Emanuel Jones to challenge David Scott for Atlanta-area congressional seat

Democratic state Sen. Emanuel Jones filed paperwork this week with the Federal Election Commission to run for the Atlanta-based seat currently occupied by longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. David Scott.

Scott, who turns 80 in June, is facing ongoing criticism that his age and health challenges are making him unable to carry out the duties of serving in Congress. Democrats recently voted to replace him as their top-ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee.

Jones, first elected to the state Senate 20 years ago, said he is running regardless of whether Scott decides to seek a 13th term in 2026. Jones also said he heard rumors that Scott was considering stepping down before his term even ends.

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Scott’s office quickly painted those rumors as false. His aides point out that he has already filed the paperwork to run again and said he intends to win another term.

Scott is hosting a meet-and-greet this week at a Snellville senior center, which will raise his visibility.

It is possible that other Democrats will take aim at unseating Scott in 2026. But his name recognition and incumbency status have made him tough to beat, even as public criticism mounts.

Scott handily beat back multiple challengers in both 2022 and 2024, even after his deep-blue district was redrawn. He achieved enough support to win the nomination without the need for a runoff.

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Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

GOOD MORNING! State lawmakers are taking the day off because of a winter storm that hit part of the state. They plan to start budget hearings tomorrow.

Here are three things to know for today:

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Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

FLAG FLAP. One of Donald Trump’s first directives after his swearing-in ceremony was an executive order that said U.S. flags should be flown at full-staff on Inauguration Day.

The Republican was irked that flags would be at half-staff out of respect for the late President Jimmy Carter, whose funeral was held in Washington earlier this month.

Jason Carter, the former president’s grandson, said the swift action didn’t faze him.

“Others in my family may disagree, but it did not bother me at all. President Trump was incredibly gracious to us,” Carter said on a recent “Politically Georgia” podcast.

So what happened at that closed-door meeting? Carter didn’t divulge much, though he said Trump spent time chatting with his two sons about the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

“He was very respectful. And I don’t think I have any problems saying, on this particular day, let’s raise the flags in honor of this peaceful transfer of power,” Carter said.

Carter, a former state senator and Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, said he hoped his party’s leaders avoid getting consumed by the torrent of provocative statements from Trump’s White House.

“It’s very hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s very hard to tell what’s a serious policy and what’s just theater,” said Carter, urging his allies to choose battles with Trump carefully.

“A lot of his theater stuff, I think Democrats reacted to the last time he was in office, and we all get consumed by it, in both parties, without really focusing necessarily on the things that actually matter.”

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Credit: Courtesy photo

Credit: Courtesy photo

REMEMBERING DIFFERENTLY. Democratic State Rep. Gabriel Sanchez last week remembered the life of Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, whom he said was killed two years ago “after peacefully protesting.”

Republicans remember it a little differently.

“These comments glorify violent criminal behavior,” said House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration of Mulberry.

Teran died in an exchange of gunfire with police in 2023 near the site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Teran fired at police officers during a clearing operation. Teran’s family has sued the officers they say are responsible for planning and executing the raid.

Sanchez is the first democratic socialist elected to the Georgia Legislature, a fact that Efstration was happy to point out when noting the members of the Democratic leadership who stood behind him during his floor speech.

“To see Democratic leaders show their support for a criminal who died after initiating gunfire against state law enforcement shows that many of my colleagues across the aisle have ignored voters’ rejection of Democrats’ embrace of the Socialist left,” Efstration said in a news release.

This likely won’t be the last time Republicans will use Sanchez to try to tie House Democrats to socialist ideology. But Sanchez says he’s not worried.

“Republicans have always been doing this, whether there is a socialist in the Legislature or not,” he said.

He added: “It’s crazy to me that the GOP just doesn’t even care about a grieving mother.”

House Minority Whip Sam Park, who stood behind Sanchez, noted that Republican leaders banished a GOP state senator from the House chamber for publicly disparaging the late House Speaker David Ralston.

“These callous Republican comments suggest only certain grieving families deserve the respect they demanded of their own caucus,” Park said. “I stood as a Georgia legislator to honor a young life lost and show compassion to a grieving mother — because every parent who’s lost a child deserves our sympathy.”

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Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

HOLD THE LINE. President Donald Trump has said he wants to shrink the size of government. The day after he took office, Democrats wanted to know if that applied to veterans health care benefits.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday asked former Georgia U.S. Rep. Doug Collins — Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs — if he would oppose as of now hypothetical proposals from the Trump administration to cut back on benefits.

“We’re not going to balance budgets on the backs of veterans’ benefits,” he said. “To me, that decision comes to the secretary. That’s in our budgetary oversight. That’s what I’ll be coming to you for.”

VA benefits got some attention during the presidential campaign, largely because of Project 2025 — the document purported to lay out the policy goals of Trump’s second term. It recommended changing some disability ratings for future claims, which could lead to smaller benefits than are currently available.

“I have not been a part of Project 2025. I haven’t even read it,” Collins said.

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs seemed pleased with Collins’ answers. The AJC’s Tia Mitchell reports he could be confirmed “in a matter of days.”

But Democrats still don’t trust Collins’ boss.

“You will have to push back,” said U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. “You’re going to pledge an oath to the Constitution here soon, not to any one president.”

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Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

PAY DAY. Georgia has updated its list of state employee salaries, and it’s no surprise who remains the top dawg.

University of Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart is still the highest paid state employee for the seventh year in a row. He earned $12.2 million in the 2024 fiscal year, which is slightly less than what he earned in 2023.

Out of Georgia’s nearly 68,000 state workers, 15 made more than $1 million and 121 earned more than $500,000, according to the AJC’s Phoebe Quinton, who analyzed new data from the Department of Audits and Accounts.

Take a look at the job titles in the $500,000 club:

Just to compare, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp earned about $182,000 in the 2024 fiscal year and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones earned about $99,000. Georgia’s teachers had an average salary of about $64,000 in 2024, according to the National Education Association.

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Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC

Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC

LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms joins the show to talk about her resignation from the President’s Export Council one day before President Donald Trump tried to fire her. Then, Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michel Kreis discusses the legality of the executive orders Trump signed in his first days in office.

Be sure to download the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EDT on 90.1 FM WABE.

On Tuesday’s show, the hosts recapped Trump’s inauguration. Then, former Democratic state Sen. Jason Carter, grandson of the late President Jimmy Carter, gave an update on the family. And Georgia State University’s Denish Shah discussed the attempt to ban TikTok.

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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthday:

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.

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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.