Democrat Marcus Flowers is giving Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a run for her money in the scramble for campaign cash.
The U.S. Army combat veteran said Tuesday he’ll report raising more than $1.3 million in the three-month span between July and September. He’ll end the quarter with more than $1 million in cash on hand and a donor list that boasts more than 162,000 contributions from at least 110,000 unique donors in all 50 U.S. states.
He also said he’s using the money to help finance a “big expansion of our in-district paid staff and our in-district volunteer team” in his longshot quest to unseat Greene and flip the northwest Georgia territory.
Greene, a freshman Republican, is at once a pariah for her dangerous and hateful comments, including comparing House members’ mask requirements in the Capitol to Jews’ oppression during the Holocaust. But she’s also a fundraising powerhouse who benefits from her fire-breathing style. She’s amassed more than $4.7 million overall and reported roughly $2.8 million in the bank in July.
And the freshman congresswoman is beloved on the far Right and among Donald Trump supporters. She appeared on stage with Trump at his most recent rally in Perry, Ga. and spent much of the summer and fall traveling across the country with Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz pushing disproven election conspiracies and asking audiences, “Who is your president? Donald Trump!”
Flowers might be the best-situated of a handful of Democrats to unseat Greene. Not only has he stocked his warchest, he’s recently added endorsements from former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland and ex-Ambassador Andrew Young, along with support from VoteVets and other national groups.
Even with all of that, it’s an uphill climb for any Democrat running in deep red northwest Georgia. Although the lines of the 14th district could change a bit in redistricting, Donald Trump won there with about 73% of the vote in 2020.
Along with Flowers, three Democrats, including Holly McCormack, Wendy Davis, and Lateefah Conner, two Republicans, Mark Daniel Clay and Jennifer Strahan, and Libertarian Angela Pence have announced for the 2022 contest.
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U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is introducing a bill designed to protect election workers from threats of violence, our AJC colleague Mark Niesse reports.
Ossoff’s new bill arrives as Congress is struggling to advance major voting rights bills that have stalled amid Republican opposition. The larger voting legislation includes new standards for early voting and automatic voter registration, campaign finance transparency rules, limits to partisan gerrymandering and ethics guidelines for federal lawmakers.
Ossoff’s latest proposal would expand on federal laws that make it illegal to threaten to harm election workers. The bill bans threats to election workers’ property as well as harassment of election volunteers and family members of election officials. It also prohibits intentionally damaging polling places and tabulation centers.
“Threats of violence targeting election officials and polling places are threats against our Constitution and the right to vote,” Ossoff said. “At this moment of peril for our democracy, my bill will strengthen Federal laws protecting election workers and polling places from violent threats and acts of violence.”
Ossoff brought the bill after Georgia election officials and poll workers received a barrage of death threats during last year’s election.
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New in the race for City Hall: The five leading candidates in the Atlanta mayor’s race joined the AJC’s Wilborn Nobles and J.D. Capelouto for a live forum Monday afternoon. The topics ranged from voters’ top issue of crime to affordable housing, COVID-19, and Buckhead City.
The AJC’s Ben Brash has the full write-up.
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Speaking of the mayor’s race, this week’s Race for City Hall looked at where ad spending stands in the contest, including one candidate who hasn’t been on the air since mid-September.
You’ll also get the latest on Councilman J.P. Matzigkeit’s push for candidates to take the “Buckhead Pledge,” a commitment to the neighborhood to back 10 specific policies related to crime, infrastructure, zoning and solid waste services in the future-- even as other Buckhead residents push for Buckhead to break off from Atlanta and go it alone.
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The campaign for mayoral candidate Sharon Gay is circulating internal polling that showed Gay was up to third place, trailing Felicia Moore and Kasim Reed, in mid-September.
Their numbers showed Moore at 28%, Reed at 21%, and Gay at 12%, with Andre Dickens coming in at 8%. The live-call tracking survey of 600 likely Atlanta voters had a margin of error rate of 4 points.
Third place, trailing by nine, isn’t exactly hot fire for an internal poll, but her team points out Gay jumped nine points after her considerable TV and mail spending. The more voters know about their candidate, they said, the more they like her.
Even a second place finish would be a coveted spot for any of the contenders. If no candidate finishes with 50% + 1 vote on Election Day, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff.
And, as we say with every internal poll, take it all with your usual grain of salt.
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A new federal report shows that COVID-19 vaccinations may have helped prevent thousands of new hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths among older Georgians.
The Department of Health and Human Services study released Tuesday estimates that 5,100 Georgia senior citizens were shielded from being infected with the disease because they were vaccinated, 2,100 avoided hospitalizations and 700 were spared from death.
Overall, the study found that vaccinations were linked to a reduction of 265,000 COVID-19 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations and 39,000 deaths among recipients of Medicare between January and May 2021.
The study found a nationwide drop in the numbers of deaths, hospitalizations and coronavirus infections across all racial and ethnic groups as the vaccination rate improves. And vaccines were linked to a reduction in 5,600 deaths among Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes.
“This report reaffirms what we hear routinely from states: COVID-19 vaccines save lives, prevent hospitalizations, and reduce infection,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
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Republicans who want to force local elections boards to allow the inspection of ballots from the 2020 election are trying an interesting legal maneuver that may not pass court muster, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports.
They are only suing Republicans who agree with their premise, removing as defendants Democrats who stand in their way.
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to review Fulton County absentee ballots asked a judge to dismiss the three Democrats who were on the county’s election board last year, leaving two Republicans as defendants who support the investigation.
If successful, the strategy would remove any opposition to skeptics’ efforts to back up an unflappable belief that the election was stolen from Republican Donald Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden by 12,000 votes in Georgia and by 243,000 votes in Fulton.
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Union members representing crews on TV and film sets have voted to allow their leadership to strike if they can’t get a contract to their liking in the coming days, the AJC’s Rodney Ho reports.
This is the first time the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) has ever authorized a nationwide strike in its history. The union represents cinematographers, operators, grips, editors and hair stylists, among others.
In Georgia, this would mean the shutdown of more than 50 existing films and TV programs, with thousands of people immediately out of work including actors, directors and writers.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams made a post on Twitter in support of the union. “Workers deserve fair treatment," the Atlanta Democrat wrote on Twitter.
State Rep. Erick Allen, a Cobb Democrat who is also running for lieutenant governor, also lent his support for the strike in a news release.
“I am in full support of IATSE and whatever they choose to do in negotiations to achieve a livable wage and safe working conditions," he said. “Nearly 100,000 Georgians are employed by the film and television industry and it has brought over $9 billion annually to our state. It is imperative that we support these workers who have invigorated and created a new stream of revenue for Georgia."
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Gov. Brain Kemp has formally suspended Muscogee County District Attorney Mark Jones, WRBL-TV’s Chuck Williams reports.
Jones has been under fire-- and under investigation-- for a range of crimes large and small. A judge recently dismissed a case against him for damaging a city parking lot during a campaign video shoot before he became the DA.
But Williams reports far more serious charges await the District Attorney for his actions once he was sworn in, including asking a Columbus Police officer to lie under oath to strengthen a case he was arguing.
Williams reports Jones’ suspension is effective immediately.
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Two powerful left-leaning political groups, End Citizens United and Let America Vote Action Fund, have announced a $1.4 million digital and TV ad buy that will focus on praising U.S. Sen. Reverend Raphael Warnock for leading the effort to pass a federal elections bill.
The “Georgia Freedom” ads praise Warnock as one of the catalysts behind the Freedom to Vote Act.
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said a vote on the legislation could happen as early as this week, although Senate Republicans are expected to use the filibuster to block the measure from moving forward.
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As always, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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