Republican Bill Cowsert launches campaign for Georgia attorney general

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Uncertainty reigns at the Tennessee Valley Authority board.
• Van Johnson leaves the door open to a potential run for Georgia governor.
• Jon Ossoff’s campaign donors have room to give more.

Cowsert is in

Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert (left) of Athens wants to be the next attorney general of Georgia.

Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert will launch his campaign for attorney general today with a message echoing President Donald Trump by accusing Democratic prosecutors of political bias.

Cowsert is highlighting his role leading a state Senate committee that scrutinized Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ decision to charge Trump and his allies with election interference.

He said Willis and “other partisan prosecutors have undermined public confidence in the fairness of our criminal justice system.

“Their abuse of power is a threat to the rule of law,” he said, “and it’s time to put an end to the weaponization of our justice system.”

He joins a growing Republican field vying to succeed Attorney General Chris Carr, who is running for governor. State Sen. Brian Strickland has already filed paperwork to run, and more contenders could soon follow.

The Democratic field, meanwhile, has yet to take shape.

Cowsert has represented his Athens-based Senate district since 2007. He has a law degree from the University of Georgia and is a founding partner of the Cowsert & Heath law firm.

Things to know

Good morning! Gov. Brian Kemp has 21 days left to either sign or veto bills passed by the state Legislature this year. He’s signed 10 bills into law so far and hasn’t vetoed anything yet.

Here are three things to know for today:

• Health experts warn that a draft budget proposal for federal health funding threatens to halt Georgia’s progress on maternal and infant mortality, the AJC’s Ariel Hart reports.
• Tiffany Brown, a two-time candidate for mayor of Atlanta, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on 32 counts of fraud relating to a $156 million Federal Emergency Management Agency contract, the AJC’s Rosie Manins reports.
• Cory Bowman, the half-brother of Vice President JD Vance, is running for mayor of Cincinnati.

Power outage

Much of the focus of President Donald Trump’s overhaul of federal agencies has been on places such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Agency for International Development and, most recently, the State Department.

But the administration’s actions with the nation’s largest public utility has left its board paralyzed, raising questions about its future and the small group of Georgia ratepayers it serves.

The Tennessee Valley Authority sells electricity to a group of 153 local power companies, including Blue Ridge Mountain EMC, North Georgia EMC and the City of Chickamauga. The authority doesn’t have a quorum after Trump fired two of its board members, meaning the agency can’t do things like approve its budget or sign off on major projects.

TVA board members require Senate confirmation. And while the TVA only impacts a small slice of Georgia, some advocates had hoped the state’s two Democratic U.S. senators — Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — would take more of an interest in board appointments. But for the most part, that hasn’t happened.

“We’re strong supporters of Ossoff and Warnock in the sense they have embraced the clean energy agenda,” said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “It’s unclear that they have captured the significance of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a federal asset.”

Trump hasn’t nominated any replacements yet. And when he does, his choices could take months to get confirmed. It’ll be worth monitoring to see how Georgia’s senators react.

Georgia 2026

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga, has raised millions of dollars for his 2026 reelection bid.

As Republicans sort out who will challenge U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, the Democrat is building his bank account. As we told you last week, the first-term incumbent raised roughly $11 million in the first three months of the year.

Our AJC colleague Isaac Sabetai did a deeper dive:

• Ossoff raised about $2.5 million in itemized donations — donors who have given at least $200 for the cycle. He raised another $7.5 million in unitemized small donations in the first quarter of 2025.
• Georgia edged California for the state that has donated the most in itemized contributions. Peach State donors gave about $478,000 while California contributors totaled $447,000.
• In the first quarter of 2025, Ossoff had about 8,100 donors who gave at least $200 for the cycle. Twenty-nine of those donors gave the maximum of $7,000 for the cycle. That means more than 8,000 of those donors can make additional contributions.

Dead docket

Imagine you’re charged with two crimes. A jury convicts you of one crime, but deadlocks on the other one. Prosecutors then move your unresolved case to Georgia’s mysterious “dead docket” — basically an indefinite holding place.

You try to appeal your conviction. But the court throws it out because, technically, your case is still pending. Cases on the dead docket are not resolved, and unresolved cases can’t be appealed.

If that sounds far-fetched, it happened to Demarquis Seals. A 2021 Georgia Supreme Court ruling confirmed that he could not appeal his conviction for child molestation while a related rape charge was pending on the dead docket. It’s prompted lots of discussion among the legal community, including Mercer Law Review article with the clever title: “Ding Dong! The Count is Dead, or Is It?”

It’s taken a few years, but lawmakers have reacted. They unanimously passed House Bill 176 this year. It allows for direct appeals while some associated cases are on the dead docket. It’s one of hundreds of bills on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk. He has until May 14 to decide what to do with it.

Seals is still in prison, serving a 20-year sentence. No one in the Legislature suggested he was wrongly incarcerated. Instead, the debate focused on making sure Georgia’s criminal justice system was available for everyone.

“It may not be very exciting to you, but it’s very important for those that deal with criminal law and are facing charges in our state to make sure the process works for everybody,” said state Sen. Brian Strickland, a Republican from McDonough who has filed to run for attorney general next year.

Savannah hedge

Van Johnson has been the mayor of Savannah since 2020.

Another high-profile Georgia Democrat, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, has cracked open the door — ever so narrowly — to a potential 2026 run for governor. Johnson is the Georgia coast’s most influential Democrat and a confidant of party heavyweights such as U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and two-time candidate for governor Stacey Abrams.

“We’ll see,” Johnson said when asked Tuesday by our AJC colleague Adam Van Brimmer if he was considering running for a statewide office. It marked the first time the term-limited mayor had strayed from his official line about having the best job in the world as mayor of Savannah — a refrain he returned to later in his comments.

He also voiced confidence in others who have shown interest in the post, such as state Sen. Jason Esteves, former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond and Bottoms.

“It doesn’t need to be me, it just needs to be someone I can support,” Johnson said. “Who has the best vision that includes Savannah and coastal Georgia? Because If you think you’re going to win the gubernatorial race with support just in metro Atlanta, that’s not going to work.”

Johnson’s political future — his term ends in 2027 after 23 years in city leadership — is an increasingly popular topic around Savannah. The 56-year-old campaigned for former Vice President Kamala Harris last year and was rumored to be in line for a job in her administration had Harris won the presidential election. Just last week, he was named president of the African American Mayor’s Association, a group with more than 500 members nationwide.

Johnson is a savvy politician known for taking decisive action on controversial topics, such as guns, homelessness, public health and voting rights.

Listen up

Today on “Politically Georgia,” a conversation with Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, who is leading a boycott against Target following its decision to roll back its diversity, equity and inclusion policy.

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.

You can listen and subscribe to the show for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Trump today

President Donald Trump will receive an intelligence briefing and sign executive orders.

Capitol concert

If you are at the Georgia Capitol Thursday, swing by the South Wing steps for an orchestra showcase featuring the Atlanta Festival Virtuosi. The performers live in the Gwinnett County-based district of state Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, where her own kids studied music.