If you’ve been waiting for a certain former UGA football player to finally make a public announcement about his plans to run statewide next year, your wait is over.
GOP state Sen. Burt Jones filed his paperwork over the weekend, but rolled out his website and launch video for lieutenant governor late Monday night with the all-caps “BULLDOG CONSERVATIVE” splashed across the page. (Stay strong, Georgia Tech fans.)
Jones was, in fact, a walk-on to the UGA football team back in the day, a fact he also highlights prominently in his Rudy-esque “too-small-and-too-slow-but-made-the-team-anyway” themed origin story.
Regular Jolt readers are more likely to recognize Jones for his visible and repeated efforts to investigate the Georgia elections as former President Donald Trump tried to overturn his own 2020 loss in Georgia, a result that has been upheld by multiple statewide counts, recounts, and court decisions at every level.
That, along with Jones’ early endorsement for Trump in 2015, has endeared him to the former president, who has sent out friendly tweets about the state senator, but not yet endorsed him.
With Senate Pro Tem Butch Miller already in the race, the GOP primary is shaping up to be a crucial test between a pro-Trump conservative with Trump’s support (Jones) and a pro-Trump conservative without his support. (Pro-Trump GOP activist Jeanne Seaver has also declared for the race, but hasn’t yet gotten Trump’s mention.)
Miller’s campaign-related interactions with the former president boil down to a single Tweet, in which Trump wrongly said Miller did not support the state’s election law, SB 202. (He did.)
We asked Miller about the president’s tweet right after it happened.
“I don’t want to or need to antagonize anybody, and especially not the former president of the United States,” he said. “I’m going to run on conservative principles, and I’m going to be dedicated and determined and resolute. And I believe that when people compare my record and my ideas with any other opponent’s record and ideas, I will be the one that comes out on top.”
The AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu will have a full story on Jones’ public entrance into the race today at AJC.com.
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POSTED: The AJC’s Mark Niesse reports that Herschel Walker’s wife, Julie Blanchard, voted last fall in Georgia while living in Texas-- even as Walker was calling for prosecution of “voter fraud.”
Niesse spoke with Blanchard for his story:
Election records show that Blanchard used her Atlanta address to return an absentee ballot, which she mailed in October from the couple's residence in Westlake, Texas. Blanchard also owns a home near Buckhead.
“If we're residents in both places, is that legally wrong?" Blanchard said when reached by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “If you have multiple homes, you can't vote where you have a home?"
Blanchard hung up when asked follow-up questions.
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Gov. Brian Kemp has made fighting crime in Atlanta a focal point of his message heading into his 2022 reelection race. Now he’s telling an unexpected audience, Georgia’s business leaders, that it’s time for them to do their part, too.
The Republican will use the Georgia Chamber’s annual congressional luncheon on Tuesday to urge the corporate community to join his administration’s efforts to crack down on crime.
In prepared remarks, he plans to warn the state’s top executives that “if crime is rampant on the streets of your local community, businesses will look elsewhere, workforces will leave, visitors won’t show up and investment will stop.”
At the Columbus luncheon, he’ll call on the Georgia Chamber, the Metro Atlanta Chamber and local chapters to speak up and “work toward meaningful solutions – because, as leaders, we have a duty to act.”
The governor and other Republicans have focused on the rising crime rate in metro Atlanta as a useful political argument, outlining plans to boost law enforcement funding, toughen penalties and devote more resources to state crime-fighting initiatives.
But it also underscores Kemp’s frustration with business executives who came out against the state’s new election law, but have so far steered clear of talking about the rising number of shootings and homicides in Atlanta.
Among the corporate options he’ll push are new job training and mental health programs on the local level, as well as additional funding for law enforcement officials.
“Because when local leaders have difficult conversations about issues that impact the daily lives of everyone around them, and hold people accountable, real change can happen,” he said in the remarks.
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Later this morning, the U.S. Senate will sign off on the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and send it over to the House.
Where things go from here is the source of significant Capitol Hill intrigue.
For starters, the House isn’t scheduled to come back to Washington until Sept. 20, although Speaker Nancy Pelosi could compel members to return for a few days later this month.
The House’s most liberal members have said they don’t want to vote on infrastructure until after the Senate also passes a massive $3.5 trillion budget resolution that will include huge plus-ups for social programs.
House moderates are pushing to vote on the Senate-passed roads-and-bridges bill as soon as possible.
With just a four-vote Democratic majority, Pelosi needs to satisfy both factions to give either measure, both priorities of President Joe Biden, a chance to become law.
The Senate delayed its own August recess to finish work on infrastructure. They’ll stay in D.C. a few days more to get the ball rolling on the budget resolution. That legislation won’t be finished until September at the earliest.
On Monday, Democrats released an outline of what they want to see in the larger bill, including universal pre-K, tuition-free community college, clean energy policies, and a new plan to close the Medicaid expansion gap in states like Georgia.
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U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, confirmed to reporters that the next person his panel will interview is former Atlanta-based U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.
The committee is one of several investigating whether former President Donald Trump improperly tried to overturn the 2020 general election results by falsely alleging voter fraud.
Both the Judiciary Committee and the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 have asked Pak to tell them about his abrupt resignation in January and whether he felt pressured by Trump allies to investigate election results in Georgia.
The timing of Pak’s interview with Senate Judiciary members is unclear. Interviews with other former Justice Department officials in recent days have been conducted in private and not publicly disclosed until after the fact.
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Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed raised about $460,000 for his comeback bid at an event on Friday at the Tyler Perry Studios. That’s on top of the roughly $1 million he raised in a three-week span after entering the race.
By the way, if you’re hoping to closely follow the Atlanta mayor’s race (and we know you are), be sure to follow AJC reporters Wilborn Nobles and J.D. Capelouto and their new weekly column, “The Race for City Hall.”
Along with their daily coverage of the races for mayor and city council, the Race for City Hall will give you an insider’s guide to the candidates, the issues and other Trinity Avenue intrigue.
No need to sign up for anything new-- just check AJC.com every Monday and your Jolt Tuesday morning for the highlights.
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Republican Senate candidate Gary Black wants you to know he’s not as old as he looks.
On social media, the state agriculture commissioner tells folks he’s on the cusp of turning a spry 63 on Aug. 20.
“About a decade younger than David Perdue and President Trump, and went to UGA with Herschel Walker,” he wrote in response to a tweet asking his age.
“It’s the sweet spot between youthful exuberance and sage experience!”
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Jake Evans has picked up an endorsement from former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr for his bid for Georgia’s 6th District. The Republican already has the backing of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Evans’ father, GOP heavy-hitter Randy Evans, was Newt’s lawyer in the glory days of his Speakership and also chaired several of Gingrich’s own campaigns.
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LaGrange Mayor Jim Thornton was elected president of the mayors, or specifically the new president of the Georgia Municipal Association, at the group’s annual convention over the weekend. The GMA is the state organization representing Georgia cities.
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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.
