Today’s highlights include:
- Weather could disrupt Georgia’s presidential campaign schedule.
- State Supreme Court hears arguments about ballot access for lesser-known presidential candidates.
- Georgians open their wallets for Harris and Trump.
Former President Donald Trump plans to use his 1 p.m. speech in Savannah today to outline his plan to recruit foreign companies to build their manufacturing facilities in the U.S. in a policy dubbed “New American Industrialism.”
Trump’s aides say the Republican will pledge to direct his administration to actively recruit foreign companies by offering federal land and infrastructure improvements while also dangling a 15% corporate tax for companies that make their products in the United States.
It’s why campaign officials picked Savannah to sharpen his plan. The coastal Georgia city is home to one of the nation’s busiest ports. Trump is expected to tout the massive facility, which faces a looming threat of a work stoppage.
But along with the carrot of incentives, Trump also intends to wield a stick for those businesses that rebuff his administration’s outreach. He is expected to warn those businesses they’ll be forced to pay tariffs that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars.
It’s part of a broader plan that could overhaul the way Americans are taxed by embracing more robust tariffs. He’s backed separate ideas to void taxes on tips and overtime, along with his calls for Congress to extend a package of tax cuts he signed in 2017.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
GOOD MORNING. We’re 42 days away from the presidential election, and things are getting expensive. Vice President Kamala Harris raised twice as much money as former President Donald Trump did from Georgia donors in August. Overall, Trump has raised $8.5 million from Georgians while Harris and President Joe Biden have raised a combined $8.7 million, per the AJC’s Phoebe Quinton.
Here are three things to know today:
- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp withdrew his support of embattled North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson on Monday. Kemp had spoken during a fundraiser for Robinson in August.
- The State Election Board opened an investigation into how eight counties handled thousands of challenges to voter registrations.
- A U.S. Senate panel is asking hospitals in Georgia to share more information about their abortion policies following reports of several patients who were delayed or denied care, the AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu reports.
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A SAVANNAH MOMENT. Former President Donald Trump’s visit to Savannah today feels like a big moment for a region whose economic and political clout has been on the rise.
Trump is scheduled to speak about tax policy and domestic manufacturing. Last month, the city was the backdrop for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign as she both hosted an energetic campaign rally and sat down for her first interview with a national news outlet as the Democratic nominee.
But the city’s momentum is about more than just the presidential candidates. Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who landed a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention last month, is from Savannah. Republican state House Speaker Jon Burns is from neighboring Effingham County.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson is often mentioned as a Democratic candidate for higher office. Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who grew up in Savannah and called the area home until moving to St. Simons Island last year, has hinted at running for Senate or governor in 2026.
Meanwhile, a $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in nearby Bryan County — the largest economic development project in state history — is poised to begin production next month.
“Southeast Georgia has found its footing,” Burns told the AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer.
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RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY. Georgia has already lost one presidential campaign appearance because of a tropical storm. Could another one (or two?) happen this week?
The National Hurricane Center has identified a potential tropical cyclone in the Caribbean. It could strengthen to a major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico this week, and its path could come through Georgia and Alabama as soon as Thursday, the AJC’s Drew Kann reports.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, is scheduled to campaign in Macon and Flowery Branch on Thursday. And former President Donald Trump could attend Saturday’s college football game between Georgia and Alabama in Tuscaloosa. But it appears the storm’s worst conditions might be over by the time the game starts.
Last month, Harris’ campaign postponed a rally in Savannah because of Tropical Storm Debby. She held a rally there a few weeks later.
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Credit: AP, Courtesy photo
Credit: AP, Courtesy photo
WHAT COUNTS? A bunch of lawyers will gather at the Georgia Supreme Court today to argue about the state elections code.
But the practical question facing the justices is simple: Will the votes of what will likely be just a small number of Georgia residents be counted in this election?
Georgia’s chief administrative law judge and a pair of superior court judges have ruled that two lesser-known presidential candidates — independent Cornel West and the Party for Socialism and Liberation nominee Claudia De la Cruz — are disqualified from Georgia’s presidential ballot because they did not follow the rules.
West and De la Cruz have appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court. It’s likely too late to remove their names from the ballots. If the court rules against them, it would mean any votes for them would not count.
Republicans are also involved, with the state party asking the court to restore the candidates to the ballot. The GOP has backed legislation making it easier for independent candidates to reach the ballot, in part out of hopes they can siphon away votes from the Democratic nominee.
Broadly speaking, the stakes are not high. West and De la Cruz, along with Libertarian Chase Oliver and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, collectively have less than 1% of support among Georgia voters, according to the latest AJC poll.
The candidates, for their part, have seized on this notion of potential disenfranchisement, with lawyers for West writing that opponents “seek to thwart Georgia voters’ opportunity to cast a vote that counts.”
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THAT WAS FAST. We told you yesterday about a digital ad from former President Donald Trump’s campaign that featured a photo from the country of Georgia instead of the state of Georgia.
Well, it appears the Trump campaign deleted the ad about an hour after the newsletter was posted, per the tracking firm AdImpact.
The Trump campaign declined to comment.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” former state Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, joins us to talk about former president Donald Trump’s visit there today. Plus, the AJC’s Martha Dalton talks about students resuming classes at Apalachee High School, site of a deadly school shooting earlier this month.
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 Monday’s show, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Sen. Gloria Butler, D-Stone Mountain, discussed recent actions by the Georgia State Election Board.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will speak at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City.
- The U.S. House will vote on a series of bills, including legislation to address hazing on college campuses.
- The House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection will hold a hearing on the CrowdStrike outage that crippled Delta Air Lines.
- The Senate has more confirmation votes lined up.
- U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, will host a news conference in Washington to introduce her resolution asking Congress to declare abortion a human right.
***
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. Events today:
- Stacey Abrams is among the featured speakers at the Geeks and Nerds for Harris livestream event hosted by actress Lynda Carter.
- Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, will deliver remarks at campaign receptions in Austin and Houston.
- Former President Donald Trump will speak about taxes and manufacturing during a campaign event in Savannah.
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AD WATCH. Embattled North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was absent from former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Wilmington last week. But a new ad from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign seeks to make sure voters don’t forget their connection.
Robinson, who is running for governor, is facing backlash after CNN reported on his use of racist and explicit language on a pornography website. Robinson had been a favorite of Trump. The ad shows Trump saying he thinks Robinson is “better than Martin Luther King.”
CNN’s reporting revealed that Robinson had been quite critical of King over the years, describing him in one post as “worse than a maggot.” That drew a rebuke from U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who said on MSNBC Sunday that Robinson was “white supremacy in blackface.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign tried out a new line on Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
The slogan appears at the end of a new ad highlighting Harris’ previous support for allowing inmates “to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care.”
With 42 days left until Election Day, Democrats have reserved about $10 million more in airtime in Georgia than Republicans, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
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FENTANYL TRAGEDY. Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes featured the parents of a University of Georgia student who died from fentanyl.
Jack O’Kelley was just 20 years old when he died on Thanksgiving last year. His father, Mike O’Kelley, found him unresponsive at a friend’s house.
“We were so naïve to fentanyl,” Angela King, Jack O’Kelley’s mother, said. “You hear about it, but you think oh that’s just affecting people on the streets, homeless people, drug addicts. No. It is so insidious.”
Fentanyl-involved overdoses increased by 308% from 2019 to 2022, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthdays:
- State Sen. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville.
Belated birthday:
- Hayley Gahlau, deputy chief of staff and policy counsel for state House Speaker Jon Burns (was last Thursday).
- Melita Easters, executive director of Georgia WIN List (was Monday).
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.
