Donald Trump to visit Georgia amid his criticism of Helene response
Today’s newsletter highlights include:
- President Joe Biden says Georgia will eventually get all of its requested disaster relief.
- Lawmakers call for a disaster declaration for areas impacted by the BioLab fire.
- Hurricane Helene, by the numbers.
As former President Donald Trump arrives today in Georgia for his second visit this week to survey Hurricane Helene damage, Democrats are pleading with him not to politicize the ruinous aftermath of the deadliest storm to ravage the state in decades.
“In moments like this,” President Joe Biden said Thursday during a visit to tiny Ray City in South Georgia, “it’s time to put politics aside — it’s not one state versus another. It’s the United States.”
Vice President Kamala Harris had a similar message in Augusta on Wednesday, where she praised Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republican leaders for their close coordination.
“These are very difficult times,” she said. “And in a moment of crisis, I think that really does bring out the best of who we are.”
Trump highlighted the work of charities during his Monday visit to Valdosta. But he also spread falsehoods about the emergency response, including a claim that Biden was “nonresponsive” to Kemp.
In fact, Kemp said he spoke to Biden on Sunday and praised the president’s efforts to help Georgia. Kemp and Biden spoke again on Thursday morning, although the governor did not take the president up on an offer to survey Helene damage together.
Trump went a step further on Thursday by blasting the White House’s response to Helene as the “worst response in the history of hurricanes” and compared it to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
That could put Kemp in a tough position if Trump keeps that rhetoric up during today’s visit outside of Augusta. Trump’s campaign announced that the governor would join him as he spoke on recovery efforts and visited hard-hit areas.
This will be Trump and Kemp’s first appearance together since before the 2020 election. Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in Georgia and Kemp’s refusal to do so drove a wedge between the two.
When Kemp was running for reelection in 2022, he held Trump at arm’s length as he worked to appeal to moderates.
Although Trump picked a fight with Kemp this summer, still sore that the governor did not support him during the primary, the two say they are on much better terms now. Kemp is putting his machine to work helping to get Trump elected in November. But until today, he kept his distance.
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GOOD MORNING! We’re 32 days away from the presidential election, and it feels like Georgia is the center of the political universe. Just this week, we’ve had visits from former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump is coming back today. And his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance, will visit Lindale.
Here are three things to know for today:
- Attorney General Chris Carr has appealed a judge’s order striking down Georgia’s ban on abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected.
- A federal judge in Georgia has cleared the way for President Joe Biden’s administration to move forward with its plan to forgive student loans.
- Biden visited Valdosta on Thursday, telling locals “I see you, I hear you, I grieve with you and I promise you I have your back.”
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KEMP MATTERS. Gov. Brian Kemp and former President Donald Trump appearing together today for the first time since 2020 could be a politically significant moment for Trump’s campaign.
A new poll of likely Georgia voters by the Republican-aligned Cygnal firm offers a reminder of why it matters. It shows Trump is at 48% and Vice President Kamala Harris is at 47% — within the poll’s margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
Trump will need all the help he can get from pro-Kemp split-ticket voters who powered the governor’s second-term victory in 2022 but also helped reelect Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
The poll was released by the Democracy Defense Project, the bipartisan group that aims to combat Trump-driven lies that voting systems are fraudulent by inspiring confidence in the election system.
It also found that nearly two-thirds of voters were confident their votes in Georgia “will be accurately cast and counted” in November. A plurality — 44% — say they think the casting and counting of votes will be more accurate in 2024 than it was in 2020.
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DISASTER DECLARATIONS. President Joe Biden made a little news during his Georgia visit on Thursday when he told reporters he expects the government will eventually approve all of the South Georgia counties that lawmakers have requested for relief aid.
Earlier this week, it became a point of contention when an initial list from the Federal Emergency Management Agency only approved 11 Georgia counties for major disaster declaration out of a requested list of 90.
Eventually, 30 more counties were approved to bring the total to 41.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has said that other areas could be added with damage assessments ongoing and decisions being announced on a rolling basis.
But now Biden has given hope to public officials in Georgia that they may eventually get everything they asked for. A major disaster declaration frees up additional resources and relief programs for affected residents and business owners in approved areas.
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TOO CLOSE TO HOME. As U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Augusta, toured his devastated district in and around Augusta earlier this week with Gov. Brian Kemp, the congressman told a group in Gibson that he had a close call of his own last week as Hurricane Helene roared through the state.
“My wife and I were awakened when a 150-year-old tree hit right [on] top of our bedroom,” Allen said. “Thank goodness for old houses. It was an 18-inch thick wall and the wall won. Thank goodness for that, but my wife still thinks about it.”
Allen said every county in his district has been affected by the storm. A full list of resources for anyone in his 12th District looking for assistance is now posted on his House website.
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BY THE NUMBERS. It’s been one week since Hurricane Helene blew through Georgia. There’ve been lots of heartbreaking and inspiring stories to come out of this storm. But the numbers tell their own story, as Gov. Brian Kemp and state officials detailed yesterday in a news conference at the state Capitol.
- 33 deaths, so far, from the storm in Georgia. It’s the most since Hurricane Alberto hit the state in 1994.
- 106 traffic signals need replacing.
- 146 traffic signals didn’t have power as of Thursday morning.
- 300 state routes were blocked by fallen trees and other debris, including three interstates.
- 2,600 traffic signs have been replaced, and thousands more are missing. Officials have been replacing the “red” signs first, including signs telling drivers to stop, yield or that they are traveling in the wrong direction.
- 3,200 trees fell on power lines across the state that must be cleared, including some over swamps that can only be removed by helicopter.
- 8,000 Georgia Power poles need to be replaced. The utility company’s previous record was 2,000 replaced poles during Hurricane Michael. “This is just a significantly larger power outage storm than we’ve ever dealt with in the history of our state,” Kemp said.
- 21,000 spans of power wires are on the ground, which equals about 1,000 miles of wire that must be put back up or replaced.
- 32,000 miles of roads were impacted by the storm in the 41 counties that were included in the federal disaster declaration — double that if you include all 90 counties that state officials say were hit by the storm.
- 1.3 million people were without power at its peak. As of Thursday morning, that number was around 270,000.
- $417 million estimated damages. But state officials say that number will go way up.
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GEORGIA’S OTHER DISASTER. Hurricane Helene has gotten most of the attention this week as state officials have pleaded with the federal government to send more financial aid to distressed counties.
But a group of elected officials gathered at the state Capitol on Thursday to remind everyone about the other disaster impacting Georgia: a fire at the BioLab facility in Conyers that has spewed chlorine into the air, causing some respiratory problems and forcing people to stay indoors.
State Reps. Doreen Carter, D-Lithonia, and Rhonda Taylor, D-Conyers, along with U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, all called on Gov. Brian Kemp to declare a state of emergency for the areas impacted by the fire.
“This situation has reached a point where it is an emergency,” Johnson said. “People need help from government.”
The lawmakers also called on the plant to permanently close.
Kemp, in a separate news conference on Thursday, urged residents to take precautions and watch for updates from authorities on local media. He referred questions about any state enforcement actions against the company that owns the plant to the state’s Environmental Protection Division.
“They don’t need direction from me on that. I tell them to do their job, and that’s what they do,” Kemp said.
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HALEY HELP. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has donated to Republicans in two of the most competitive state House districts in Georgia.
The former presidential hopeful is boosting state Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, and state Rep. Deborah Silcox, R-Sandy Springs, according to a Haley insider.
Hilton and Silcox were early supporters for Haley’s presidential bid in Georgia. She’s now returning the favor as both face Democratic competition in November.
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LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, will talk about the BioLab chemical fire in his district and why he thinks the plant should be shuttered. And the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman will share her insight on competitive legislative races.
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 Thursday’s show, Georgia State University professor Anthony Michael Kreis talked about a new court filing in the federal case against former President Donald Trump. Andrea Young, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, discussed Georgia’s abortion law being overturned by a state judge. And the AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer talked about the impacts of Hurricane Helene and the ports strike on Savannah.
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ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. Here is what is happening today:
- U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois will headline a “day of action” for the Harris-Walz campaign in Columbus, Georgia.
- Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will deliver remarks at a Get Out the Vote concert in Pittsburgh headlined by Jason Isbell.
- Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at Michigan campaign rallies in Detroit and Flint.
- Former President Donald Trump will survey Helene damage in Evans outside Augusta. He’ll also participate in a campaign town hall in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
- The Trump campaign will launch a Georgia bus tour with stops in Columbus, Macon and Athens.
- U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio will headline a campaign rally in Lindale outside of Rome.
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SAVANNAH INSIDER. Check out the newsletter devoted to the Savannah region by the AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer. Called “The Savannah Skinny,” it publishes Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Van Brimmer’s social media channels: @VanBrimmerAJC on both X (formerly Twitter) and Threads.
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SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthdays:
- State Rep. Regina Lewis-Ward, D-McDonough.
- State Rep. Angela Moore, D-Stonecrest.
- State Rep. Matt Reeves, R-Duluth.
- Evan Bergwall III, director of the Georgia Senate Press Office.
New gig:
- Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will teach and mentor students at the University of Virginia this academic year as a Center Scholar at the school’s Center for Politics.
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.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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