Cast your ballots. Starting today, early voting sites across Georgia are open ahead of the May 21 primary.
Every seat in the U.S. House and the Georgia Legislature is up for grabs this year, although not all have Republican and Democratic primaries.
Other high-profile races in Metro Atlanta include the open DeKalb County CEO contest as well as the reelection bids of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.
If you are looking for information about the candidates, we have you covered. Check out the Georgia Decides voter guide, a joint project from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Atlanta Civic Circle.
Early in-person voting ends May 17.
***
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
HARRIS VISIT. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to arrive in Atlanta on Monday to kick off a nationwide tour focused on improving economic opportunities for Black men, bringing new attention to the Democrat’s efforts to mobilize one of the party’s key constituencies.
The visit by Harris, her 12th to Georgia since she took office, comes as polls indicate that she and President Joe Biden have work to do to shore up their support among Black Americans amid a tight reelection campaign against former President Donald Trump.
While the event is not open to the public, the conversation will be livestreamed starting at 2:45 p.m. on the White House website.
***
Credit: Screenshot
Credit: Screenshot
DEBATE TIME. The Atlanta Press Club held a day of debates on Sunday for the most closely watched primary and local contests.
As expected, none of the incumbents invited to participate showed up, and each was represented by an empty podium on the debate stage as their challengers made their cases to voters.
The most crowded stage was the Republican debate for the 3rd Congressional District, which attracted the five top GOP candidates seeking the ruby-red House district held by retiring U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson.
Though little new ground was broken, the hourlong showdown served as a reminder that the five are clashing as much about their approach and leadership style as they are about policies they all largely agree on.
And, notably, each raised their hand when asked by moderator Russ Spencer whether they believe former President Donald Trump was the “rightful” winner of Georgia’s 2020 election. (He was not.)
***
PARTY TIME. The annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington featured a blistering set of jokes from comedian Colin Jost, who mainly took swipes at President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“Let me see if I can summarize where this race stands at this moment,” Jost said in one zinger. “The Republican candidate for president owes half a billion in fines for bank fraud and is currently spending his days farting himself awake during a porn star hush money trial. And the race is tied?”
Your Politically Georgia crew was there, too, part of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution contingent that featured some of Atlanta’s biggest names.
Hip-hop stars Jermaine Dupri and Dallas Austin were on hand, as was Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Marietta and former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.
Elsewhere in the crowd was another notable Georgia figure: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who took part in the Inman Park Festival parade in Atlanta before jetting to D.C. for the event.
***
UNITY. In a rare burst of election-year unity, two of the top politicos in Cobb County will meet on Tuesday for a panel discussion on ways to avoid further polarization.
Former Cobb GOP chair Jason Shepherd and Mableton Mayor Michael Owens, the ex-Cobb Democratic chair, will meet in Marietta for the “Disagreeing Better over Waffles and Wine” event.
Credit: Taylor Croft/AJC
Credit: Taylor Croft/AJC
The gathering is hosted by the Carter Center’s Georgia Democracy Resilience Network and has already gotten a shout-out from Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, the chair of the National Governors Association.
“There isn’t any idea that can’t be made better with healthy debate,” Cox said, “but we can debate without the contempt or the polarization.”
***
Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
LISTEN UP. On today’s episode of the “Politically Georgia” radio show, Morehouse Provost Kendrick Brown talks about President Joe Biden serving as graduation speaker and how the school is preparing for potential protests.
Later, Donald Trump appointee and Florida native Carlos Trujillo talks about supporting the former president despite the legal challenges he faces.
The show airs at 10 a.m. on 90.1 FM, at AJC.com and at WABE.org.
If you missed it Friday, the AJC’s Martha Dalton shared her on-the-ground reporting from Emory University as law enforcement officers clashed with pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
And former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, a Democrat, shared why she thinks President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are taking the wrong approach in 2024.
Listen at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
***
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
ANOTHER CAMPUS PROTEST. Georgia Southern University students will stage a protest on the school’s campuses today, albeit not on the subject of the Israel-Hamas war that has sparked demonstrations at colleges across the country, including last week at Emory University.
The GSU protest is being led by members of the school’s LGBTQ community and focuses on the cancellation of an anti-discrimination program and changes to other resources, including signs on the school’s campuses and on the website. Demonstration leaders sent out a five-page letter outlining the grievances late last week.
The largest of the sit-ins begins at 11 a.m. at the Russell Student Union on the Statesboro campus.
***
CRITICIZING CARTER. Former President Donald Trump continues to reference Jimmy Carter and the Georgian’s time as president in his election campaign against sitting President Joe Biden.
At a rally Saturday in Michigan, Trump compared Biden’s first term in the White House to that of Carter’s. Trump has often used Carter’s White House tenure, marked by an economy-limiting oil embargo and the Iran hostage crisis, to belittle Biden, even doing so as Carter’s wife Rosalynn was on her deathbed.
She died in November.
Carter, age 99, is himself under hospice care in his home in Plains. Even so, Trump loyalists in Georgia, such as GOP activist Debbie Dooley, told the Associated Press the comparisons are justified, saying “I’m old enough to remember the gas lines under President Carter.”
***
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
RIVIAN’S’ REASSURANCES. Executives with electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian renewed their commitment to build an EV factory in Georgia during a weekend visit to the carmaker’s showroom in Atlanta.
Rivian paused site preparation work on roughly 2,000 acres of land east of Atlanta earlier this year. The site was to be home to a $5 billion manufacturing facility, and the work stoppage has prompted concerns, including from elected officials who pushed through a lucrative tax incentives package for Rivian, that the EV startup will abandon the project.
Rivian’s Tony Sanger, vice president of facilities, told the AJC otherwise on Saturday, saying, “We will be back. We will be building because that’s where we get the volume we need for these vehicles.”
AJC reporters J. Scott Trubey, Zachary Hansen and Bill Rankin have more about Rivian’s visit in a story that published Saturday.
***
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden has no public events on his schedule.
- The House has evening votes scheduled as members return from a weeklong recess.
- The Senate returns Tuesday.
***
LYING IN HONOR. A decorated military veteran from Georgia who died earlier this month will lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol this afternoon.
President Joe Biden awarded Ralph Puckett Jr. with a Medal of Honor in 2021 for his heroic actions during the Korean War. Puckett died in Columbus on April 8. He was 97.
Today, he will become a rare non-elected official honored by a memorial service at the Capitol. After a closed ceremony, there will be an hour of public viewing of his casket beginning at 4 p.m.
Also this morning, there will be a wreath-laying ceremony in Puckett’s memory at the Korean War Memorial in Washington. U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, is among the speakers and was among the leaders of the effort to honor Puckett in Washington.
***
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
NEW TRUSTEES. Dr. Louis Sullivan, founder of the Morehouse School of Medicine and cabinet member in the George H.W. Bush administration, won new admirers Saturday at the Georgia Historical Society’s annual Trustees Gala in Savannah.
Sullivan, along with UPS executive Carol Tome, were named to what is in essence a Georgia leadership hall of fame, receiving their awards from Gov. Brian Kemp. But it was Sullivan’s remarks and style that charmed the packed ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Savannah.
Sullivan recounted how the Morehouse medical school started in two trailers in 1975 with a focus on grooming doctors from underserved communities to return to those neighborhoods as primary care physicians. And he talked about forming his professional aspirations while growing up in South Georgia during the Jim Crow era.
Insider Adam Van Brimmer has more in a story that publishes later today.
***
AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.
