At least two of Georgia’s eight Republicans in the U.S. House are lobbying for key leadership positions ahead of the midterm elections, in the event of the party return to the majority.
U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson is one of three campaigning to become whip, the fourth-highest ranking position in the Republican Conference. Ferguson, who lives in West Point, would seem like the heir-apparent. He currently serves as chief deputy whip to Rep. Steve Scalise, who is seeking his own promotion after the midterms. But NBC News recently reported that Ferguson is the underdog.
Then there is U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who is competing for chair of the House Budget Committee. He just put out a report on pharmacy benefit managers that he hopes will launch a bipartisan conversation on how to control prescription drug prices.
Whether Carter and Ferguson get the jobs they seek will be up to their fellow members. On the other hand, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rise seems all but inevitable, despite the fact she is unlikely to hold any formal title beyond that of a rank-and-file member.
Greene is already a national firebrand with a wide reach on social media and one of former President Donald Trump’s top surrogates. She also is a fundraising juggernaut, and that means House Republicans are unlikely to shun her no matter what controversies she ignites. Just in the last few weeks, she has been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks, including comparing President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler. She also pushed the “great replacement” conspiracy theory in a bitter anti-immigration speech.
Still, with Republicans expected to win just a thin majority, likely House Speaker Kevin McCarthy can’t afford to alienate far-right conservatives like Greene. He will need to keep her and the entire House Freedom Caucus, numbering around 40 members, aligned with the rest of the party to pass anything of substance on the House floor.
And that’s not it for Greene. She is also expected to get the chance to serve on committees, giving her new platforms to introduce legislation, weigh in on the direction of the country and spar with Democrats. She was assigned panels after winning election in 2020, but Democrats quickly voted to strip her from them because of problematic statements she made even before serving a day in office.
CNN political commentator Chris Cillizza said in a recent analysis that Greene and the Freedom Caucus are already flexing their muscle.
“You can be sure that Greene and her Freedom Caucus allies understand the House math, as does Kevin McCarthy,” Cillizza said. “The narrower the Republican majority post-2022 — assuming Republicans retake the majority — the more power Greene and her ilk have, which means plum committee assignments for Freedom Caucus members, as well as a direct line to party leaders whenever and however they want it. In short, buckle up.”
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WARNOCK AD. In the aftermath of U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s 2021 victory, Republicans lamented that they held back one of their toughest attacks until the runoff campaign: The bodycam footage of an altercation with the Democrat and his former wife in early 2020.
This campaign, GOP forces are deploying the footage earlier. The pro-Herschel Walker 34N22 political action committee aired a TV ad Tuesday that features video of Warnock’s ex-wife calling him a “great actor” to investigators after he denied her claims.
Credit: Curtis Compton / AJC
Credit: Curtis Compton / AJC
Republicans hope to use the incident to counter a torrent of attention surrounding Walker’s threats of violence against his ex-wife and other women, as well as the abortion controversy that has engulfed Walker.
Warnock’s ex-wife told Atlanta police officers that he ran over her foot with his car during a heated argument outside her townhouse, and she described him as someone who is “really good at putting on a show. "
Warnock wasn’t charged with a crime, and medical officials didn’t find visible signs of injury to the foot. Warnock told the AJC in March 2020 that her allegations “didn’t happen.”
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CHALLENGES DISMISSED. The Cobb County elections board quickly rejected challenges to the eligibility of 1,350 voters whose registrations are missing an apartment or unit number, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse reported Monday.
Credit: Natrice Miller / AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller / AJC
Many of the questioned registrants are people of color and college students who live in dormitories or apartment complexes. The board voted 4-1 to dismiss the challenges because they were based on lists of addresses but lacking detailed individual voter-by-voter information that would prove if the registration was invalid.
Republican voters in Cobb and other counties are using Georgia’s voting law to allege that inaccurate voter lists could lead to election fraud. But they have presented no evidence of illegal votes.
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SURPRISE. About two dozen of the staffers who worked for former Gov. Nathan Deal surprised the Republican at one of his favorite restaurants to wish him a belated happy birthday.
Among the crowd at the Varsity was Attorney General Chris Carr, longtime Deal aide Chris Riley and strategist Jen Talaber Ryan. Also there, but not pictured below, was messaging guru Brian Robinson.
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EMPTY LECTERNS. Mike Collins, the Republican nominee in the 10th Congressional District who is the heavy favorite to win the seat in the general election, has declined the Atlanta Press Club’s invitation to debate his Democratic opponent Tabitha Johnson-Green on Monday.
Collins will be represented by an empty lectern, which might get quite the workout. As of Monday morning, Democratic incumbents David Scott and Lucy McBath had not yet confirmed whether they will participate in their debates scheduled for Sunday. If they don’t attend, they also will have empty lecterns in their place.
Credit: Jason Getz / AJC
Credit: Jason Getz / AJC
Rep. Sanford Bishop, the Democratic incumbent in the state’s only competitive race this year, has accepted and will debate Republican Chris West on Sunday afternoon. Incumbents Marjorie Taylor Greene and Buddy Carter and newcomer Dr. Rich McCormick have said they will show up to face their Democratic opponents.
The Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young Debate Series kicks off with five congressional debates on Sunday capped by a U.S. Senate debate that Republican nominee Herschel Walker has yet to accept. The series continues Monday and Tuesday with other congressional races and other statewide contests.
The candidates for governor are scheduled to debate Monday night. Here is the full lineup.
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Credit: Jenni Girtman / AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman / AJC
THANKS, HERSCHEL. If you were near Herschel Walker’s Buckhead campaign headquarters recently, you may have spotted a mobile billboard with a message about abortion to Walker.
“Dear Herschel,” it says. “Thank you for supporting a woman’s right to choose. Your quiet courage does not go unnoticed.”
Walker, of course, has been embroiled in a firestorm of accusations recently that he paid for a woman to have an abortion. The same woman told the New York Times and the Daily Beast that she later had a child with Walker. The GOP Senate nominee has said he opposes all abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.
The billboard is paid for by Mayday Heath, a New York-based nonprofit working to raise awareness of abortion pills available with a prescription through the mail. And they may have more messages for the former footballer soon.
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LISTEN UP. We’ve got a sold-out crowd tonight for our live taping of the Politically Georgia podcast at Manuel’s Tavern.
But in the meantime, you can listen to a special crossover edition of the AJC’s Breakdown true crime podcast, with Patricia Murphy and fellow columnist Bill Torpy joining Bill Rankin and Tamar Hallerman.
The potential crime under investigation this season on Breakdown is, of course, possible election interference by Donald Trump and an entire cast of possible Georgia accomplices.
Listen and subscribe to the Breakdown podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform.
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EDUCATION CASH. We told you recently about Alicia Thomas Searcy, the Democratic nominee for state schools superintendent who said that she has felt “ostracized and excluded” by Stacey Abrams’ allies this cycle.
But being sideways with statewide Democrats hasn’t stopped Searcy from outraising the Republican incumbent, Richard Woods, for the second quarter in a row.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
AJC education reporter Ty Tagami reports Searcy raised nearly $153,000 to incumbent Woods’ nearly $94,000 as of Sept. 30.
That’s a slightly larger gap than the one that separated their totals at the end of the June reporting period, when Searcy had raised nearly $98,000 and Woods had drawn almost $55,000.
One of Searcy’s notable donors was former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, who gave $1,000 to her fellow Democrat, Tagami writes.
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Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
KEMP AD. Gov. Brian Kemp’s campaign is up with a new ad saying Georgia’s economy is outperforming the rest of the nation because Kemp never took Stacey Abrams’ advice, including during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We said ‘no’ to everything Stacey Abrams wanted to do,” a narrator says.
Abrams hammered the governor in 2020 when he made Georgia the first state to let businesses reopen during the pandemic. That’s now a decision Kemp touts on the campaign trail as saving the state’s economy, while Abrams tells her audiences it cost lives.
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ON THE TRAIL:
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s Unite Georgia Bus will make a stop at South Park Health and Wellness Center in Carrollton this afternoon. He will be joined by U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Tom Cotton in a show of support after a week of rough headlines for the candidate.
- U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is holding a meet-and-greet in Atlanta today.
Credit: Steve Schaefer / AJC
Credit: Steve Schaefer / AJC
- Gov. Brian Kemp will be at Barrow Gun Shop in Butler, with a stop for lunch today at Michelle’s in Georgetown.
- Charlie Bailey, the Democratic lieutenant governor nominee, is holding a Zoom briefing today for supporters with Clinton-era political strategist James Carville.
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Credit: Phil Skinner for the AJC
Credit: Phil Skinner for the AJC
REGISTRATION DEADLINE. Today is the deadline for new voters to register in Georgia in order to participate in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Georgians can register to vote or check the status of their registration and make any needed changes.
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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.
