The start of the college football season proved, yet again, that the wildly popular Georgia Bulldogs are the rare unifier in the most politically divided state in the nation.
Gov. Brian Kemp, an Athens native and die-hard Dawg, welcomed Georgia’s season kickoff Saturday night by declaring an early start of the “hunting season” for Oregon Ducks. By the end of the 49-3 rout, he declared the Bulldogs had “bagged their limit.”
Herschel Walker, the legendary UGA running back and GOP Senate nominee, was on hand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to wish his former coach Vince Dooley a happy 90th birthday. Walker also posed for pictures with former Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is now the chancellor of the University System of Georgia, and state Sen. Tyler Harper, the GOP nominee for agriculture commissioner.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Morehouse man, chimed in with a “Go Dawgs.” And Stacey Abrams, a Spelman College graduate, posed with red-and-black clad tailgaters and with a message for a “Happy Game Day!”
In this political atmosphere, everybody wants to wrap themselves in the banner of a winner like the championship Bulldogs. But leaving no votes on the table, Warnock also gave a shout out Monday night to Georgia Tech’s Yellow Jackets, ahead of their less successful outing.
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LABOR DAY. While the GOP contenders — and plenty of Democrats — were out in force Saturday for the Bulldogs, the Democratic ticket gathered Monday for a Labor Day rally with the Georgia state AFL-CIO and the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council.
Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, lieutenant governor nominee Charlie Bailey and attorney general hopeful, state Sen. Jen Jordan, as well as nominees up and down the ballot were on hand for the pro-worker picnic.
The labor groups will be key allies for Democrats’ turnout efforts heading into the fall.
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MONEY MADNESS. While candidates crisscross the state in the sprint to November, the real race may be down to dollars.
Greg Bluestein has a look at the mad money race ahead of Election Day:
Georgia's top candidates and their allies have already devoted nearly $300 million to ads this election cycle, a once-unthinkable sum that now reflects the state's rise as a political battleground.
That's forced candidates and outside groups to dream up inventive ways to capture the attention of distracted voters — and to produce increasingly provocative ad campaigns designed to break through a cluttered media landscape.
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GREENE’S TEAM. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying to spread her message beyond her far-right supporters in Georgia. She’s visited battleground states and stumped around the nation for Donald Trump.
It might be working. Axios reporter Jonathan Swan noted that when Greene appeared at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night, “it was almost like she was Trump.”
“Not sure I’ve seen so much enthusiasm for a member of Congress from MAGA base,” he observed.
Greene took a page out of her usual playbook, pushing disproven election fraud lies, attacking President Joe Biden, and framing Trump supporters as victims.
“You know what Pennsylvania” she began. “Donald Trump won the 2020 election!”
After a roar from the crowd, she called for Biden to be jailed, for January 6th suspects to be released, for the “entire upper echelon of the FBI” to go unpaid, and for Trump to be reelected president in 2024.
And she rolled out stabbing one-liners that the Trump base loved.
“We are going to fire Nancy Pelosi,” she said of the House Speaker, adding, “I’ve never liked her anyways. And her husband has an alcohol problem.” (Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was recently convicted of driving under the influence in California.)
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TRUMP TRAVELS: Former President Donald Trump’s rally for Pennsylvania candidates this weekend resurfaces a familiar question: Will he return to Georgia ahead of the November election?
The Washington Post reports the Peach State could be on Trump’s itinerary for the fall. The planning is being headed up by a familiar face for Georgia politicos — Atlanta-born Brian Jack.
Jack, a former Trump White House adviser who now works for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), has prepared polling and research on House districts, which have been part of ongoing discussions informed by data with candidates and campaign committees about where Trump should go and when, according to the close Trump adviser. The conversations have included trips to Arizona, districts on the southern border, some parts of Texas, many places in Florida, select areas of Georgia, areas in North Carolina and Ohio, and the western side of Pennsylvania.
Even if Trump comes to Georgia, do the GOP candidates want him here?
Gov. Brian Kemp won a huge primary victory over a Trump-backed challenger and leads Stacey Abrams in key polls. He’s since reached a truce with Trump and would rather this election be a referendum on Joe Biden rather than the former president.
But it would be harder for Senate nominee Herschel Walker and Burt Jones, Trump’s picks for Senate and lieutenant governor, to avoid the former president’s vortex if he wants to make a return visit.
A reminder that although Georgia Republicans have repeatedly rebuked the former president, even his top targets on the ballot aren’t “Never Trumpers.”
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BIDEN BACKUP. Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms made her first high-profile appearance Sunday as a senior White House adviser, taking the lead slot on ABC’s “This Week”.
Bottoms was brought on to defend President Joe Biden’s speech last week calling “MAGA Republicans” a threat to American Democracy. She called the overall address “optimistic” and said Biden was right about Trump’s staunchest supporters.
“This hate-fueled agenda, this MAGA Republican agenda that we saw incite violence on this nation’s Capitol has no place in our democracy,” she told ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
Bottoms’ official title is Senior Advisor to the President for Public Engagement, and she’s been making frequent media appearances to be the face of Biden’s policies.
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BIDEN BACKLASH. President Joe Biden characterized his primetime speech last week as outlining the “continued battle for the soul of the nation,” but Republicans said the president was sowing divisions rather than healing them.
Although Biden tried to distinguish between “MAGA Republicans” and mainstream Republicans, the backlash came from across the spectrum, including from U.S. Rep. Austin Scott.
Credit: Tamar Hallerman
Credit: Tamar Hallerman
The Tifton Republican was among the two Georgia lawmakers who voted to accept electoral votes for Biden on Jan. 6, and he generally avoids far-right rhetoric. But in an email to constituents over the weekend, Scott’s criticism of Biden’s speech also touched on common GOP complaints regarding the president.
“Last week, President Biden gave a divisive and shameful speech where he compared conservative Republicans to the likes of terrorists,” Scott wrote. “This is coming from the same President who disregards real known terrorists who are crossing our border with record levels of fentanyl that’s killing thousands, and the same President who gave the OPEC Cartel control of our energy and sold our oil reserves to the Communist Chinese Government.”
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- After a long August recess, the U.S. Senate is back in session at 3:00 this afternoon, with a cloture vote scheduled on a judicial nomination. The House returns next week.
- President Joe Biden meets with the Cabinet and Vice President Kamala Harris.
- U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, in his official capacity, is hosting a telephone town hall for constituents tonight at 7 p.m.
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Credit: Raphaëla Alemán
Credit: Raphaëla Alemán
ATHENS OPENING. Former Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Mariah Parker used Twitter to resign from office last week.
In her resignation, she also denounced the University of Georgia, “housing cartels,” a “bloated insurance industry,” and the federal government for not doing more to keep Athens residents out of poverty, homelessness, and poor health.
“Our constituents look to us to reign in this organized greed, & I am committed to do that. But I accept now that this aim is largely incompatible with the work of a county commissioner, as prescribed,” Parker wrote.
The Athens Banner-Herald reports that Parker’s resignation was unexpected, but the vacancy for her seat will be filled quickly. A special election for the seat has been scheduled for Nov. 8th and will be on the general election ballot.
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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.
