Republicans aren’t done yet. That’s the message from the Democratic National Committee that will greet many Georgia voters in a new digital ad blitz unveiled this morning.
The 30-second spot is part of the DNC’s “MAGA Hot Mic” campaign to tie Republican officials to calls by anti-abortion advocates to pass an outright ban on abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s watershed ruling that reversed the Roe v. Wade decision.
The fissures are already evident within the GOP. Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker and other GOP candidates say they want a full abortion ban.
Gov. Brian Kemp and some of his allies, meanwhile, say they personally support stricter abortion limits but are focused on implementing Georgia’s 2019 law pending in the courts. That measure would restrict abortions as soon as six weeks, before many women know they’re pregnant.
Democrats are struggling with their own debates about whether to support any limits on abortions. Asked about her stance on Fox News, Stacey Abrams called abortion a medical decision that should be made “between a doctor and a woman in consultation with her family.”
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LISTEN UP: We look at the political implications of the Supreme Court’s decision, along with Brian Kemp’s public safety push and the latest January 6 Committee hearings in our Wednesday edition of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Listen at the AJC and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
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SUBURBAN SLIDE. A warning sign for Democrats popped up this week in an AP piece about Republicans’ gains among suburban voters since 2020.
The AP writes that more than 1 million Americans in 43 states have switched from Democrat to Republican since Joe Biden won the White House in 2020, including in Georgia. More:
But nowhere is the shift more pronounced — and dangerous for Democrats — than in the suburbs, where well-educated swing voters who turned against Trump's Republican Party in recent years appear to be swinging back. Over the last year, far more people are switching to the GOP across suburban counties from Denver to Atlanta and Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Republicans also gained ground in counties around medium-size cities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; and Des Moines, Iowa."
We’ll add here that Georgians do not register by party, but more voters turned out for the hotly contested 2021 GOP primaries than the Democratic primaries, which were essentially uncontested at the top of the ticket.
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SHOPPING TRIP. Speaking of the ‘burbs, look for Kelly Loeffler’s Greater Georgia to be at grocery stores in Fulton and DeKalb counties Wednesday through Friday registering new voters.
The group is hoping that sticker shock after filling up a grocery cart will motivate unregistered voters to sign up to participate in November.
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ROLL ‘EM. The Fulton County special grand jury looking at Donald Trump’s attempt to undermine Georgia’s 2020 election will soon focus on a new witness.
Our AJC colleague Tamar Hallerman has confirmed that Alex Holder, a British documentarian who had extensive access to Trump and his family before and after the 2020 vote, was subpoenaed Tuesday in the probe.
Holder was asked to bring “all video footage and other materials related to the docuseries “Unprecedented’” when he appears before the grand jury on July 12, according to a subpoena first reported by CNN.
Holder interviewed Trump once before the Jan. 6 attack and twice after, according to The New York Times, which also reported that Holder spoke to Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s oldest children and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In a CNN interview, Holder suggested he had footage of Trump discussing Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as the state was auditing absentee ballot signatures in Cobb County.
Trump, he said, called the Georgia officials “stupid people” and said they weren’t “brave enough” to conduct a proper review of the matter.
CNN also reported that an attorney representing Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, state Sen. William Ligon and other Republicans is trying to quash their subpoenas for the grand jury.
State Rep. Bee Nguyen and state Sens. Jen Jordan and Elena Parent – all Democrats – have already testified before the panel.
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GIULIANI’S GEORGIA JEOPARDY. The special grand jury investigation has also become increasingly focused on the actions of ally Rudy Giuliani, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The article says that “it is the Georgia investigation that may place Mr. Giuliani in the most immediate legal jeopardy, according to lawyers involved in, or closely observing, the case.”
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UNDER OATH. Tuesday’s bombshell testimony during the U.S. House January 6 Committee’s hearing included allegations that then-President Donald Trump physically attacked the head of his security detail as Secret Service agents stopped him from going to the Capitol on January 6.
That was what former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the panel under oath, although she described hearing the details second hand.
Trump allies worked to discredit the testimony, with some demanding the committee meet with those who want to refute Hutchinson, including anonymous Secret Service representatives who said the assault did not happen.
And Georgia’s U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked Hutchinson on Twitter, writing, “Lying under oath is a serious crime but using Congressional committee power to lie about, harass, and hurt the character and reputation of political enemies at the taxpayer’s expense should also be a crime.”
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J6 POLL. Our friends over at Blueprint Polling conducted a survey of 633 Republican voters in Georgia between June 22-24 – the three days immediately following the Jan. 6 Committee’s focus on Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the state’s election results.
Among the findings:
· A slim majority (53%) say they’re more loyal to the Republican Party than to Trump. Only about one-quarter put Trump above party.
· A plurality (46%) say they still believe Trump’s debunked election fraud conspiracies, while about one-third say they haven’t bought into them.
· About 44% say harassment and threats by Trump and his allies targeting election officials has gone too far. About one-third say the danger comes with the job.
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KEMP & COPS. Look for Gov. Brian Kemp’s campaign to continue to push his public safety message today with a press conference featuring Attorney General Chris Carr and Insurance Commissioner John King.
The advisory says they’ll highlight “Stacey Abrams’ support of defund the police,” although the Democrat recently released a proposal to boost salaries of some law enforcement officers precisely to blunt these sorts of attacks.
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WAIT & SEE. Stacey Jackson, the new district attorney in Columbus, did not join the other Georgia DAs who said earlier this week they won’t prosecute doctors under Georgia’s pending six-week abortion ban law.
Jackson told The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer’s Nick Wooten:
“I don’t want to comment at this time because the law hasn’t taken effect. Once that litigation is over and a decision has been made (then) we’ll have to make a decision on what the codified law is. ...Since there is litigation I don’t want to comment on a potential hypothetical. My plan is to wait to see what happens.”
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FARMING FRIENDS. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is making friends in Republican places.
The Democrat journeyed to the poultry lab in Gainesville to visit local officials and business leaders to talk about ways to bolster the all-important industry.
His plan would boost funding for poultry science programs at the University of Georgia and Fort Valley State University and pour more resources into poultry research centers in Athens and Tifton.
He was joined by key Republican officials in the deep-red north Georgia county, including Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, Gainesville Mayor Sam Couvillon and Drew Echols, the Jaemor Farms operator.
Sen. Jon @ossoff, a Democrat, and state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, a Republican, tout bipartisan efforts to boost agriculture — the state’s largest industry — at the Georgia Poultry Lab in Gainesville. #gapol #gasen pic.twitter.com/olgw3KkRzb
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) June 28, 2022
“He was very on point with his knowledge of farming in Georgia,” Couvillon told the Gainesville Times. “We should all feel comfortable with him — and that’s coming from a Republican. I didn’t vote for him, but I’m very impressed with him.”
Ossoff was also in Athens Tuesday, where he talked about boosting funding for the National Poultry Research Center and UGA Veterinary Diagnostic Lab.
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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.
