Erick Erickson’s upcoming sold-out conservative conference, The Gathering, is shaping up to be a magnet for 2024 White House hopefuls, as long as they’re not named Donald Trump.
The WSB host unveiled the lineup for the three-day conference on Tuesday, which includes six top GOP presidential contenders and more than a dozen other prominent conservative figures.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, executive Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are all set to address the Atlanta event, which runs from Aug. 17-19.
Among the other speakers are U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton and Jodi Ernst as well as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Gov. Brian Kemp, who donated $100,000 in campaign contributions to co-host the conference, will speak in an Aug. 18 slot sandwiched between Scott and Pence.
Credit: WSB
Credit: WSB
The one person not on The Gathering agenda is also the runaway favorite in the GOP field: Trump. The former president has feuded with Erickson since the radio personality disinvited him from his 2015 RedState convention after Trump made derogatory comments about Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor.
“I think there is a line of decency that even a nonprofessional politician can cross,” Erickson explained at the time.
A quirk of timing now means the anyone-but-Trump confab is scheduled to take place just miles from the Fulton County Courthouse where District Attorney Fani Willis nears her announcement on whether she’ll file criminal charges against the former president.
Her sprawling investigation has examined whether Trump and multiple Georgia Republicans violated state law by working to reverse his 2020 defeat in the state. Willis’ potential indictments will loom over the convention, no matter the timing of her announcement.
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NOPE. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney issued a ruling Monday squashing former President Donald Trump’s latest effort to quash the Georgia probe against him, the AJC’s Tamar Hallerman reported.
In his order, McBurney wrote that a similar motion now in front of a different judge in Fulton County was filed, “perplexingly, prematurely, and with the standard pugnacity.”
All of that is legalese that means the potential case in Georgia against Trump continues.
Breaking: A Fulton judge on Monday rejected a sweeping push from Trump to gut the Fulton County DA’s investigation of interference in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, which is expected to result in criminal charges in the weeks ahead https://t.co/R34mK1CUlo #gapol
— Tamar Hallerman (@TamarHallerman) July 31, 2023
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GEORGIA-FLORIDA. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is currently stumping across Iowa this week and pointing to Florida as an example of how great all Americans could have it, if they’d just pick him.
But Gov. Brian Kemp took a swipe at the Sunshine State Monday when he made the case that Georgia’s state tax policy is more sound and less burdensome than other GOP-led states, including the ones like Florida with no state income tax.
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
“Our tax burden overall is lower than Florida’s,” Kemp said. “And that’s why I always tell people if you want to retire, or if you will go to the beach, you go to Florida. If you want to work, raise your family in the best state in the country, you can come to Georgia.”
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Credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg
Credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg
SENATOR KEMP? Kemp made his Florida remarks at the Atlanta Rotary Club Monday during a Q&A with Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic.
Is @GovKemp running for the Senate, he’s asked. answer: “We need to stay focused, in my opinion in 2024, not worry about 2026….there’s no Senate race in 2024.” #gapol pic.twitter.com/xpezzSy1l2
— Patricia Murphy (@MurphyAJC) July 31, 2023
With just enough time left for one more question, Bostic asked Kemp about his plans for 2026. Instead of asking the perennial will-you-run-for-president question, Bostic said an audience member wanted to know if the governor will run for Senate in three years, when U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff will be up for reelection.
“My answer on the U.S. Senate question and 2026 is we need to stay focused on 2024 not worry about 2026,” Kemp said. “And so that’s what the first lady and I are doing. We’re staying focused on 2024. We don’t have a U.S. Senate race in 2024.”
Officially, that’s not a “no.”
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
NEXT UP. Attorney General Chris Carr’s plan to run to replace Gov. Brian Kemp in 2026 kicked off an early rush of speculation over who might run for Carr’s job that same year.
Among the Democratic names we heard were DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston, Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard and Fulton Solicitor Keith Gammage. Former state Sen. Jen Jordan, who lost to Carr in 2022, could also run again.
Among the Republican potential contenders are House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration; state Sen. Brian Strickland, who is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and former U.S. House candidate Jake Evans, who lost his 6th District bid in 2022 to U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick.
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Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
JOURNALIST AND JURY. An independent journalist who stumbled upon the December 2020 meeting of “alternate” GOP electors at the Georgia Capitol has been subpoenaed to be a witness before two Fulton County grand juries, one of which is expected to decide in the weeks ahead whether to indict former President Donald Trump and others.
George Chidi, a writer who publishes the online newsletter “The Atlanta Objective,” told the AJC’s Tamar Hallerman that he received two subpoenas requiring his testimony at some point between Aug. 7 and Aug. 31.
Chidi is the first subpoenaed witness whose name has surfaced publicly in the election interference case, which Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team are expected to present to one of the grand juries at some point over the next three weeks.
Chidi previously testified under subpoena before a separate special grand jury about a meeting of Republican electors at the state Capitol. The new subpoenas don’t specify what Chidi will be questioned about, but they indicate prosecutors could seek charges against some of the people who participated in or organized that meeting.
Subpoenas for journalists can often be dicey, but Chidi told Hallerman he’s ready to talk. “The specific situation here makes the defense of democracy a larger consideration.”
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden is away from the White House and vacationing at his residence in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
- All’s quiet on Capitol Hill with the House and Senate both in recess for the month of August.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
FOOD FIGHT. Politico has the latest in an ongoing power play involving the U.S. House Democratic caucus and one of Georgia’s most senior House members, U.S. Rep. David Scott.
The Atlanta Democrat, 78, is leading the U.S. House Agriculture Committee as the $1 trillion Farm Bill is up for renewal. But Politico reports that House Democrats have sidelined Scott in a fight over SNAP benefits, creating a new task force to tackle the issue that they’ve usually left to the committee’s chairman.
Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill also reports Scott’s Democratic colleagues in Washington don’t expect him to run for reelection and frequently mention U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, as an ideal replacement to top the Ag panel.
Scott’s office declined to comment to Politico for the report.
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Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
FULKS STORY. Loyal Jolt readers will remember Quentin Fulks as U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s winning 2022 campaign manager.
Now the Ellaville native is working as the second-ranking staffer in President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
The rising politico told our Tia Mitchell that he ended up on his career path almost wholly due to the famous man who grew up in nearby Plains — President Jimmy Carter.
“If it had been a nuclear physicist that would have been the person that was the most famous from where I was from, I probably would have wanted to be a nuclear physicist,” Fulks said. “But it just so happened to be a president and, from a very young age, I was really just sort of enamored with politics.”
Read more of our profile about Fulks’ career trajectory and how he feels it prepared him to help lead Biden’s 2024 potential rematch against former President Donald Trump.
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Credit: Associated Press
Credit: Associated Press
BLACK IS BACK. Ex-Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black’s consulting firm, OnPoint Strategies, is partnering with FEAST Global to promote the state’s ag industry. Black ran for U.S. Senate last year, losing in the GOP primary to Herschel Walker.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. August recess in Washington means empty congressional corridors, plenty of available Ubers at rush hour and loads of happy dogs on the Capitol lawns — all reunited with their staffers after long July hours meant fewer walks at home.
One of the happiest hounds in Washington might be Jack Lucas, the mystery-doodle who calls Jon Ossoff’s legislative assistant Samantha Lucas his person. Lucas has been swamped with both Capitol duties and a recent trip to Metter, where everything’s better, and where Ossoff announced more than $1 billion in broadband funding for rural Georgia.
Happy recess, Jack! You’re our Dog of the Day.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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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.
