Today’s highlights include:
- Budget season begins in Georgia.
- Conservative group helps Democrat overturn an election.
- Judge orders Trump campaign to stop using musician’s song.
There’s a quiet new force in Georgia Democratic politics.
State Rep. Shea Roberts said her recently created United for Georgia Women PAC that launched this summer has already raised nearly $500,000 to boost House Democrats in swing legislative districts.
The goal, the Atlanta Democrat said, is to “invest in our most winnable legislative races and protect our most vulnerable incumbents” in the state’s premier battlegrounds. That’s mostly suburban territories in metro Atlanta where Democrats have a chance to chip away at the GOP edge.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s political machine, national Democrats and House Speaker Jon Burns’ network have already pledged to spend millions of dollars combined to fight over these “frontline” seats — the most competitive races in Georgia outside the presidential contest.
Roberts said her organization has started spending in a handful of undisclosed legislative races. Though it has the backing of legislative leaders from both chambers, Roberts said her group will primarily focus on House contests.
“If Georgia women want to take their power back, we have to break the Republican trifecta,” she said. “That’s exactly what United for Georgia Women is working to do.”
There’s a bit more to it. Roberts resigned as the Democratic caucus treasurer earlier this year, writing in a letter that she’s been distracted from her goal of helping legislative candidates by “leadership issues that remain unresolved despite my best efforts.”
It was a reference to sexual harassment allegations against House Minority Leader James Beverly, who has said he has done nothing wrong. The House Democratic caucus’ staff is now in rebuilding mode, and donors have flocked to Roberts’ group.
The cash infusion comes as GOP officials fret their 102-78 edge in the House is about to get tighter.
State Rep. Mesha Mainor, a Democrat-turned-Republican who represents a deep-blue Atlanta district, needs a political miracle to win. State Rep. Ken Vance, R-Milledgeville, is also vulnerable. And Democrats are confident about chipping away in other battlegrounds, particularly in the suburbs.
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Credit: John Spink/AJC
Credit: John Spink/AJC
FOLLOW THE MONEY. It’s officially budget season.
Tuesday was the deadline for Georgia state agencies to turn in their budget requests for next year. It amounts to a lot of homework for Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration as they work to craft the governor’s budget proposal.
This isn’t a hopeful time for government bureaucrats. Kemp likely nixed most of their wish lists over the summer, when he told them they can’t ask for more money unless they cut something else to get it.
Why? One reason is the Republican-controlled state Legislature lowered the income tax rate, meaning there’s likely less money for the government to spend.
Not everyone is sitting at status quo. Kemp said government agencies could ask for more money to pay for increased expenses in entitlement programs, like Medicaid, the government-funded health insurance program for people with low incomes.
Last month, the Board of Community Health asked the Kemp administration for an extra $347 million for Medicaid. They believe Georgia’s Medicaid program will start growing again, especially now that the Kemp administration is heavily promoting its “Pathways” program that allows more people to enroll if they have a job or meet other requirements.
That program got off to a slow start, with just 4,300 people signing up so far.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
BIPARTISAN. Democrats have often assailed the conservative advocacy group True the Vote, accusing it of spreading disinformation about elections, including the 2020 and 2022 races in Georgia.
So it was a little strange to see the news that True the Vote had helped a Georgia Democrat overturn an election result.
Ambrose King Jr. lost his race for the Tift County School Board by just two votes against fellow Democrat Marilyn Burks. But a judge threw out those results last week after local election officials assigned voters in an apartment complex to the wrong school district.
True the Vote spent $15,000 helping King Jr.’s election challenge and researched problems with the district maps, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports.
“Ambrose King Jr.’s election challenge highlights the broader issues plaguing our national electoral system — issues that True the Vote is dedicated to addressing,” Catherine Engelbrecht, True the Vote’s CEO, said.
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GEORGIA GRIEF. The killing of six Israeli hostages over the weekend prompted an outpouring of grief from across the globe, including in Georgia, where one victim had a special connection to the local Jewish community.
The victims included Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The Associated Press reports Goldberg-Polin became “one of the most recognizable faces of the nearly year-old hostage crisis.”
Goldberg-Polin was born in California and eventually moved to Israel with his family. But he spent time at Ramah Darom, a Jewish summer camp in the north Georgia mountains.
In a Facebook post, the camp noted that “Hersh, his parents Jon and Rachel, his sisters and many members of his extended family were longtime” participants of the camp’s annual Passover celebration.
That’s where his family got to know Rabbi Josh Heller of Congregation B’nai Torah, the Sandy Springs synagogue that counts many prominent Jewish leaders as congregants.
Heller’s daughter gave a heartrending speech at a Harvard University vigil on Sunday about their friendship. And Heller said as community members grapple with his murder, they should keep something in mind.
“We recognize that if we feel connected to any one loss, we must multiply it a thousand fold and more to grasp the magnitude of the total loss of October 7th and since,” he said.
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RECORD SCRATCH. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered former President Donald Trump to stop using a song written by the late Isaac Hayes during campaign events, the AJC’s Ernie Suggs reports.
Judge Thomas Thrash Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, said in the ruling that neither Trump nor his campaign can use the song, “Hold On, I’m Coming,” without first getting authorization from Hayes’ estate.
But Thrash denied a request to force the Trump campaign to take down any previously recorded uses of the song.
His ruling is intended to be a stopgap fix while the estate’s copyright infringement case against Trump makes its way through the courts.
Representatives of other celebrities, including Rihanna, the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, have also asked Trump to stop using their music. Vice President Kamala Harris received permission from Beyoncé to use the song “Freedom” as her campaign theme.
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TRUMP ALLIES IN BRASELTON. Republican allies of former President Donald Trump ventured to the northeast corner of Gwinnett County on Tuesday to tout the campaign’s economic policies.
About 250 people gathered at the Chateau Elan Winery & Resort in Braselton to hear from U.S. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri; U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Linda McMahon, former head of the Small Business Administration, the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman reports.
Polls show the economy is among the top concerns from voters. McMahon touted Trump’s promise to increase U.S. oil and gas production, despite concerns from environmental groups.
“We have liquid gold beneath our feet in this country that’s not being utilized,” she said.
The U.S. set a global record for crude oil production during the Biden administration in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” state Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, talks about what it’s like being a down-ballot candidate in November. Also, Libertarian presidential nominee Chase Oliver discusses his candidacy.
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.
On Tuesday’s show, Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer of the Georgia secretary of state’s office, talked about the decision to include more candidates on the state’s presidential ballot. Young Democrats of Georgia president Parker Short discussed his organization’s annual conference. And AJC investigative reporter Katherine Landergan spoke about the failings of the state agency designated to help disabled Georgians find and keep jobs.
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
WARNOCK IN LONDON. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is completing a trip to London where he was a featured guest at a church’s celebration marking 60 years since Martin Luther King Jr. preached there.
The Georgia Democrat delivered the sermon on Sunday from that same pulpit at St. Paul’s Cathedral. On Tuesday, he delivered a lecture on the modern-day lessons that can be taken from the sermon King gave during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
Roughly 150 parishioners at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Warnock is senior pastor, joined him for the trip.
King visited St. Paul’s on Dec. 6, 1964, preaching there on his way to collect the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. King also participated in a news conference where he shared the latest on race relations in America.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden has no public events on his schedule.
- The U.S. House and Senate are in recess until Monday.
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ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. We’re 61 days away from the election. Here’s what’s happening today:
- Vice President Kamala Harris will promote a campaign proposal regarding tax breaks for small businesses during a campaign event at a brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
- Former President Donald Trump is participating in a town hall hosted by Sean Hannity in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is campaigning in the Pennsylvania cities of Lancaster and Pittsburgh.
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HOLLER. Are you one of the nearly 78,000 Georgians who cast ballots for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the presidential primary? We’d love to hear from you.
Shoot insider Greg Bluestein an email to tell him whether you’ve already decided who you’re backing in November or still struggling to make up your mind.
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SHOUTOUTS
Credit: AJC file photo
Credit: AJC file photo
SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthdays:
- Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington.
- State Rep. Rhonda Taylor, D-Conyers.
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.
