Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign will launch what it calls the “biggest-ever mobilization blitz” of her young presidential candidacy this weekend.
There are more than 170 events on the books, including three campaign office openings, press events and a wave of volunteer shifts.
Two out-of-state surrogates are set to rally Democrats: U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State and Stacey Plaskett, the Virgin Islands delegate to the U.S. House.
Republicans also are planning their own set of grassroots activities, including a virtual training on Sunday helmed by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome.
Harris herself visits Atlanta next Tuesday for a campaign event. The appearance will be her 12th in Georgia in the last 18 months.
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YOUNG VOTERS. A gathering of young progressives will kick off in downtown Atlanta today with a keynote address from U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Washington Democrat who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The Voters of Tomorrow Summit bills itself as a gathering of Gen Z organizers and activists. The two-day conference also features Georgia state Reps. Ruwa Romman of Duluth and Sam Park of Lawrenceville, former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama and Eve Levenson, national youth engagement director for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
The Harris for President campaign and the Democratic National Committee are official partners of the summit.
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Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
OBAMAS ONBOARD. Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama on Friday morning endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the presidency.
The endorsement was announced via a video that showed Harris receiving the phone call from the Obamas.
The Obamas are the latest — and perhaps most high-profile — Democratic Party leaders to endorse Harris. She already has enough delegate support to secure the party’s nomination.
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Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
FEMALE VOTERS. The Seneca Project, a super PAC focused on defeating former President Donald Trump by targeting moderate women voters, is out with a new ad in Georgia and other swing states.
Titled “We Must Win,” the ad pays tribute to women athletes and Olympians while encouraging mothers to think about their children when deciding who to cast ballots for in November.
“These athletes, and the mothers who raise them, embody strength, endurance, and perseverance — qualities we must adopt as we confront a radicalized Republican party determined to undo decades of progress in women’s rights,” said Michelle Kinney, the Seneca Project’s co-founder and chief creative officer, in a news release about the ad.
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STONEWALLING STRATEGY. Our Washington Insider Jamie Dupree is out with a column unpacking the congressional review of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Dupree takes us inside the hearing room on Monday where now-former U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle ducked questions from lawmakers, drawing bipartisan scorn that led to her resignation the next day.
He writes:
Cheatle, who served for 27 years as a Secret Service agent, including a stint as the head of the Atlanta field office, properly described the attack at the Trump rally as “the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades," the worst since President Ronald Reagan was shot outside a Washington hotel in 1981.
But Cheatle's nonanswers helped drive the two parties together in a highly unusual way during an election year, as House leaders agreed to set up a special 13-member task force to investigate the Trump assassination attempt.
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PRISON LAW. President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law a bill sponsored by Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, to increase oversight of federal prisons.
The bill requires the Justice Department to routinely inspect facilities, provide recommendations to address concerns and assign each prison a risk score. Facilities deemed the most at risk would be inspected more frequently.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
The legislation also creates a new ombudsman position to investigate complaints about the treatment of prisoners and staff.
“Those incarcerated and the staff who work in our prisons every day deserve an environment free from unnecessary dangers,” McBath said in a news release. “With the signing of our bill, H.R. 3019, into law, greater accountability to protect staff and incarcerated individuals is now in place for our federal prison system.”
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Credit: AJC file photo
Credit: AJC file photo
SAVE THE DAM? Tucked into legislation passed by the U.S. House earlier this week was authorization to save Augusta’s New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam. The structure, built in 1937, supports a large river pool that supplements the area’s drinking water supply and is used for recreation activities.
According to reporting in the Augusta Chronicle, the decaying structure hasn’t received significant federal investment since commercial navigation on that part of the Savannah River ceased in the 1970s. In fact, a 1999 study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommended demolishing the lock and dam, and a year later Congress authorized repairs but never funded them.
A House bill that advanced this week, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), would include protections for the structure. A Senate version of the bill has yet to pass that chamber, although it has cleared committee. Once that measure goes to a vote, members of the House and Senate will come together to negotiate a final version of the bill, adding and subtracting projects such as the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam as part of that process.
The WRDA, which also includes authorization for a study to deepen the Port of Savannah downriver from the lock and dam, is taken up by lawmakers every two years.
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LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” a special mailbag episode features readers’ calls regarding President Joe Biden’s decision to abandon his reelection bid and Vice President Kamala Harris’ newly launched presidential campaign.
Listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 or follow “Politically Georgia” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
On Thursday’s episode, state Sen. Derek Mallow, D-Savannah, and Congressman Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, reacted to Biden’s Oval Office address and shared their viewpoints on the presidential contest as Harris is now poised to become the Democrats’ nominee.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden receives a briefing on artificial intelligence before heading to Camp David for the weekend.
- The House is in recess until Sept. 9.
- The Senate is done for the week, returning Monday.
- Coastal Community Health dedicates its newly opened health care center in Pooler, a Savannah suburb, to U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff holds a news conference in Tifton to highlight federal funding he obtained for the University of Georgia’s veterinary and precision agriculture research program on its campus there.
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RIP, SEN. THOMAS. The physician-turned-legislator behind the state law that banned smoking in restaurants has died. Dr. Don Thomas, who served 14 years in the Georgia Senate, was 91 and suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, according to reporting from the Dalton Daily Citizen.
Thomas practiced medicine as recently as 2018 and served in the Senate from 1997 to 2010. Along with sponsoring the restaurant smoking ban in 2004, Thomas championed mandating seat belts for trucks, a law that passed in 2010.
Read Thomas’ obituary here.
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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.
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