Bottoms’ data center stance reflects a fast-changing Georgia debate

Programming note: We’ll be off Monday and Tuesday for Labor Day. We’ll see you again on Wednesday morning.

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Test your knowledge with our news quiz.
• Chris Carr and Jeff Landry clash over LSU football recruits.
• The U.S. Mint is now selling a $1 coin with Donald Trump’s face on it.

History lesson

Coda Tech Square on the campus of Georgia Tech as seen in October 2022. (Natrice Miller/AJC)

Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominee for governor, wants Georgia to pause development of new data centers. But when she was Atlanta mayor, her administration helped advance a smaller version of the projects drawing scrutiny across the state.

The contrast shows how quickly the politics around data centers have changed.

In 2018, Bottoms chaired the Invest Atlanta board when it unanimously revived authorization for up to $440 million in bonds tied to a data center inside the Coda complex at Georgia Tech’s Technology Square. She chaired the board again when it approved the financing in 2019.

The project also received a 15-year property tax abatement. But it bears little resemblance to the sprawling multibillion-dollar energy-gulping hyperscale campuses now fueling fights.

The Coda facility is about 93,000 square feet and was built into a roughly 755,000 square-foot mixed-use technology complex, with Georgia Tech among its users.

Bottoms’ campaign points to that distinction, arguing that smaller facilities like Coda are different from the massive data center campuses now proposed across Georgia.

The project also supported roughly 11,000 jobs and the data center was less than 15% of the development’s footprint.

Her moratorium call, aides say, is aimed at giving the state time to assess the impact of those much larger projects before allowing the boom to continue unchecked.

Republican nominee Rick Jackson, who has a financial stake in a major Texas data center project, has emphasized giving local officials the final say on proposed projects in their communities.

Bottoms’ spokesperson TaNisha Cameron said the contrast between the two is about as sharp as they get: “Keisha Lance Bottoms is the only candidate who will protect communities in Georgia from unchecked data center development.”

Friday news quiz

The Cobb County School District logo. (Jason Getz/AJC)

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.

A teacher’s group says the Cobb County School District has questioned about 200 teachers last week. Why?

• A) The teachers made political donations to candidates challenging school board incumbents.
• B) The teachers walked out of the superintendent’s speech at the beginning of the school year.
• C) The teachers have signs supporting Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in their classrooms.
• D) The teachers protested outside of an event President Donald Trump held at Wheeler High School in July.

A bill championed by Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk. What would the bill do?

• A) Require the Department of Justice to adopt national standards to prevent the sexual harassment and assault of Bureau of Prisons staff members by inmates.
• B) Expand access to screenings for colorectal cancer.
• C) Establish a statutory right to in vitro fertilization.
• D) Replace a formula used to distribute water infrastructure funds.

Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms unveiled a new policy proposal this week. What is it?

• A) Provide every child born in Georgia a $1,000 savings account.
• B) State funding to expand MARTA train service to Cobb and Gwinnett counties.
• C) Allow local governments to suspend or eliminate sales taxes on groceries.
• D) Create a state earned income tax credit, similar to the federal credit.

A review found about how many people cast ballots in Georgia over the past 30 years who might not be citizens?

• A) 10,200
• B) 430
• C) 0
• D) 2,300

Football season

LSU football coach Lane Kiffin, seen here in February. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP)

Republican Attorney General Chris Carr has threatened legal action to stop athletes who signed NFL contracts from joining LSU’s football team. Now, Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is fighting back.

Two players who were cut from NFL teams have been practicing with LSU. They are taking advantage of a new NCAA policy allowing for a fifth year of eligibility for college athletes.

“Calling them ‘NFL players’ is at best disingenuous, and at worst intentionally deceptive,” Landry wrote in a post on X, in which he tagged Carr and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson. “They are not professional football players circling back after years in the NFL. They are college players who were told, by the NCAA, that they were done. So they took the only door that was open — only to watch the NCAA change the lock behind them.”

LSU and the University of Georgia are both in the Southeastern Conference. In a letter to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, Carr wrote that “College athletics are for college athletes only.”

Late Thursday, a federal judge ruled the players are eligible for the 2026 season. Also on Thursday, the SEC sued LSU, alleging the school “waged a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes.”

Speaking of football

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins speaks at his runoff election watch party after winning the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in June. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

The Senate Leadership Fund, the flagship super PAC backing GOP Senate candidates, has reserved at least $100,000 in airtime to boost Republican nominee Mike Collins during college football’s opening weekend.

The ads are set to run on the ACC Network, ESPN, ESPNU, FS1, and the SEC Network, putting Collins in front of college football fans across a busy slate of games this weekend.

The ad appears to use artificial intelligence to show Ossoff receiving hair and makeup, a reference to some disclosures on his campaign expenditures. It concludes by noting Ossoff voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, characterizing that as a vote to raise taxes.

The ad spending is part of a pledge by the group to spend more than $44 million to oust Ossoff, who leads in the polls and has built an enormous fundraising edge.

Trump coin

The U.S. Mint has started producing a new $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump's image. (Treasury Department/AP)

The U.S. Mint on Thursday began selling a $1 coin with President Donald Trump’s face on it.

A roll of 25 coins was selling for $61 on the U.S. Mint’s website. As of this morning, the coin appeared to be sold out.

U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, a former Georgia state senator, announced the coin last year. It immediately came under scrutiny in light of a federal law that bans the government from putting living people’s portraits on U.S. currency.

But The Associated Press reports the government has can authorize the minting and issuance of special coins.

“It was a privilege to help bring this idea to life,” Beach wrote on X.

Listen up

The “Politically Georgia” podcast is off today. We’ll be back on Monday.

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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.

New polling

Democratic Congressional candidate Tony Kozycki speaks during the Democratic Party of Georgia's convention in Savannah last month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Tony Kozycki, the Democrat hoping to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, has released polling that shows him within striking distance. Georgia’s 7th Congressional District was drawn to lean Republican, but Kozycki has stepped up his campaign in hopes of knocking the incumbent off.

The survey of 445 likely voters in Georgia’s 7th District was conducted by 20/20 Insight, an Atlanta-based Democratic pollster. It found McCormick led Kozycki 46% to 43%, which is within the margin of error.

In a separate statewide poll, Democrats running for two Public Service Commission seats were found to be statistically tied with their Republican opponents. The Georgia Conservation Voters Action Fund, a left-leaning environmental group, said this is the first polling of the PSC races to be conducted this campaign cycle.

Peter Hubbard, who won a special election last year and is now running for reelection, polled slightly ahead of GOP challenger Fitz Johnson 44% to 43%, which is statistically insignificant.

Democrat Sheila Edwards leads Republican Josh Tolbert 45% to 43%, which is also within the margin of error.

The survey of 800 likely Georgia voters was conducted by GBAO.

Today in Washington

• Trump has no public events on his schedule.
• The House and Senate are out until Sept. 14.

RAGA in GA

State Sen. Brian Strickland, R- McDonough, seen here in 2025 when he announced his campaign for attorney general. (Ben Gray for the AJC).

The Georgia Attorney General’s race is getting an influx of national cash.

The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) announced it is sending $1 million to to help elect Brian Strickland, the GOP nominee for Georgia Attorney General. And they’re doing it through Gov. Brian Kemp’s leadership committee, Georgians First.

RAGA called the sum an “initial investment” with “significantly more support expected.”

Strickland cruised to a primary win in May with 72% of the vote over fellow GOP state Sen. Bill Cowsert. But Republicans know he’ll have a much tougher fight on his hands in November against Democratic state Rep. Tanya Miller, a civil rights attorney and former prosecutor.