Jon Ossoff on Mike Collins’ Trump trip: ‘We are delighted’

Today’s newsletter highlights

• Keisha Lance Bottoms backs dedicated state funding for MARTA.
• Buddy Carter vows to run for office again.
• Mike Collins, Brian Jack set to speak during GOP convention.

GOP gathering

A Mercedes decorated with images of President Donald Trump is seen outside in Dallas on Tuesday before the Republican convention. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s reaction to Republican Senate nominee Mike Collins’ upcoming appearance at President Donald Trump’s midterm convention was not alarm. It was amusement.

“The last thing Mike’s collapsing campaign needs is more Trump,” Ossoff told us in an interview last night. “We are delighted by his foolish trip to Texas, but we still need an answer: Will he testify?”

That last jab refers to Ossoff’s call for Collins to testify before the House Ethics Committee as part of a probe into whether the Republican misused taxpayer dollars. Collins has dismissed the controversy as a “nothingburger.”

But put that aside for a moment. The Texas trip says plenty about the very different bets the two Senate campaigns are making as the fall campaign accelerates.

Collins will be the most prominent Georgian at the GOP’s inaugural midterm convention in Dallas. (Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee for governor, won’t be part of the state’s 98-person contingent.)

The Senate contender sees the convention as another chance to reinforce his “MAGA warrior” credentials, mingle with donors and perhaps entice Trump to deploy his political operation for him.

Collins said he’ll use the stage Wednesday in a seven-minute speech taking aim at Ossoff’s “far-left agenda.” He will appear with the family of Laken Riley, the nursing student whose murder became a rallying point last year for the Laken Riley Act, which Collins authored. The law requires the detention of people who are in the country without legal permission if they are charged with certain crimes.

“Ossoff is the most vulnerable incumbent Democrat in America, and Georgia is ground zero in the fight to keep our nation moving in the right direction,” Collins said.

Ossoff called Collins a “Trump puppet,” and argued that the Republican’s free-falling campaign is moving even closer to an unpopular president.

Collins isn’t alone among Republicans in tough Senate races attending the event. The New York Times reports that Ken Paxton of Texas, Michael Whatley of North Carolina and Mike Rogers of Michigan will take part in the convention.

But several other Republicans in close contests, including Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and New Hampshire candidate John Sununu, are staying away.

Things to know

Members of the National Guard walk past the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool before the March on Washington last month. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Good morning! The midterms are in 55 days. You have 26 days left to register to vote. Here are three things to know for today:

• President Donald Trump has extended the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., through January 2029. Gov. Brian Kemp hasn’t said if he’ll keep Georgia’s guard members there that long. The decision will likely fall to the next governor, Tia Mitchell reports.
• Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon told politics columnist Patricia Murphy he’s focused on turning out MAGA voters in the midterms, saying he is not focusing on “some mythical group” of undecided voters.
• Georgia still shapes the national political conversation. But after years in the spotlight, the state suddenly has a lot more competition, writes Greg Bluestein.

MARTA funding

Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms wants to provide state funding for MARTA. (Greg Bluestein/AJC)

It’s not quite the third rail of Georgia politics, but the question of whether the state should spend more on MARTA has long been a train few contenders for governor were eager to board.

That’s changing. Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms told us on Tuesday she’s in favor of a new, dedicated state funding stream for MARTA and other transit systems across the state.

Pressed on what that would look like for MARTA, which depends largely on local sales tax revenue and federal support, Bottoms was short on specifics but clear on the broader principle.

“Great cities have great transit networks. And for as much as MARTA has given to our city and to the metropolitan area, more is needed,” she said.

For decades, MARTA has been something of an outlier among major American transit systems because Georgia has largely left its operating support to local governments.

When the state has provided funding, it is typically directed toward specific capital construction or renovation projects rather than to subsidize day-to-day operations.

Bottoms didn’t say whether she would seek a statewide tax or fee, carve out money from an existing revenue stream or simply push lawmakers to add money in the budget for transit.

“I believe there should be dedicated state funding to transit statewide — not just to MARTA, but statewide — to help us expand where we are already operating with entities like MARTA,” she said.

If Bottoms wins, a Democratic governor proposing a permanent state funding stream for MARTA would force a Republican-controlled Legislature to revisit a fight that has simmered for generations.

Not done yet

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter greets supporters while watching election results in May in Sandy Springs. (Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC)

We haven’t seen the last of Buddy Carter.

The St. Simons Island Republican is leaving Congress in January after losing in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in May. But Carter told the Brunswick Exchange Club that “I don’t want you writing my political obituary just yet.”

“I’m sorry I lost. I’m going to run again. I’m going to win the next time,” he said, according to The Brunswick News.

It’s not clear office he would run for. Reclaiming his congressional seat would be difficult, as Republican Jim Kingston, son of former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, looks poised to win the Republican district. But Carter could try for the U.S. Senate again in 2028, when U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s term ends.

It’s not clear if Warnock will seek another term. He could run for president.

Compare and contrast

Former football coach Tommy Tuberville is the Republican nominee for governor in Alabama. (John Minchillo/AP)

Georgia is one of five Republican-led southern states that have open governor’s races this year — races that could have a big impact on the party’s post-Trump future.

One interesting policy position to keep an eye on: data centers. Republican Rick Jackson wrote an opinion essay in the AJC last month outlining his policy proposals. Alabama Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville wrote an essay outlining his proposals last week in the Alabama Political Reporter.

Some similarities:

• Tuberville: “Local communities will decide whether a data center is right for them.”
• Jackson: “A data center should not be built without the support of the local government and the local community.”
• Tuberville: “Data centers will pay the total cost of the transmission lines, substations and water systems they require.”
• Jackson: “Data centers must pay the full cost of the water, power, transmission and other infrastructure they require or provide their own capacity.”

Some differences:

• Tuberville: “We will place data centers in Alabama’s highest property-tax bracket where they should be”
• Jackson: “Georgia data centers must meet strict environmental standards. I will sign an executive order establishing higher standards for the approval of data centers to protect every community.”

More from Dallas

Items for sale are seen before the Republican convention in Dallas on Tuesday. (Alex Brandon/AP)

The Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas kicks off today with a series of speakers and testimonials from “everyday Americans.” In all, there will be 109 different speakers over the course of two days.

Collins landed a primetime slot tonight during the 7 p.m. hour. The other Georgian on the list, U.S. Rep. Brian Jack, R-Peachtree City, will speak Thursday during the 5 p.m. hour.

C-SPAN said it will air the convention in its entirety without breaks or commentary, both on its cable feed and its website.

Republican lieutenant governor nominee Greg Dolezal told us he will also make the trip to Dallas, where he plans to attend a Republican Lieutenant Governors Association gathering this week.

Capital secrecy

The gurney used for lethal injections sits in a small cinder block building at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. (Ben Gray/AJC)

Georgia has paid more than $1.1 million since the pandemic to at least one contractor involved in lethal injections, even as the state carried out just one execution, according to records obtained by ProPublica after a court fight.

The Department of Corrections has averaged more than $150,000 annually in lethal injection-related spending over the past decade — far more than it paid before 2017 — while shielding contractors’ identities under a new state law.

The findings come as Georgia prepares for its first execution in two years on Sept. 16.

Corrections officials declined to explain the rising costs, and ProPublica reported that records suggest the agency may not have maintained the detailed purchasing documents required by its own policies.

Listen up

Democratic congressional candidate Tony Kozycki, seen here speaking at the Democratic Party of Georgia convention in Savannah last month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast Democrat Tony Kozycki joins the show to talk about his campaign in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District. Then, newly sworn-in U.S. Rep. Everton Blair discusses his short term in Congress after winning a special election runoff last month.

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.

Today in Washington

• President Donald Trump will speak during the first day of the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas. Collins will also speak.
• The House and Senate return on Monday.
• U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, will participate in an event celebrating $700,000 in federal funding awarded to Atlanta Public Schools.

Garst’s get

A familiar name in Georgia polling is joining Rasmussen Reports.

Veteran Republican consultant and pollster John Garst has joined the national polling firm’s team.