The race for Georgia governor ratcheted up a notch this week with the beginning of early voting, opening a new phase in the May 22 primary to decide the nominees for governor, other statewide offices and state legislative races.
Your team at the AJC has covered every twist and turn of the race for governor and other top seats, but here's a catchup for those just now tuning in. And you can find your early voting sites here.
So, who is running for governor?
It’s a crowded race to succeed Gov. Nathan Deal, who cannot run for a third term. There are five leading Republicans and two Democrats in the race, and all of them have different messages and policy platforms to try to compete for a sliver of the vote.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle may have the biggest name recognition, thanks to three statewide election victories. He’s trying to win over conservatives with promises to sign a “religious liberty” bill and expand gun rights while defying some calls to tack further to the right. His rivals are trying to paint him as an ineffective career politician who won’t bring any real change.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp has adopted a "Georgia First" mantra and is aiming for the same rural vote that powered Donald Trump's victory in the Peach State. He pledges new crackdowns on illegal immigration and new anti-gang initiatives.
Former state Sen. Hunter Hill is trying to carve out a lane as a conservative outsider. He's vowed to eliminate the state income tax and promised not to "give an inch" on the Second Amendment.
Two other GOP candidates are trying to gain late traction. Executive Clay Tippins is emphasizing his business background – and lack of political experience – while pushing to crack down on sex trafficking and boost elementary school reading.
And state Sen. Michael Williams is trying to outflank his opponents with calls for tougher restrictions on abortion and ending tax breaks for special interests.
Credit: undefined
Credit: undefined
What about the Democrats?
The Democratic ticket pits two young attorneys who endured tough childhoods and served in the Legislature together before both decided to aim for the state’s top job.
Former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams has earned heaps of national attention for her bid to be the nation's first black female governor and her outspoken progressive positions on issues ranging from gun control to higher education.
Ex-state Rep. Stacey Evans has staked out left-leaning positions, too, but has focused her campaign largely on reversing cuts to the HOPE scholarship that Abrams brokered with Republican leaders in 2011.
Both support expanding Medicaid, growing the state's medical marijuana program and continuing Deal's criminal justice overhaul. But they've clashed on other policy issues, including how aggressively they oppose the National Rifle Association, how they would handle the state's $26 billion budget and even how they would address Stone Mountain and other Civil War monuments.
Their biggest divide, however, may be their competing strategies to retake the governor's office for the first time since 2002. Evans is banking on a more conventional Democratic strategy of winning over independent voters and moderates, particularly suburban women, who have fled to the GOP.
Abrams has staked her campaign on energizing 800,000 left-leaning voters, many of whom are minorities, who rarely cast ballots. She argues that Evans' approach clings to the same strategy that led the party to defeats in the last four statewide races.
So what do the polls say?
Most public and private polling point to the same broad trends: Cagle seems poised to earn a spot in a July runoff and could come close to a majority-vote he needs to win the nomination outright. And Abrams has the edge over Evans on the Democratic side, though many voters remain undecided.
A pair of Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News polls of likely primary voters reinforced that notion. Cagle led the GOP field with 41 percent, and Kemp and Hill were in a statistical tie for second. And Abrams led Evans 33-15 – with 52 percent of Democratic voters not sure who they'll back.
But the AJC polls, along with most other surveys, focus on voters with a history of casting ballots in primary votes. And several candidates have built their electoral strategy around mobilizing Georgians who rarely vote in these races. That means a bloc of voters won't show up in polls.
What have been the biggest controversies?
The party primaries tend to attract a far smaller – and more dedicated – crowd of voters than November elections. That’s pushed the candidates to the flanks of each of their parties. And it’s driven some longer-shot contenders to try to make waves.
Tippins, a Navy SEAL and former collegiate swimmer, has excelled at making a splash. He's specialized in ads featuring lookalikes of his opponents made by a veteran guru who helped craft the TV image of Sonny Perdue and David Perdue. But his second ad drew rebukes from fellow Republicans.
It centered around an ad that branded Hill, a military veteran, as a "Benedict Arnold" traitor on Second Amendment policy – complete with a Hill lookalike in Revolutionary War garb scurrying from one tree to another. A number of GOP leaders criticized the ad, saying it was an inappropriate swipe.
Two leading GOP candidates also backtracked on their gun positions, triggering criticism from their rivals. Cagle said he supported "constitutional carry" – which would let gun owners conceal and carry handguns without a permit – after initially opposing it. And Hill said he misspoke when he suggested he would back raising the minimum age to buy assault rifles.
The Democratic race has had several attention-grabbing flare-ups.
In August, Evans was shouted down at the Netroots conference by protesters who chanted "support black women" and "trust black women." Abrams said she would not "condemn peaceful protest" and called the racially-tinged chants an effort to bring marginalized voices to the forefront and not an attack on Evans' race.
In January, Evans faced a wave of criticism for a now-deleted Instagram video filmed in Ebenezer Baptist Church on MLK Day that ended by fading from her face to Martin Luther King Jr.'s image.
And in March, Abrams' campaign released a trove of emails that attempted to show Evans and Abrams worked together on the HOPE overhaul that Evans has fiercely opposed.
Later that month, the AJC revealed that Abrams owes more than $50,000 in taxes to the IRS and another $170,000 in credit card bills and student loans, raising questions about how she handles her finances.
Evans has not attacked her over the issue, but both campaigns acknowledge Republicans won't show similar restraint. Abrams, meanwhile, has tried to turn her debt into an advantage by arguing that it shows she faces the same struggles as voters.
Credit: Bob Andres
Credit: Bob Andres
What about that Delta thing?
Oh yeah. The Atlanta-based airline seemed certain to get a lucrative tax break on jet fuel worth about $40 million a year that lawmakers had stripped several years ago. Deal, Cagle and other legislative leaders were all on board ... until Delta announced on a Saturday it had cut business ties with the NRA.
That decision infuriated some Georgia conservatives and, within hours, several candidates called on the Legislature to reject the tax break. They were upset that Delta, which already had a strained relationship with lawmakers, seemed to be taking sides in a gun control debate after the Parkland, Fla. shooting.
When lawmakers reconvened Monday, Cagle announced he would "kill" any tax break that benefited Delta unless it reversed course. The airline didn't, and for a week Cagle was propelled into the national discourse: Hated by some, lionized by others. Meanwhile, lawmakers swiftly adopted a larger tax break without the airline incentive. Deal begrudgingly agreed to the changes.
His leading GOP rivals all backed the decision, though some criticized Cagle for not opposing the tax break before Delta's break with the NRA. Democrats slammed the move and some business leaders feared it would jeopardize Atlanta's quest for Amazon; several big-time donors swiftly backed Evans.
Cagle was rewarded for his stance with the NRA's endorsement – even though Kemp pleaded to the gun group to stay out of the race. "You've been Casey Cagled," he wrote to the NRA's top lobbyist.
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
Credit: ccompton@ajc.com
What about the other races?
Democrats are challenging the GOP grip on statewide offices up and down the ticket. There are crowded races for open seats for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and insurance commissioner that have attracted high-profile contenders.
And there are 20 vacancies in the state Legislature and a slew of other incumbents facing stiff challenges, some for the first time ever.
An unprecedented number of women are running for office this year, as well as more Democrats than any time since 2002. Some are longshot candidates hoping to win GOP-leaning territory, but many are targeting swing areas that Trump lost in 2016.
The 6th District, host to the most expensive U.S. House race in history, is back in the spotlight even though Jon Ossoff is sitting out the race.
Four Democrats are squaring off for the right to challenge U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, a Republican who bested Ossoff last year to win the epic special election.
And next door, in the 7th District, a half-dozen Democrats are circling U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall. They believe he is vulnerable in the fast-diversifying Gwinnett-based district and hope to channel anger over Trump to their advantage.
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