Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Georgia’s elections chief denounces proposed rule changes.
- Cursive writing ends candidate’s campaign for local office.
- State officials pick contractor for Ga. 400 toll lanes.
Tucked into a 2021 speech that JD Vance delivered to a conservative think tank, the Ohio Republican made a curious reference to Georgia voting rights activist Stacey Abrams.
In the speech, first reported by the Christian Science Monitor, former President Donald Trump’s future running mate brought up Abrams’ warning that anti-abortion legislation in Georgia would be “bad for business.” Said Vance:
“She was right. When the big corporations come against you for passing abortion restrictions, when corporations are so desperate for cheap labor that they don’t want people to parent children, she’s right to say that abortion restrictions are bad for business.”
That isn’t the point that Abrams, the two-time Democratic nominee for governor, aimed to drive home as she campaigned for office on a platform of preserving and expanding abortion rights.
Abrams had long pressed business boosters who fought against “religious liberty” legislation and opposed voting rights restrictions to also wade into the political fight over abortion restrictions.
On Thursday, she told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner that Vance, now a U.S. senator from Ohio, purposely “misrepresents, misunderstands and misappropriates” her remarks.
“What I said, and what I mean, is that women should have the right to control their bodies. Because it determines how they secure an education, how they make a living, how they decide to grow families, and that companies are going to make terrible choices if they support restricting those rights.”
Of Vance, Abrams didn’t mince words.
“He has almost no sympathy for how women experience life in America, and he has demonstrated again and again that he reduces women to the least and most puerile notion of our humanity.”
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HARRIS TAX PROPOSAL. Vice President Kamala Harris is slowly rolling out policy proposals now that she is running for president. Today she proposed a host of tax proposals aimed at saving money for low- and middle-income earners.
For parents of young children, Harris wants to greatly expand the child tax credit. She hopes to bring back a $3,600 tax break for families with young children that Congress approved during the pandemic but has since expired. And she wants to expand the credit even further, giving families up to $6,000 in tax relief during the first year of their child’s life to help pay for necessities like cribs, diapers and car seats.
For people who don’t have children, Harris wants to expand the earned income tax credit, which would cut their taxes by up to $1,500.
Harris also wants to cut taxes for people who purchase health insurance on Affordable Care Act marketplaces, which her campaign said will save an average of $700 on health insurance premiums.
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
VOTING RIGHTS. Georgia’s top elections official blasted a series of pending rules changes under review by the State Election Board as an “eleventh hour effort to impose new rulemaking” that could undermine voter confidence and burden election workers.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger specifically took issue with a proposal that would require three separate poll workers to hand-count ballots at precincts on Election Night to ensure they match the tally recorded by voting machines.
He said the proposed change was “misguided” and introduces significant risks to chain-of-custody procedures that govern how ballots are counted after they are cast.
“Georgia voters reject this 11th hour chaos, and so should the unelected members of the State Election Board,” Raffensperger said.
It amounts to Raffensperger’s sharpest comments yet about the pending election rules changes promoted by former President Donald Trump’s allies, who have recently wrested control of the five-member board.
Without naming names, Raffensperger blasted the influence of “unelected bureaucrats who have never run an election” that he said threaten a voting process that “otherwise will be secure and accurate.”
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
WHO SAYS CURSIVE IS DEAD? Cursive handwriting might be on the way out, but it’s still a factor in Georgia elections — as one candidate for the Glynn County Board of Commissioners discovered this week.
Laura Khurana needed at least 3,098 registered voters to sign a petition for her to appear on the ballot as an independent this fall. She turned in more than 3,600 signatures. But many of those “signatures” were printed in block letters. When local officials compared those signatures with what was in the voter registration database, they found names written in cursive.
Since the signatures didn’t match, local election officials said they could not count them — leaving Khurana short of what she needed.
“The handwriting matches. Date of birth, address, even the printed name was able to match when we had it. But it lacked a signature because in the voter registration file it had a cursive,” Glynn County Director of Elections Christopher Channell said.
Khurana appealed, arguing the law did not require the two signatures to match exactly. But she said a judge ruled against her earlier this week. That ended her campaign. And it ensured the incumbent — Republican Walter Rafolski — will likely be unopposed
“I’m very disappointed,” she said. “I feel like hundreds of Glynn County voters legitimately signed my petition. I stood there and watched them sign it. Their signatures were not counted and now they won’t have a choice on their ballot in November.”
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
AND THE WINNER IS. SR 400 Peach Partners, a consortium of construction, engineering and financing companies, won the big contract on Thursday to build 16 miles of tolled express lanes on Ga. 400.
Topping $4 billion, it’s the most expensive project Georgia has ever pursued, according to the AJC’s Sara Gregory, who has all the details here.
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Credit: Nell Carroll for the AJC
Credit: Nell Carroll for the AJC
THINGS ARE LOOKING UP. The numbers are in for July, and Georgia’s bank account is doing just fine.
Overall tax collections were up 2.7% in July compared to a year ago, according to figures released Tuesday by Gov. Brian Kemp’s office. Georgia ended the 2024 fiscal year with surplus — but we won’t know how big it is until about September or October
As the AJC’s James Salzer wrote, look for Kemp to keep touting Georgia’s economic successes while also attacking Democratic President Joe Biden’s handling of the national economy.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
LAKEN RILEY ACT. U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, pressed the Senate to approve a bipartisan House bill that would broaden the powers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants arrested for non-violent crimes.
Collins addressed the legislation Monday in a far-ranging interview with conservative radio host Martha Zoller on WDUN.
Collins co-sponsored the measure following the slaying of Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed while jogging on the University of Georgia’s campus.
Her death became a rallying cry for former President Donald Trump and other Republicans critical of Democratic immigration policies.
A Venezuelan national who authorities say entered the U.S. illegally is set to go on trial on murder charges in November. The suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, had been previously arrested on nonviolent offenses.
The Laken Riley Act has not received a hearing in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate since it was introduced in the chamber in early March. Conversely, the bill sped through the GOP-controlled House in seven days with the support of 37 Democrats.
Collins told Zoller he contacted Georgia’s Democratic U.S. senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, about the legislation but had not yet received their support.
“You have a good bill, laying in the Senate, that should have already been passed,” Collins said.
The legislation would require ICE agents to detain undocumented immigrants who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
Expanding ICE’s scope would also force local law enforcement agencies to contact ICE about those types of arrests, curbing the perceived protections offered by so-called “sanctuary cities.”
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Credit: Al Drago/The New York Times
Credit: Al Drago/The New York Times
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” listeners can catch a preview of an interview with Democratic National Committee chair Jamie Harrison. The full interview airs on Monday, but today you’ll hear Harrison talk about Democrats’ excitement swirling around their convention next week in Chicago — excitement that includes Georgia Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who will address the convention in prime time on Monday, according to sources familiar with convention planning.
“It is like this week is when we’re going to have all of the Democratic Avengers assemble. And Reverend Warnock is definitely one of the powerful ones on our team,” Harrison said.
Also, former state Rep. Calvin Smyre of Columbus recaps his most memorable conventions. And the AJC’s Mark Niesse helps answer your election questions from the listener mailbag.
You can 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 show, state Rep. Shelly Hutchinson, D-Snellville, talked about next week’s Democratic National Convention. Also Melita Easters, the founder of Georgia’s Win List, an organization dedicated to electing Democratic women who support abortion rights, discussed Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden holds an event in the Oval Office to sign a proclamation designating the site of a 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, as a national monument.
- Vice President Kamala Harris unveils her economic agenda during a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- The U.S. House and Senate are in recess until Sept. 9.
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GET WELL, KATE. Kate Carter is many things. She’s a world-class journalist, a beloved Atlanta Public Schools teacher, an incredible mother, a devoted friend and the wife of former state Sen. Jason Carter, who ran for governor in 2014.
Now she’s starting a long-haul recovery after she was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. Her family tells us she had surgery over the weekend and is on the mend.
We’re all rooting for you, Kate.
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SO LONG, RON. Chattahoochee Tech President Ron Newcomb is retiring after 12 years at the helm of one of the state’s largest technical colleges.
Newcomb joined North Metro Technical Institute way back in 1988. In 2009, North Metro merged with Appalachian Technical College and Chattahoochee Technical College. Newcomb was named provost and executive vice president of the new school until 2012, when he got the top job. He also spent two decades on the Smyrna City Council.
“It’s time,” Newcomb said in a statement released by the school. “With enrollment this fall at 11,000 students, I’m so proud of the work of this team.”
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
MADAM PRESIDENT. Susannah Frost is the new president of Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A. The AJC’s Kelly Yamanouchi reports Frost will step into the role on Oct. 1. She will become the company’s sixth president since it was founded in 1967. The company also named Cliff Robinson, a 30-year-veteran of the company, as chief operating officer.
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AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.beam@ajc.com, greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.
