Party leaders have also launched new efforts to pass a long-stalled “religious liberty” measure, promote gun rights and eliminate taxes on tips to match Trump’s campaign pledges.

And pending legislation aims to clear the path in Georgia for Trump’s demand to abolish the Department of Education and ban public schools from promoting “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiatives the president has vowed to dismantle.

The MAGA embrace has even extended to renaming controversial legislation after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency — even though the Georgia measure bears little resemblance to the Trump-blessed cost-cutting initiative.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Top Republicans are hoping to build on Trump’s popularity among party loyalists after he flipped Georgia and swept every other battleground state to secure his comeback win in November.

Much of the drive originates in the Georgia Senate, where ambitious politicians are jockeying for Trump’s favor ahead of 2026 races, when Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff stands for another term and the governor’s office is up for grabs.

While dozens of other measures have little to do with the president, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a close ally who is expected to run for governor‚ has set an agenda in the Georgia Senate that looks a lot like Trump’s.

“These are all things we were supportive of last year, but they’ve gotten a lot more traction because of what’s going on at the national level,” Jones said on the “Politically Georgia” podcast.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Democrats predict the rush to align with Trump’s platform will backfire, and that tying their agenda with the president’s drive to slash thousands of federal jobs, eliminate agencies, impose tariffs and overhaul foreign policy is already wearing thin with voters.

“I feel like every session has been a MAGA session, but this year there’s even more political posturing for the primary base,” said state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, a Gwinnett Democrat.

“Instead of focusing on real problems that Georgians are going through on a daily basis, like access to healthcare and reducing the maternal mortality rate, they’re focusing on red-meat legislation that attacks immigrants and trans people.”

‘Toxic?’

The MAGA-tinged tone was set early in the legislative session when Jones and House Speaker Jon Burns both traveled to the White House twice to join Trump for key events.

The first was the signing of the federal Laken Riley Act, named for the nursing student who was murdered on the campus of the University of Georgia last year. The second was a federal directive that banned transgender girls from competing in women’s sports.

Both fueled state-level efforts to lock Trump’s policies into Georgia law.

Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC

Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC

The Senate earlier this month passed a measure allowing people to sue local officials if they try to protect immigrants in the U.S. illegally with “sanctuary” policies.

And both chambers have approved measures to ban transgender girls from competing in women’s sports, while another pending proposal would bar the state-sponsored insurance plan from paying for hormone therapies or other transition treatments.

Credit: Screenshot, Georgia Senate

Credit: Screenshot, Georgia Senate

And some moves go beyond policy to flat-out flattery. Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a likely candidate for lieutenant governor, authored two separate measures commending Trump. He also refiled a bill to create an “America First” license plate.

When he tried the same bill last year, state Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, suggested an amendment changing it to “Donald Trump First,” which he said would reflect “the heart and the spirit of the legislation.”

Now, McLaurin delivers an equally sharp critique most days when he takes the Senate floor. Still, he said while some Republicans champion Trump’s agenda, he senses growing skepticism from others.

“This year feels like there’s a crack in that dam, that there’s a worry that what’s happening at the national level is chaotic enough or toxic of a brand enough that it might break through,” said McLaurin.

‘They applaud it’

If that’s the case, few Republicans are willing to admit it. Pressed on Trump’s policies, state Rep. Lehman Franklin, R-Statesboro, said repeatedly that his constituents in southeast Georgia are all-in behind the president’s agenda.

“I haven’t heard anybody really concerned about it,” said Franklin. “You know, in my district, they welcome what’s going on and they applaud it.”

One of the rare exceptions is U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, a Suwanee Republican who urged Trump to slow the pace of firings after getting an earful at a chaotic town hall this month. Even so, he was careful not to publicly oppose Musk’s cost-cutting drive.

The GOP enthusiasm is one reason why Republicans rebranded a year-old push to roll back regulations as Georgia’s version of DOGE.

The new name has given Republican sponsors a boost — but also ignited Democratic opposition to a proposal that once had more bipartisan support.

“We encourage our Republican colleagues to reconsider before hitching their wagon to an unelected billionaire with an explicit interest in profiting off the backs of Americans and cutting services our most vulnerable populations rely on,” said state Sen. Emanuel Jones of Decatur.

Gov. Brian Kemp has also gotten in on the action. While he’s focused on a complex, yearslong effort to rewrite state litigation rules, he’s worked to leave little daylight between the president’s policies and his own.

He told a panel in Munich that “government can stand a little rightsizing” after DOGE-led cuts triggered the firing of hundreds of employees at Atlanta’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“He has the unique opportunity to reset, really, what his political history will be, what his legacy will be,” Kemp said of Trump’s first days in office.

“That’s why you see them moving so quickly. They have a better understanding of how the system works. There’s a method to the madness.”

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS