from listeners about what a Bottoms administration could do to expand Medicaid with Republicans still controlling the Georgia Legislature.
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.
Senate all-nighter
The U.S. Senate has started its five-week summer recess after voting on a bill that could ensure there is no government shutdown at the end of September and rejecting legislation to stiffen voting laws. Senators worked overnight on Friday, casting their final votes at 4:36 a.m. on Saturday.
The vote on the continuing resolution to keep the government funded through Dec. 11 was overwhelmingly bipartisan with just six Democrats opposed. Ossoff and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock both voted in favor.
They split on a bill creating new sanctions against Russia. Initially, Warnock’s opposition held up a vote, but after assurances that there would be guardrails on a new tariff policy the legislation authorizes, Warnock was a “yes.” Ossoff voted “no” on the bill.
They also sided with the majority of Democrats voting against confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general and on a bloc of nominations that included making former state Rep. Joseph Mark Burkhalter the ambassador to Moldova. They all were confirmed on a simple majority vote backed by Republicans only.
Democrats used the filibuster to block progress on legislation that would require voters to show identification at the polls if federal races are on the ballot. Most states, including Georgia, already require some type of identification, but Democrats say this proposal was too strict in the types of documentation required, the New York Times reported.
The Senate left town without voting on a proposal that would start the process of a third reconciliation bill, which would allow Republicans to fund Trump’s top priorities without the support of Democrats.
The Senate will return on Sept. 13. The continuing resolution must be passed by the House, which returns on Aug. 31.
Today in Washington
- Trump will swear in Todd Blanche as attorney general.
- The House and Senate are in recess.
Shoutouts
Today’s birthdays:
- State Rep. Lauren McDonald III, R-Cumming.
- Olu Brown, former Democratic candidate for governor.
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
Ben Jones, the actor who played “Cooter” on “The Dukes of Hazzard,” died on Sunday. Jones spent two terms in Congress representing Georgia’s 4th Congressional District.
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.