Donald Trump plans Georgia visit after rejecting second debate

Trump is scheduled to headline an Oct. 23 campaign rally at Gas South Arena in Duluth organized by the influential conservative group Turning Point Action. Harris weeks ago challenged Trump to another CNN debate in Atlanta that same night.

Democrats have relentlessly mocked Trump for rejecting a second debate on grounds that it’s “too late.” At Georgia’s beatdown of Auburn on Saturday, a banner flew above Sanford Stadium that read: Trump: 1 debate loss, 0 SEC championships.

For Trump, the Oct. 23 rally will be the second day of back-to-back Georgia events. The GOP nominee will also speak at the National Rifle Association’s “Defend the 2nd” convention in Savannah a day earlier.

The visits punctuate an already loaded calendar. Trump, Harris, President Joe Biden and the GOP vice presidential nominee — U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio — each visited Georgia last week. And Harris is said to be planning a return trip to Georgia soon, according to senior state Democrats.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Meanwhile, Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, plans to hold a fundraiser in midtown Atlanta on Wednesday with some heavy Democratic hitters. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, real estate mogul Matt Bronfman and movers-and-shakers Sheri and Steve Labovitz are among the co-hosts.

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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

GOOD MORNING! The presidential election is 29 days away. That’s less than a month. Here’s three things to know today:

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OCTOBER 7. Today marks one year since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and the abduction of 250 people. The attack and Israel’s response has resulted in an all-out regional conflict and humanitarian crisis that threatens millions of civilians.

The White House and the vast majority of members of Congress have stood firmly beside Israel over the past year, one of America’s oldest allies. The presidential candidates will join many elected officials across the country today at events honoring those that were killed that day.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will hold a ceremony at the White House, where a rabbi will conduct a yahrzeit candle lighting — a Jewish tradition to honor the dead.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, will mark the anniversary by planting a memorial tree on the grounds of their residence and making speeches. Emhoff, who is Jewish, had frequently weighed in on the effects the massacre has had on Jewish people and related issues like the threats of antisemitism.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, will commemorate the day during an event in Las Vegas with the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Former President Donald Trump will participate in a remembrance event today in Miami where he will be joined by Jewish community leaders. The former president has been most willing to politicize Oct. 7, saying in a news release that Hamas and other Iran-backed groups have waged a war not just on Israel but its shared values with the U.S.

“The inept and failed policies of the Harris-Biden Administration have enabled the Iranian-backed proxies that have sewn a path of death and destruction, resulting in catastrophic global ramifications,” the release said.

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Credit: Hilary Swift/The New York Times

Credit: Hilary Swift/The New York Times

THIS IS IT. Two big milestones in Georgia’s election calendar today: it’s the deadline to register to vote, and it’s the first day absentee ballots will be mailed to voters.

Four years ago, the biggest day for voter registrations in Georgia came on deadline day when about 14,000 people registered for the first time, accounting for 3% of all new voters that year, according to an analysis by the AJC’s data whiz Phoebe Quinton.

Already, more people are registered to vote in Georgia this year — 8.2 million — compared to four years ago, when 7.6 million voters were eligible. Some of that is because of Georgia’s population growth.

Absentee ballots were crucial to Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia four years ago. That year, 26% of people voted absentee, and Biden won 65% of those votes. But the number of absentee voters has been falling. A lower share of primary voters voted absentee in the 2024 primary (7.2%) compared to the 2022 primary (8%)

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Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

COMPETITIVE SEATS. Ballotpedia, which calls itself the “encyclopedia of American Politics,” released its state legislative competitiveness report last week. It offers a look at how competitive — or not — are the elections for the 5,807 state legislative seats on the ballot this year in 44 states.

Some of the findings:

Ballotpedia averages those percentages to produce a “competitiveness index” from 0 (least competitive) to 100 (most competitive).

Here’s how Georgia ranks:

That gives Georgia a competitive index of 25, making it the 34th most competitive state. (The most competitive? Nebraska. The least competitive? Massachusetts). Nationally, the competitive index is 33.3, which is lower than the last three election cycles.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

REMEMBER 2020? Georgia Republicans no doubt remember the sting of losing the presidential election and both U.S. Senate seats in 2020. So it was revealing to hear party leaders rev up the crowd before a rally on Friday featuring Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance.

In 2020, Republican turnout wasn’t helped by former President Donald Trump repeatedly declaring the election was rigged against him. On Friday, Denise Burns — the chair of the Republican Party’s 14th Congressional District — urged the crowd to “vote as early as possible.”

“We must make our turnout too big to rig,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, bemoaned what she called the “Northwest Georgia problem.”

“Our people don’t turn out to vote,” she said, because their lives are so good that “it’s easy to turn off the TV and forget about the ridiculous drama and the failures of Washington.”

“But if you turn off the TV and you decide that you don’t want to participate in this election, you’re going to be a part of the very problem that we are trying to fix,” she said.

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Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC

IT’S OVER. Georgia’s ports in Savannah and Brunswick are open again after the longshoremen ended their strike on Friday.

The strike threatened to do great harm to the economy as October is a big month for retailers to get shipments ahead of the holiday shopping season. But the strike ended quickly after employers agreed to a 62% raise, meaning union members will be making $63 an hour by 2030.

The International Longshoremen’s Association has about 2,500 members across five union chapters in Georgia, as reported by the AJC’s J. Scott Trubey and Adam Van Brimmer.

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Credit: Sea To Shore Alliance

Credit: Sea To Shore Alliance

WHALE POLICY. Stronger protections for the endangered North Atlantic right whale are facing renewed challenges in Congress. A U.S. House resolution that would halt the implementation of a proposed boat speed limit in the whale calving groups off the Georgia coast recently received committee approval and can now go to the floor for a vote.

The AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer writes the speed rule is expected to be approved by the White House in November. But should the House measure become law — a longshot, experts say — it would defund implementation and enforcement of the 10-knot speed limit, which applies to vessels 35 feet or longer when passing through the calving grounds during the calving season.

The speed limit is meant to cut down on collisions between whales and boats. Vessel strikes have led to the death of at least 15 right whales since 2017, government researchers say. With only about 70 reproductively active right whale females left in the world, every boat-related death moves the species closer to extinction. Those who favor the House resolution, including Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, say the speed limit will cause economic harm to commercial fishermen and the Georgia Ports Authority.

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Credit: AJC file photo

Credit: AJC file photo

LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” former Democratic U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia joins the show. Then, Dov Wilker, regional director of the American Jewish Committee Atlanta, will discuss the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

You can listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 or follow “Politically Georgia” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297.

On Friday’s show, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, spoke about the BioLab chemical fire in his district and why he thinks the plant should be shuttered. And the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman shared her insights on competitive legislative races.

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Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

HELENE UPDATES. Over the weekend, the Federal Emergency Management Agency added 12 more Georgia counties impacted by Hurricane Helene to the major disaster declaration.

That puts the total number of Georgia counties where residents and businesses are eligible for emergency resources at 53, or roughly one-third of the counties in the state.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has requested 90 counties receive the disaster declaration. FEMA said it will approve counties on a rolling basis to allow resources to flow to eligible areas as quickly as possible.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will hold a news conference today to talk about how his office plans to ensure people living in the hardest hit areas like Macon and Augusta are still able to cast ballots in the Nov. 5 election.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Milton has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to make landfall in Florida later this week.

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Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. Here is what is happening today:

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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthday:

Belated birthdays:

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.

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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.