As the political world prepares to descend on Atlanta for next week’s CNN presidential debate, Gov. Brian Kemp has a message for fellow Republicans: It’s time to step up the ground game.
President Joe Biden’s campaign is opening dozens of offices in Georgia and other battleground states, looking to squeeze former President Donald Trump in even deep-red areas.
And Kemp is raising concerns that Republicans aren’t doing enough in Georgia and other competitive states to lay the infrastructure for tough November races.
Kemp says he’s doing his part to boost GOP candidates. He told Politically Georgia he’s “very confident” that his political organization’s efforts to help down-ticket Republicans in legislative races will pay off.
“And all of that will help the whole ticket by turning out the people that we need to turn out,” he said in an interview. “But I do think the RNC and Republicans around the country need to make sure that they’re not writing off having a good ground game, spending money on that, making sure that they’re getting the message out to persuade voters why this race is so important.”
Though Trump holds slight leads over Biden in Georgia, his campaign is playing catch-up to Biden’s more established network. We’re told Biden plans to open new suburban infrastructure, including a Sandy Springs office next week.
Kemp said grassroots organization will play an even larger factor after the debate focuses more attention on the rival candidates.
“Post-debate, if things kind of stay the same, it’s going to be really important on who’s got good ground games and who’s turning their people out,” Kemp said, “not only to win the White House, but for Republicans to take control of the Senate and hold the House.”
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
COIN TOSS. President Joe Biden’s team won a coin toss with “tails” to settle several details ahead of next Thursday’s debate, CNN reported Thursday.
The president’s campaign decided to prioritize podium selection. Biden wanted to be on the right side of viewers’ screens and will get his wish.
With second dibs, former President Donald Trump was able to choose the order of closing statements. He opted to have the last word during the 90-minute event that will be televised on CNN and simulcast on most major networks.
Credit: Meg Kinnard/AP
Credit: Meg Kinnard/AP
Thursday was also the deadline for candidates to qualify for the debate. As expected, only Biden and Trump made the cut. Robert Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent, is not yet on the ballot in enough states to meet the criteria to be on the stage. Kennedy also failed to meet polling thresholds.
Kennedy’s campaign quickly cried foul on the technicality that neither Biden nor Trump are their parties’ official nominees until after the conventions. That means they technically aren’t on any states’ ballots yet either, his campaign said.
Although Kennedy is threatening legal action, it doesn’t look like anything will change before the Trump-Biden showdown.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
DEBATE AFTER-PARTY. Shortly after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump clash in Atlanta for the first presidential debate, Trump has another event on his schedule.
Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and her husband, financial tech executive Jeff Sprecher, are holding a high-dollar fundraiser for Trump at an undisclosed location.
The get-in price of the event — a debate watch party that concludes with remarks from Trump after leaving the CNN studios — is $100,000 per couple. A seat at an elite roundtable and time with “VIP surrogates” costs an additional $50,000 per pair.
Loeffler and Sprecher have already combined to donate $2.6 million to Trump’s campaign and its PAC allies this cycle — the most in Georgia. She’s also likely hoping Trump factors in that support as she considers a 2026 run for governor or U.S. Senate.
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Credit: Mark Niesse/AJC
Credit: Mark Niesse/AJC
LAWMAKER FINED. Veteran state House Rep. Carl Gilliard, D-Savannah, received a stiff penalty for treating his campaign contributions like a piggy bank. Earlier this week, the State Ethics Commission slapped him with a $17,000 fine and ordered him to repay $30,000 in funds after an investigation found he’d made more than 100 non-campaign-related expenditures using donor contributions since 2022.
The case is one of the costliest ever involving a lawmaker.
Capitol watchdog James Salzer and insider Adam Van Brimmer detail Gilliard’s largesse in a story published this morning. Here’s the take from the State Ethics Commission’s executive director David Emadi: “… the facts made crystal clear that this was not a simple mistake, and instead was a pattern of intentional abuse of state law by the officeholder.”
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Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
HOUSE DEMOCRATS. State House Democrats have been in turmoil since the spring over sexual harassment allegations leveled at House Democratic Leader James Beverly by a female staffer.
A report commissioned by the caucus found the harassment allegations “cannot be substantiated.” That left one group of Democrats incensed over what they described as an inadequate and flawed process.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
But other Democrats in the caucus are speaking out to defend the investigation, without commenting on Beverly or the allegations against him.
“I think it was a fair and equitable process for both the complainant and the respondent,” said state Rep. Karen Bennett, a senior House member from Stone Mountain and vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
FALL OF ROE V. WADE. Monday will mark two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Look for Democrats and pro-choice groups to highlight the anniversary with events focused on new abortion restrictions in conservative states enacted since Roe fell. Those include Georgia, where most abortions are banned once fetal cardiac activity is detected, or about six weeks after conception.
Indivisible Georgia, a left-leaning political advocacy organization, will hold “Restore Women’s Reproductive Rights!” rallies in Douglasville and Danielsville today. Similar events are planned for Watkinsville on Saturday and Athens on Monday.
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Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” Melita Easters, executive director of the left-leaning Georgia WIN List, talks about the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling two years ago that overturned protections to abortion access under Roe v. Wade.
And South Carolina’s U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn previews his visit to Georgia this weekend. He will campaign on behalf of fellow Congressman Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, and focus on outreach to Black voters.
Listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 or follow “Politically Georgia” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
In case you missed Thursday’s show, Republican strategist and Dentons principal Stephen Lawson and state Senate Democratic Leader Gloria Butler broke down the results of Tuesday’s runoffs and what lessons Democrats and Republicans can learn from the outcome.
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Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
WARNOCK WORKFORCE. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is partnering with Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, on a bipartisan proposal to increase career training initiatives at community colleges and technical schools. The bill would expand the existing “Strengthening Community Colleges” grant program and provide more competitive grant funding to support partnerships between these schools and local employers.
“As these new jobs are coming to the Peach State, it’s important that we are relying on local talent in communities across the state,” Warnock told reporters this week. “And that means we need a workforce that’s trained to step into these roles, and a pathway that ensures that they’re prepared to succeed so that our Georgia companies can also thrive.”
Warnock and Braun are hoping the bill gets folded in as a provision of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which is slated to be reauthorized in the coming months.
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Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
APOLITICAL VISIT? U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in Atlanta on Thursday and didn’t stump for her boss, President Joe Biden, or issue warnings about what a Biden loss to former President Donald Trump in the November election would mean for the economy.
Instead, the former Federal Reserve Board chief focused on employment, inflation, affordable housing and combating fentanyl trafficking.
The AJC’s Michael E. Kanell delivers the full rundown from Yellen’s swing through town.
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Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
CELLPHONE CRACKDOWN. Every parent can attest to the affection — addiction even — their school-age children have for cellphones. Middle-schoolers in Marietta will have to do without their screens while in class this coming school year, as the Marietta City Schools Board of Education voted Tuesday to ban devices starting Aug. 1.
The AJC’s Jillian Price writes the policy requires students to lock their phones and smartwatches in a pouch during the school day. The pouch can only be opened using a magnet that teachers will have access to.
School board members see the mandate as a way to keep students’ attention during instruction and to reduce bullying, stress and anxiety.
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
The Marietta school board’s chair, Jeff DeJarnett, further explained the decision in a commentary published Thursday in the AJC.
Curbing cellphone use during school hours is a national trend. Also on Tuesday, the board of the country’s second-largest school district, Los Angeles, banned screens for all of its 429,000 K-12 students during school days. Another Georgia school district, Liberty County near Savannah, implemented a similar cellphone policy for most middle and high school students earlier this month.
In case you missed it, the AJC’s education columnist, Maureen Downey, weighed in on the cellphone issue last month.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden is at Camp David prepping for next week’s debate.
- The House returns on Tuesday.
- The Senate is in recess until July 8.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., holds an event in Savannah highlighting the federal funding he obtained to build a new library branch in the city.
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Credit: Douglas County
Credit: Douglas County
JUDGE ARRESTED. It’s been a bad run for Douglas County Probate Judge Christina J. Peterson.
Peterson was elected to the bench without opposition in 2020. But she lost her reelection bid in May in the Democratic primary to Douglasville lawyer Valerie Vie.
That followed a years-long investigation by the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission, which recommended in March that she be removed for a series of incidents. Offenses included improperly jailing a woman, engaging in abusive conduct toward her fellow judges and blocking access to public records.
But she may soon be on the other side of a judge’s gavel. Last Thursday, Peterson was booked into the Fulton County jail after being arrested for striking a police officer at a Buckhead nightclub. She was charged with simple battery and obstruction.
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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.
