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    Political Insider Blog

    11/14/2018 -- Atlanta, Georgia -- Georgia State Senator Nikema Williams speaks during a press conference at the Capitol Building in Atlanta, Wednesday, November 14, 2018. Sen. Williams said she spent more than 4 hours in the Fulton County Jail after being arrested during a protest in the Capitol rotunda Wednesday afternoon. (ALYSSA POINTER/ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
    Political Insider Blog
    Confusing Georgia law at heart of debate over Lewis’ successor
    FILE - In this June 20, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump arrives on stage to speak at a campaign rally at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. Trump is privately reassuring Republicans anxious about his deficits to Democrat Joe Biden, noting there are three months until Election Day and reminding them of the late-breaking events that propelled his 2016 comeback. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Another poll shows Trump’s base in Georgia is eroding
    071520 Atlanta: Seated in the middle of the room Senator Kelly Loeffler gives the thumbs up as she is recognized by President Donald Trump during his visit to Georgia to talk about an infrastructure overhaul at the UPS Hapeville hub at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday July 15, 2020 in Atlanta. Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com
    Political Insider Blog
    Kelly Loeffler takes BLM criticism to host with white supremacist ties
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    07/16/2020 - Marietta, Georgia - Wearing face masks, Gov. Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp are greeted as they arrived to the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Emergency Department building in Marietta, Thursday, July 16, 2020. (ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
    Political Insider Blog
    Kemp renews ban on mask mandates, extends Georgia coronavirus...
    U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Atlanta), colleagues and activists march to the headquarters of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during a protest on June 13, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
    Political Insider Blog
    Several prominent Democrats line up to succeed John Lewis in Congress
    <p> FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2019 file photo, Gov. Brian Kemp addresses the 2019 Season Joint Budget hearings in Atlanta. In letters dated Wednesday, March 6, 2019, a U.S. House committee is seeking a trove of information from Georgia’s governor and secretary of state as it investigates reports of voter registration problems and other issues reported during the state’s 2018 elections. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) </p> <p> FILE - In this pool image from video, Stacey Abrams delivers the Democratic party's response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 from Atlanta. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp served as the state’s chief election officer while he ran for governor in 2018. Abrams has alleged he mismanaged the election which she narrowly lost, an allegation which Kemp denies. (Pool video image via AP) </p> <p> FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2019 file photo, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger answers questions after the Georgia House passed a bill to buy a new election system that includes a paper ballot. But opponents to the bill, including many Democrats, say it would still leave Georgia's elections vulnerable to hacking and tampering. In letters dated Wednesday, March 6, 2019, a U.S. House committee is seeking a trove of information from Georgia’s governor and secretary of state as it investigates reports of voter registration problems and other issues reported during the state’s 2018 elections. (Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) </p> <p> FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019 file photo, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D- Md., the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, presides over the last hour of testimony by Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. In letters dated Wednesday, March 6, 2019 and signed by Reps. Cummings and Jamie Raskin, both from Maryland, a U.S. House committee is seeking a trove of information from Georgia’s governor and secretary of state as it investigates reports of voter registration problems and other issues reported during the state’s 2018 elections (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) </p>
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Georgia’s unquiet secretary of state
    An image of a 200-bed temporary hospital for coronavirus patients that opened in April inside the Georgia World Congress Center.
    Political Insider Blog
    Georgia to reopen makeshift hospital at World Congress Center
    US Senate candidate Jon Ossoff speaks as protesters gather at the Georgia State Capitol Building in downtown Atlanta for March on Georgia, a protest hosted by the Georgia chapter for the NAACP, on Monday, June 15, 2020. (REBECCA WRIGHT FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)
    Political Insider Blog
    A pandemic first: Ossoff airs TV ad from self-isolation in Senate race
    7/30/20 - Atlanta, GA - Former President Barack Obama, addresses the service. On the sixth day of the “Celebration of Life” for Rep. John Lewis, his funeral is held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, with burial to follow. Alyssa Pointer / alyssa.pointer@ajc.com
    Political Insider Blog
    Opinion: John Lewis set the theme for his own funeral. Donald Trump it...
    A statue of Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the Confederate vice president throughout the Civil War, has been on display in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol since 1927, A number of top politicians in Georgia have joined in a bipartisan effort to replace it with a likeness of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
    Political Insider Blog
    Georgia politicians want John Lewis statue to replace Confederate in ...
    Democratic candidate Joyce Griggs participated in a virtual debate on July 19. Her opponent, Lisa Ring, was unable to attend.
    Political Insider Blog
    Election 2020: Guide to the Democratic runoff in the 1st Congressional...
    U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R- Monroe. File photo.
    Political Insider Blog
    U.S. Rep. Jody Hice quarantining after possible coronavirus exposure
    July 29, 2020 Atlanta - Phi Beta Sigma fraternity members view the flag-draped casket of Congressman John Lewis during Omega Chapter Ceremony at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. Behind them is a portrait of Alexander Stephens, a Georgia congressman and governor who was also the vice president of the Confederacy. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Brian Kemp endorses replacing statue of Confederate leader...
    200717-Atlanta-Gov. Brian Kemp listens to Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, during a coronavirus briefing Friday morning July 17, 2020 at the State Capitol. Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    Political Insider Blog
    Kemp faces new challenge over coronavirus restrictions
    FILE - In this combination of file photos, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Del., on March 12, 2020, left, and President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on April 5, 2020. The University of Notre Dame has become the second university to withdraw as the host of one of this fall's three scheduled presidential debates amid the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo, File)
    Political Insider Blog
    Monmouth poll: Biden, Trump deadlocked in Georgia; tight US Senate races
    Former Gov. Zell Miller and former first lady Shirley Miller are introduced in the balcony during the second inauguration of Gov. Nathan Deal in 2015. Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: A needs-based supplement to the HOPE scholarship, in the of...
    In this June 7, 2020 photo provided by the Executive Office of District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, John Lewis looks over a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington. The Washington Monument and the White House are visible in the distance. Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died. He was 80. (Khalid Naji-Allah/Executive Office of the Mayor via AP)
    Political Insider Blog
    Opinion: The real life, comic book hero that was John Lewis
    Ralph Reed, from right, Dr. Alveda King, Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and personal pastor to the president, Paula White Cain, and others pray on stage during a Donald Trump campaign event courting devout conservatives by combining praise, prayer and patriotism, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Alpharetta, Ga. (AP Photo/John Amis)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Re-electing Donald Trump will keep Christians at ‘the top of...
    FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2018, file photo, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden greets supporters during a rally with Wisconsin Democrats in Madison Wis. While Democrats are still planning to meet in person in Milwaukee in August, Wisconsin's state convention was scaled back from a two-day event to a two-hour virtual meeting. But the goal of focusing on beating Trump remains the same. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File)
    Political Insider Blog
    Joe Biden unveils senior leadership team in Georgia
    In his bid for re-election, Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, left, faces Democrat Jon Ossoff.
    Political Insider Blog
    Democrats assail Perdue over ‘hateful’ ad that made Ossoff’s nose look...
    Rows of school buses are parked at their terminal, Friday, July 10, 2020, in Zelienople, Pa. Pennsylvania schools are working on how they will safely transport students this fall, but one idea that won't be part of the plan is to install plastic barriers around school bus drivers. The state Transportation Department rejected that idea recently, saying there wasn't evidence it'll make anyone safer. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: The state Board of Education gets thrown under the school bus
    ajc.com
    Political Insider Blog
    Loeffler’s campaign ups attacks on Collins’ legal record despite...
    ATLANTA, GA APRIL 18: Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff walks with his girlfriend Alisha Kramer after speaking to his supporters as votes continue to be counted in a race that was too close to call for Georgia s 6th Congressional District in a special election to replace Tom Price, who is now the secretary of Health and Human Services on April 18, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. The winner of the race would fill a congressional seat that has been held by a Republican since the 1970s. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
    Political Insider Blog
    Georgia Senate: Ossoff in self-isolation after his wife contracts...
    07/16/2020 - Marietta, Georgia - Gov. Brian Kemp gives a thumbs-up as he avoids answering questions about his new decision to spell out that cities and counties canÕt mandate the use of masks following the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Emergency Department building in Marietta, Thursday, July 16, 2020. (ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
    Political Insider Blog
    Kemp v. Bottoms settlement discussions hit a snag over mask mandates
    FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2015, file photo a bridge marks the entrance to the U.S. Army's Fort Benning as the sun rises in Columbus, Ga. The Senate on Thursday, July 23, 2020, joined the House in defying a veto threat from President Donald Trump to approve defense legislation that would remove the names of Confederate officers from American military bases such as Fort Bragg and Fort Benning. (AP Photo/Branden Camp, File)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Confederate history enters a Georgia U.S. Senate race
    In this July 14, 2020, file photo, amid concerns of the spread of COVID-19, Aiden Trabucco, right, wears a mask as he raises his hand to answer a question behind Anthony Gonzales during a summer STEM camp at Wylie High School in Wylie, Texas. School districts that plan to reopen classrooms in the fall are wrestling with whether to require teachers and students to wear face masks — an issue that has divided urban and rural schools and yielded widely varying guidance. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
    Political Insider Blog
    Opinion: The re-opening of schools provokes sober thinking among...
    May 30, 2020 - Atlanta - Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced a 9pm curfew as protests continued for a second day. Protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody spread around the United States on Saturday, as his case renewed anger about others involving African Americans, police and race relations. Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal Constitution
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Keisha Lance Bottoms makes the first move to settle pandemic...
    President Donald Trump speaks about an infrastructure overhaul during a visit to Georgia earlier this month. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
    Political Insider Blog
    Inside Trump’s Georgia ground game operation
    Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks Thursday during an online update of the city.
    Political Insider Blog
    Judge orders mediation in Georgia’s mask mandate lawsuit
    U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, stops by the office of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, which has been adorned with a mourning drape, in the Cannon Building on Monday. Lewis died Friday at age 80. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
    Political Insider Blog
    Questions surround whether John Lewis will lie in state in Washington,...
    In his bid for re-election, Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, left, faces Democrat Jon Ossoff.
    Political Insider Blog
    Georgia Senate: Signs point to a tightening Ossoff-Perdue race
    07/16/2020 - Marietta, Georgia - Gov. Brian Kemp gives a thumbs-up as he avoids answering questions about his new decision to spell out that cities and counties canÕt mandate the use of masks following the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Emergency Department building in Marietta, Thursday, July 16, 2020. (ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Governor Kemp’s lawsuit would overturn mask requirements in...
    Located in Augusta, Fort Gordon is named after John Gordon, who commanded half of Robert E. Lee's army for a time. AJC file photo. HYOSUB SHIN/HSHIN@AJC.COM
    Political Insider Blog
    7 Georgia U.S. reps oppose military bill, base renaming among the...
    Andrew Young, left, former congressman and U.N. ambassador, Rep. John Lewis, center, D-Ga., and former NAACP chairman Julian Bond take part in the "Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement" panel during the Civil Rights Summit on Wednesday, April 9, 2014, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jack Plunkett)
    Political Insider Blog
    John Lewis, Julian Bond and the answering machine that is still the...
    New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo waves a mask to make a point during a news conference at the Hyatt, in Savannah, Ga. on Monday, July 20, 2020. Listening in is Savannah Mayor Van Johnson. (Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News via AP)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: In Savannah, New York’s governor says mask mandate was ‘one...
    FILE -- Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) makes at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. Georgia Democrats were poised on Monday, July 20, 2020, to pick a replacement for Lewis on the November ballot, reaching a decision less than 72 hours after the civil rights leader turned 17-term congressman died. (Alyssa Schukar/The New York Times)
    Political Insider Blog
    Democrats want ‘terrible’ process changed after speedy vote on Lewis’...
    Democrats tap Nikema Williams to replace John Lewis on November ballot
    Political Insider Blog
    Democrats tap Nikema Williams to replace John Lewis on November ballot
    Gov. Brian Kemp’s lawsuit accuses Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of violating his executive orders by banning gatherings of more than 10 people on city property and requiring people to wear masks in Atlanta.
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Keisha Lance Bottoms on the governor’s ‘bizarre’ request for...
    FILE -- Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) speaks on voting rights outside the Capitol in Washington, June 25, 2019. Lewis, a son of sharecroppers and apostle of nonviolence who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality and then carried a mantle of moral authority into Congress, died on Friday, July 17, 2020. He was 80. (Michael A. McCoy/The New York Times)
    Political Insider Blog
    As they mourn John Lewis, Ga. Democrats must quickly choose a successor
    President Barack Obama said of John Lewis: “He loved this country so much that he risked his life and its blood so that it might live up to its promise." Photo by STEVE SCHAEFER / SPECIAL TO THE AJC
    Political Insider Blog
    A way to keep the late John Lewis as the ‘conscience of Congress’
    U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) speaks during a rally for gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams at Morehouse College in Macon, Georgia, on November 2, 2018. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)
    Political Insider Blog
    What happens to John Lewis’ seat in Congress after his death
    07/13/2020 - Crawfordville, Georgia - A portrait of Harry, left, and Eliza Stephens is displayed over a fireplace in a small house located on the property at A.H. Stephens State Park in Crawfordville, Monday, July 13, 2020. This two room house is a replica of the home that the Stephens lived and raised their children. (ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
    Georgia Politics
    The Black family that claims Alexander Stephens, vice president of the...
    Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp returns to his office after giving a coronavirus briefing at the Capitol Friday, July 17, 2020, in Atlanta. Kemp sued the city of Atlanta over its face-mask requirement just after President Donald Trump arrived in the city without wearing a mask, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Friday.(AP Photo/John Bazemore)
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: A swirl of masked contradictions in Georgia
    200717-Atlanta-Gov. Brian Kemp listens to Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, during a coronavirus briefing Friday morning July 17, 2020 at the State Capitol. Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    Political Insider Blog
    Kemp casts lawsuit over Atlanta virus restrictions in ideological terms
    Seated in the middle of the room Senator Kelly Loeffler gives the thumbs up as she is recognized by President Donald Trump during his visit to Georgia to talk about an infrastructure overhaul at the UPS Hapeville hub at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
    Political Insider Blog
    Georgia Senate: In TV attack, Loeffler targets Collins’ legal record
    07/16/2020 - Marietta, Georgia - Gov. Brian Kemp greets Mary Chatman (left), executive vice president of Wellstar Health System and president of Wellstar Kennestone and Wellstar Windy Hill Hospitals, before the start of a ribbon cutting for the new Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Emergency Department building in Marietta, Thursday, July 16, 2020. (ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
    Political Insider Blog
    Kemp’s office seeks to block Atlanta mask mandate in court
    Seated in the middle of the room Senator Kelly Loeffler gives the thumbs up as she is recognized by President Donald Trump during his visit to Georgia to talk about an infrastructure overhaul at the UPS Hapeville hub at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
    Political Insider Blog
    Loeffler won’t have to sell stake in WNBA team, commissioner says
    Kemp has banned cities and counties from adopting rules requiring masks
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Customer requirements by Walmart, Kroger make mask mandates...
    In his bid for re-election, Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, left, faces Democrat Jon Ossoff.
    Political Insider Blog
    Election 2020: Democrats Ossoff, Warnock outraise Republican opponents
    07/16/2020 - Marietta, Georgia - Gov. Brian Kemp wears a mask as he waits to speak during a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Emergency Department building in Marietta, Thursday, July 16, 2020. (ALYSSA POINTER / ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
    Political Insider Blog
    Kemp’s ban of mask mandates puts Georgia on collision course with its...
    April 24, 2019 Atlanta - Air Force One approaches as people wait to see President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump addressed the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM
    Political Insider Blog
    The Jolt: Jockeying for position ahead of Donald Trump's visit to...
    ajc.com
    Political Insider Blog
    Georgia Senate: Collins raises another $1.3M in bid to oust Loeffler
    In his bid for re-election, Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue, left, faces Democrat Jon Ossoff.
    Political Insider Blog
    Georgia Senate: Perdue has nearly $11M in the bank for 2020 bid
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