Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler wasn’t on any ballot in 2022, but she was deeply involved in the election anyway through a series of new organizations, millions in GOP-focused donations, and today, a 30-page after-action report on what she says worked for Republicans in Georgia and what didn’t.
Key to Republican wins in 2022, the report says, were a Loeffler-sponsored year-round registration and mobilization effort, messaging about Georgia Republicans’ election law overhaul through Senate Bill 202, and having Gov. Brian Kemp at the top of the GOP ticket.
“What we proved was that there is a formula that we can use for building the ground game and voter mobilization with not a lot of resources, and we can deliver results,” she said in an interview in her Buckhead office last week.
Not mentioned in the report at all is Herschel Walker’s campaign, the lone statewide loss for the GOP. Loeffler served as the co-chair for “Women for Herschel,” but said her state-focused groups were not involved in the federal campaign.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
The “2022 Impact Report” summarizes the work of Greater Georgia, the nonpartisan nonprofit voter registration that Loeffler launched in 2021, and Citizens for a Greater Georgia, the leadership committee she began to elect Republicans to the state Senate through a ground game of text messaging, polling, and an expansive door knocking operation.
Two successes, the report says, were the groups’ outreach to Hispanic and women voters, along with a focus on the 339,000 GOP voters who cast ballots in November of 2020, but did not go back out to the polls for the January runoffs in 2021. The report calls them “disenfranchised conservatives.” The report says that 142,000 of those voters cast ballots in 2022.
Loeffler said the phrase “disenfranchised” came from the voters themselves, who said they felt their votes in 2020 did not properly count, which former President Donald Trump repeatedly and wrongly alleged.
“When they feel like their vote doesn’t count, that’s that sense of being disenfranchised,” she said. “We wanted to make sure people understood the work that the General Assembly had done on Senate Bill 202, that some of the concerns were addressed. And that turned out to be important.”
Looking ahead, the report said Republicans need to further expand their focus on minority communities as the state grows more diverse. Loeffler said she’ll stay engaged full-time on the effort in 2023.
“I feel very convicted that this work is making a difference,” she said. “It’s encouraging more people to get involved. It’s giving voice to people who felt they didn’t have a voice.”
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
DAVOS MAN? Gov. Brian Kemp will speak at the elite World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland tonight, along with a bipartisan panel that also includes two Democrats, U.S. Sens. Chris Coons and Joe Manchin, along with newly independent U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
Though the setting is surprising for Georgians familiar with the Varsity-chomping, pickup truck driving populist Republican, Kemp sees it as a way to push his economic approach to some of the world’s heaviest hitters — and pitch them on new projects in Georgia.
Ahead of his event, CNBC reported that Kemp took part in a private lunch with about 50 CEOs at an exclusive hotel in the ski resort. In a Politico interview, Kemp called himself the “Georgia redneck going to Davos.”
“I’m fulfilling my promise of creating good-paying jobs for our state,” Kemp said. “I’ll tell you, there are a lot of conservatives that are driving electric vehicles. I’d also tell them: you need to go out and drive one because it’ll snap your head back.”
EV makers Rivian and Hyundai have recently announced huge projects under Kemp’s watch.
And if you’re among the many who have asked us who is paying for the governor’s trip to the Swiss Alps, it’s being footed by the state.
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Credit: Oliver Contreras/The New York Times
Credit: Oliver Contreras/The New York Times
BIDEN AT EBENEZER. President Joe Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to deliver the Sunday sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church over the weekend.
“Will we honor Dr. King’s legacy by rising together — buttressed by each other’s successes, enriched by each other’s differences and made whole by each other’s compassion? I believe we can,” he told the congregation.
That tone of cooperation was a far cry from Biden’s fiery demand, delivered this time last year at Clark Atlanta University, that Congress pass a federal voting rights bill, even if it meant eliminating the Senate filibuster rules.
In the time between Biden’s two trips to Atlanta, Democrats lost the House and his call to overhaul the filibuster went nowhere after Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema balked at the idea.
His sermon on Sunday had different aims: to challenge voters and politicians to live up to King’s ideals — and to publicly unite with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who had aggressively distanced himself from the president throughout the 2022 campaign.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
BUDGET WEEK. The state House and Senate will be in recess this week as Appropriations committees begin to hammer out the details of Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed $32.5 billion state budget.
Our colleague James Salzer reports the review will include Kemp’s call for an increase of more than $1 billion in school funding, $567 million in state worker pay raises, tax rebates, a bump in HOPE scholarship spending and big money to train workers for jobs in the electric-vehicle industry.
And it will include a new process from chairs, state Rep. Matt Hatchett (R-Dublin) and state Sen. Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia), to review some of the state’s myriad tax credits to see what’s working, and what’s not.
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Credit: Curtis Compton/AJC
Credit: Curtis Compton/AJC
UNDER THE GOLD DOME:
- 10:00 am: The Joint Appropriations Committee convenes.
- The state House and Senate are in recess for Budget Week.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
MEDICAID EXPANSION. Georgia House Democrats formally introduced their legislation last week to push for the full-scale Medicaid expansion that Gov. Brian Kemp and other GOP leaders in Georgia have long resisted.
“It’s time that we make the health of Georgians a top priority,” said House Minority Leader James Beverly, the chamber’s top Democrat.
Although a small and growing contingent of Republicans backs the idea, we’ve heard of no serious discussions from senior GOP leaders to embrace an expansion after condemning it as too costly and too inflexible for the last decade.
It’s even harder to see a turnabout after a federal court allowed Kemp to pursue his current plan for a more limited expansion of Medicaid tied to work or engagement requirements.
“It’s time that we end the political theater.” The Georgia House’s top Democrat files legislation for a full-scale Medicaid expansion, which must be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Gov. Kemp and GOP leaders have embraced a more limited expansion. #gapol pic.twitter.com/hE3VrEH05o
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) January 13, 2023
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
“SPICY.” A Chattanooga Times Free Press story offers a glimpse at the challenges ahead for the GOP leaders at the General Assembly looking to corral new far-right GOP lawmakers to back their priorities.
The story quoted newly elected Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore and state Rep. Mitchell Horner explaining their allegiance to the newish Georgia Freedom Caucus, along with their goals for the session.
Moore wants to end the state’s lucrative film tax credits and eliminate the certificate of need requirement for new hospitals. He has also coordinated with his congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, on a bill to ban surgery for transgender minors.
Horner previewed his approach when he joined Democrats to vote against a controversial overhaul of the House rules. “We didn’t have time to read it,” he told the newspaper, “and I’m not going to vote on anything I don’t have time to read.”
And he made a prediction for the new session: “I’m sure it’ll stay spicy.”
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Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
GAME CHANGER? After referees flubbed a call at the end of a high school football championship game, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers proposed an extreme remedy.
Under H.B. 32, sponsored by three Democrats and three Republicans, ‘’no high school which receives funding shall participate in sports events that does not utilize instant replay in championship games.’’ The bill specifies that it’s for football only.
Our AJC colleague Todd Holcomb notes that the measure appears unnecessary because the Georgia High School Association plans to bring instant replay to championship games. Still, it serves as a reminder that in Georgia … football just means more.
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
NEW GIG. Ryan Germany, the general counsel for the Secretary of State’s office since 2014, is moving to the private sector.
Germany might be best known for helping Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger push back against then-President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud during his infamous January 2021 call demanding that the Republican “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat.
“Why don’t you want to find this, Ryan? What’s wrong with you?” Trump said to him during the call. “I heard your lawyer is very difficult, actually, but I’m sure you’re a good lawyer. You have a nice last name.”
Beyond his role in the Trump phone call, Germany also has been the office’s top attorney for much of the last decade, spanning much of Brian Kemp’s tenure as the state’s chief elections official and Raffensperger’s first term.
He’s joining the Gilbert Harrell Sumerford & Martin firm, which includes former Kemp aide Mark Middleton, former Sonny Perdue lawyer Jud Turner and former state ethics chair Hillary Stringfellow.
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Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. House and Senate are in recess for the week as well.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
STORM DAMAGE. President Joe Biden issued a federal disaster declaration Monday for Butts, Henry, Jasper, Meriwether, Newton, Spalding, and Troup counties following the severe storms in Georgia last week.
The declaration will make the areas eligible to receive federal disaster aid and resources.
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Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
AJC ATTACK. After Gov. Brian Kemp aimed a critique at the “Atlanta paper” during his inauguration address, AJC editor Kevin Riley responded during a broadcast of GPB’s Political Rewind on Thursday.
“I would like to congratulate the governor on joining a long list of Georgia governors who have criticized The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Welcome to the club. What I would say is, we’ll keep doing our job to hold the governor accountable to make sure the citizens of the state know what decisions the governor is making, why he’s making them and their impact on the citizens of the state.”
And “the Atlanta paper” beats “fake news” any 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.
