From the moment former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced a comeback bid, he seemed assured of at least a runoff spot.
The former mayor had high visibility, a huge fundraising advantage, celebrity endorsements, leads in many public polls and a promise to combat surging crime and halt the movement to create Buckhead City from Atlanta’s affluent north end.
But as dawn broke Wednesday morning, returns showed Council President Felicia Moore had easily secured one spot in the Nov. 30 runoff and Councilman Andre Dickens held a narrow edge over Reed for the second spot.
“I’m living my dreams. I’m standing right here with John Lewis over my shoulder about to pull off an upset and get into the runoff,” Dickens told his supporters before calling it a night.
After narrowly beating Mary Norwood by 714 votes in 2009, it looks like Reed could now fall to a razor-thin defeat of his own.
Reed addressed the crowd at this watch party after midnight Tuesday, with the race still too close to call.
He said he ran for mayor for a third term because he loves Atlanta and worried for its future. He thanked his supporters before heading back to watch the remainder of the votes come in.
“Just remember, it is not easy. But the city of Atlanta is worth it.” he said.
Moore will be a formidable frontrunner. A longtime City Council member, she’s built a reputation as a fiscal hawk who has sparred with every mayor since she was first elected in 1997. Like Reed, she’s also promoted muscular policies to fight crime and rev up Atlanta’s economy.
In the most recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll, Moore captured a plurality of support from women, white voters, and voters 65 and over. In a contest against Reed, her biggest weakness would have been her relatively low profile. About 37% of voters still didn’t know enough in October to have an opinion of her.
But in a matchup against Dickens, it’s anyone’s race.
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In other news, THE BRAVES WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!
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It’s one down, one to go for Georgia political watchers this week. With Election Day in the rear view mirror, the Georgia General Assembly will gavel in at 10 a.m. this morning for its much-awaited special legislative session.
The formal schedule will need to be agreed upon by the House and Senate once action gets underway, and the length of the session is still unknown.
House Speaker David Ralston’s office has advised that work on the new legislative and congressional maps will likely last at least through the week before Thanksgiving, and could go longer.
COVID protocols, on the House side of the Capitol at least, will remain largely unchanged from the regular 2021 session. Masks in certain areas and regular COVID testing will be required for members, but seating arrangements will now be a little less socially distanced.
The Senate side of the Capitol, as always these days, will follow its own rules.
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The big-ticket item on the special session agenda, in addition to redrawing Georgia’s legislative and Congressional districts, will be at least one hearing to examine cityhood for the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta.
On Thursday, the Senate State & Local Government Operations Committee will hear testimony related to the feasibility study produced by Valdosta State University to examine one year of operations of a hypothetical Buckhead City.
On the tentative agenda are Bill White, the CEO of the Buckhead City Committee pushing for cityhood, and Darrell Moore from Valdosta State University. Expect voices skeptical of the idea to testify to the committee on Thursday as well.
Committee members to keep an eye on will be Republican state Sens. Clint Dixon and Randy Robertson, who have already signed onto the proposal to put cityhood for Buckhead to a referendum on the November 2022 ballot, and state Sen. Gloria Butler, the chair of the Senate Democratic caucus.
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One new face in the state Capitol will be former Savannah mayor Edna Jackson, who easily won the special election to replace the late state Rep. Mickey Stephens Tuesday night.
Jackson, a Democrat, took 53% of the vote, clearing the 50%-plus-one-vote threshold to avoid a runoff for the seat.
Rep.-elect Jackson will fill out the remainder of Stephens’ term, but said earlier this fall that she would not run for reelection if she won her contest in November. Instead, she portrayed herself as a qualified, short-term occupant of the seat who could advocate for the district immediately once she arrives in Atlanta.
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Tuesday was Election Day all across Georgia. Incumbent mayors generally fared well, as did proposals to hike sales taxes for specific local improvements. Also:
- Sandy Springs mayor Rusty Paul held a commanding lead with 70% of the vote late Tuesday night, well ahead of progressive candidate Dontae Carter;
- Tucker’s incumbent mayor Frank Auman had 56% of the vote compared to his challenger, Robin Biro, who hovered at 44%, the AJC’s Zachary Hansen reported;
- Marietta Mayor Steve “Thunder” Tomlin brought the thunder to win reelection Tuesday, according to the Marietta Daily Journal;
- Watkinsville mayor Brian Brodrick held off a challenge, too, says the Athens Banner-Herald;
- The MDJ also writes that sales tax boosts to fund Marietta and Cobb school improvements passed;
- Voters in Macon and Columbus also gave the go-ahead to sales tax hikes for capital improvements.
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The U.S. Senate will vote today on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a federal elections overhaul named for the late John Lewis. But a Republican filibuster will likely block Senate debate on the bill.
The vote won’t be along strictly partisan lines. Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has worked with Democrats on compromise language that she said she will support. But without at least nine other GOP members ready to join her, the measure won’t get the 60 votes needed to proceed.
The bill would reinstate federal pre-clearance of changes to election laws and congressional boundaries in states and municipalities with a history of discriminatory practices. It also would create new standards for determining whether a law dilutes the power of certain voters or makes it more difficult to cast votes.
The U.S. House passed its version of the measure in August.
Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock delivered remarks during the Democrats’ weekly press conference Tuesday, when he implored his GOP colleagues to allow the bill to move forward.
“We don’t mind that Republicans don’t agree with us on all of the nuances of these laws,” he said. “We’re just saying, ‘Let’s have a debate.’ How can the most important deliberative body on the planet refuse to have a debate?”
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Three Georgia-based political activists have been recognized as Women of the Year by Glamour magazine and were featured in an article under the headline “The Goddesses of Democracy.”
New Georgia Project chief executive Nsé Ufot, Black Voters Matter Fund cofounder LaTosha Brown, and Helen Butler, the executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, were interviewed by actress Kerry Washington for the feature.
All three are credited with helping deliver Georgia for Democrats during the 2020 general election and January runoffs.
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Channel 2 Action News’ Jovita Moore, who died of brain cancer last week, was honored on the floor of the U.S. House Tuesday.
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, a Marietta Democrat, led the tribute to the late TV journalist, who was 54.
“Her life was a positive force for good in this world,” McBath said. “And every evening little girls saw themselves on the television knowing that one day that they could be the woman that their community trusted at the end of each day.”
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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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