How a Rick Jackson loan became an Alabama Democratic talking point
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Mike Collins doubles down after Jon Ossoff objects to an AI-generated ad.
- A new poll shows Georgia voters are worried about the future of Social Security.
- The Georgia PSC travels to Savannah for its latest meeting.
An unlikely asset
The Alabama hospital that drew scrutiny to Republican Rick Jackson has officially emerged from bankruptcy. And now its survival is being featured in a Democratic campaign ad in one of the South’s most competitive congressional races.
Jackson Hospital exited Chapter 11 this week after reaching a four-year agreement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama. The Montgomery hospital had teetered on the edge of closure this summer before the agreement to keep it operating.
Jackson, the candidate for governor, played a role in that rescue. His investment group provided a $35 million loan to keep the hospital afloat, an arrangement that drew criticism because Jackson was also a major creditor and gained significant leverage over the struggling nonprofit.
Now Democrats are touting the outcome for their own reasons. A new TV ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee casts U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures as a central player in saving the hospital.
“Shomari Figures steps up, determined to save the hospital. Figures brought together all sides to keep the hospital open,” the narrator says before crediting Figures with a “breakthrough.”
For Jackson, there’s an obvious irony: A financial deal that fueled attacks on his record in Georgia is now being advertised by Democrats next door as evidence that the hospital was saved.
Things to know
Good morning! The midterms are in 48 days. You have 19 days left to register to vote. Here are three things to know for today:
- Leaders of the nation’s largest transit agencies, including MARTA, on Tuesday told federal officials they need more federal funding to improve their facilities and beef up safety patrols, Tia Mitchell reports.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff has tapped his formidable fundraising operation to transfer more than $3.6 million into the Democratic Party of Georgia’s coordinated campaign, an investment aimed not just at securing his own reelection but boosting Democrats up and down the ballot, Greg Bluestein reports.
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport may be the world’s busiest, but it is not the most satisfactory, according to the latest JD Power North America Airport Satisfaction Study, Mirtha Donastorg reports.
A Jackson blitz
We knew Jackson was overwhelming Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms on the airwaves. But an AdImpact analysis of spending showed just how massive the GOP edge is.
It showed her campaign had just $42,000 in future linear ad reservations. Overall, pro-Jackson groups have spent or reserved nearly $76 million worth of airtime during the general election compared to just $8.2 million for Bottoms, according to the firm.
Bottoms’ campaign doesn’t dispute the AdImpact figures, but notes it is snapping up airtime week-to-week rather than making long-term buys as Jackson is doing.
Needless to say, Republicans are giddy. Jackson adviser Austin Chambers amplified the reaction of conservative commentator Erick Erickson: “Keisha’s campaign is like Atlanta when she was mayor: smoldering rubble.”
Bottoms addressed the imbalance on MS NOW last night, saying Democrats still outvoted Republicans in the primary despite the GOP spending edge and pointed to polls showing her leading the race.
She said she’s working to remind voters of President Donald Trump’s midterm convention plea to voters to treat the election like he was on the ballot.
“This is not the year for the billionaire, it’s not the year for the billionaire who says he wants to be Trump’s favorite governor, who says he wants to be Trump with a southern tone, a person who says he doesn’t disagree with a single policy from Trump,” Bottoms said.
Meanwhile, Jackson isn’t letting up. He’s rolling out a veterans agenda today while launching three new ads featuring young people he has helped through Georgia’s foster care system.
Jackson is set to unveil his “Georgia Salutes Service Plan” in Marietta alongside Insurance Commissioner John King, a retired major general in the U.S. Army National Guard who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The plan would create a Governor’s Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, a veterans support hotline, waivers for professional license fees, expanded healthcare access and grants for veterans groups.
At the same time, Jackson is returning to one of the most personal themes of his campaign.
His new ads feature interviews with foster youth he has helped, reinforcing his vow to overhaul Georgia’s child welfare system.
Horse race
A new survey from conservative-leaning Rasmussen Reports shows Ossoff leading Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins 51-42 among likely Georgia voters, with 6% undecided.
The poll of 1,019 likely voters was conducted Sept. 14 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
A look beneath the topline hood helps explain why Democrats are increasingly upbeat about the race. Ossoff draws support from 15% of Republicans and leads Collins 51-34 among independents.
And the numbers also suggest Collins has work to do consolidating Trump voters. Among Georgians who backed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, 90% support Ossoff. Among those who voted for Trump, 77% back Collins.
AI ads
Ossoff earlier this month called on Republicans to remove an AI-generated ad mocking his campaign’s disclosures on expenditures for hair and makeup. Collins responded by doubling down.
A new Collins ad shows him as a Family Guy-like character whining about the ad as “character assassination” before complaining about his nails.
“Ossoff threw a fit and tried to get an ad he didn’t like taken off television — so we made him another one,” the Collins campaign said on social media. “No amount of concealer can cover up Ossoff’s ugly record, and no amount of complaining is going to stop Georgians from seeing it.”
Ossoff, for his part, pledged in November 2025 not to use deepfake ads, saying through an aide that the only reason a candidate would “make up an opponent’s words and manipulate a video to deceive Georgians is if they didn’t think they could win on their own.”
Collins at the time said he’ll “continue to use all methods permissible under the law to expose the deepfake notion that Ossoff is anything other than a far-left lackey for Chuck Schumer.”
Social Security
A new poll shows Georgia voters are worried about the future of Social Security — and they’re prepared to prove it at the ballot box.
A survey from Global Strategy Group found more than 80% of Georgia voters said if a candidate has a plan to address Social Security it will factor into their decision of whom to vote for in November.
Politicians have been warning about the demise of Social Security for decades. But the issue has more urgency this cycle. The latest Social Security Trustees Report notes the primary trust fund will have a shortfall by 2032. Whoever wins Georgia’s U.S. Senate race this year would be in office when that happens, if it happens.
PSC Roadshow
The Georgia Public Service Commission traveled to Savannah for its latest meeting, and their reception in the self-proclaimed “hostess city of the south” wasn’t at all hospitable.
Dozens of area residents used a public forum to chide the commissioners for their regulatory approach to Georgia Power. The utility is under fire in the region for striking a deal to supply electricity to a planned OpenAI data center to be built 19 miles from Savannah’s historic downtown.
The 4 million-square-foot facility is contracted to use 3.2 gigawatts of electricity — enough to power all the businesses and homes in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Georgia Power has pledged to use money from the OpenAI deal to put $15 of “downward pressure” on the average residential customer’s monthly bills starting in 2029.
But that concession didn’t assuage the parade of commenters Tuesday.
“The public perception is that the PSC is a rubber stamp for Georgia Power,” said Tybee Island City Council member Kathryn Williams. “You must work to restore public confidence in your commission and stand up for us.”
Four of the five commissioners attended the forum in person, including PSC Chair Jason Shaw and the commission’s lone Savannah resident, Alicia Johnson. Johnson, a Democrat, also participated in a town hall regarding the OpenAI project Monday night and met with local Democratic Party groups on Tuesday. So did the other Democrat on the PSC, Peter Hubbard.
Hubbard is up for reelection in November, as is a Republican-held seat. The Democrats can take majority control of the regulatory agency by winning both posts, and both Hubbard and Johnson have made it clear they favor tighter regulation of Georgia Power.
“That’s what we ran on — and won on — when we were elected,” Johnson said.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast it’s the first of a weekly series called “Georgia’s Choice.” Greg Bluestein and Patricia Murphy are joined by healthcare reporter Ariel Hart to break down the Medicaid plans from Bottoms and Jackson, what could happen in a Republican-led legislature, and the mounting pressures on rural hospitals and Affordable Care Act coverage.
You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, 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.
Don’t bet on it
State election officials want to prevent illegal trading on elections.
In a memo to county election officials, the secretary of state’s office said employees, board members or poll workers “shall not bet” on elections or participate in prediction markets in election-related events.”
Although these transactions may be described as contracts or trades, they can involve a person gaining or losing money based on an election-related outcome, according to Secretary of State Elections Director Blake Evans.
Under Georgia law, betting on elections is already a misdemeanor offense.
The move reflects the growing unease about prediction markets, which have been used to bet on politics, sports and almost anything. Trump’s teleprompter operator was ordered to pay $172,000 to settle allegations that he used insider information from Trump’s speeches to profit from a prediction market. And in April, federal prosecutors charged a U.S. soldier for using classified intel regarding Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to profit on Polymarket.
Deidre Holden, the Paulding County elections director, said she isn’t aware of any elections worker placing any bets. She said if this is going on somewhere in Georgia, “it needs to stop.”
“I don’t know what prompted that email,” she said.
Today in Washington
- Trump will speak at a campaign rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, in support of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley.
- The House will vote on legislation creating new sanctions against Russia and a bill prohibiting electricity costs from new data centers from being passed along to households.
- The Senate could vote on a bill creating national requirements for name, image and likeness in college athletics.
Shoutouts
Transition:
- Former Public Service Commissioner Tricia Pridemore is now executive vice president of energy, regulatory and policy for DC Blox, a data center developer.
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
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock took to Instagram on Tuesday to knock down online rumors that he was battling cancer. He said a Facebook page that has been posting fake AI-generated stories about him “could be dangerous for our democracy.”
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.