Georgia’s presidential ballot may shrink. It’s a win for Democrats

At one point, it looked like Georgia’s presidential ballot would have seven people on it. After Monday, that could be down to just three.

Chief Judge Michael Malihi of the Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings recommended four candidates — socialist Claudia De la Cruz, Georgia Green Party nominee Jill Stein as well as independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West — should all not appear on the ballot for various reasons, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.

If Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger agrees with this decision — his office is reviewing it now — it could mean that the ballot will be down to three contenders: Democrat Kamala Harris, Republican Donald Trump and Libertarian Chase Oliver.

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

This is not how Republicans envisioned it when GOP lawmakers earlier this year slipped in a late provision to make it easier for third-party candidates to land on the ballot. The unspoken hope was to hurt Democrats by siphoning away votes from President Joe Biden. Much has happened since then, including Biden’s decision to quit the race and Kennedy’s move to endorse Trump and withdraw from the ballot in competitive states.

That makes it even harder to predict the impact on the presidential race. Kennedy has recently polled in the single digits, while the other longshots have barely registered in polls. But if it benefits anyone, “it clearly benefits the Democratic Party,” said Bernard Tamas, a political science professor at Valdosta State University and an expert on third parties in U.S. elections.

“Getting rid of the minor candidates is probably not as big of an advantage, especially in Georgia. But they are all ones more likely to take votes from Harris than Trump,” Tamas said. “The Democrats consider almost all third parties a threat. The only one that they don’t see as a threat is the Libertarians.”

We should note Oliver is a special case that brings even more unpredictability. An Atlanta resident, Oliver ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022 and captured about 2% of the vote, forcing a runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

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Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

WOMEN’S SPORTS. Five women NCAA swimmers — none of them from Georgia — will testify today during a state legislative hearing about transgender athletes competing in amateur women’s sports. But it’s Georgia Tech that could get a lot of attention from lawmakers.

Georgia Tech hosted the NCAA swimming championships in 2022. That was the year that University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle with Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete from the University of Pennsylvania. It was that experience, which included Gaines sharing a locker room with Thomas, that propelled Gaines into political activism opposing transgender athletes competing against women.

Gaines is scheduled to testify in-person during today’s hearing. Georgia lawmakers want to know more about what happened in 2022 and what, if anything, the state should do to regulate NCAA competitions held in the Peach State. Georgia Tech is in line to host the NCAA championships again in 2026.

“Our intent with this is not to go after Georgia Tech. Everything I’ve seen has led me to believe that Georgia Tech was merely complying with the dictates of the NCAA,” said state Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the chair of the Special Committee on Protecting Women’s Sports. “There are questions moving forward for these state-funded universities, to what extent they should be blindly following dictates of the NCAA when it comes to this issue.”

Aside from a public comment period, the hearing will likely be one-sided. Dolezal said representatives from Georgia Tech declined to testify, citing a pending lawsuit (“Which I understand,” Dolezal said.) Dolezal said he will invite Thomas to testify during a future hearing.

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KEMP WATCH. Don’t expect Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to retool his political organization for the sole purpose of helping former President Donald Trump win the presidency. That was the subtext of what Kemp’s adviser, Cody Hall, told the “Politically Georgia” show on Monday.

Now that Trump has made nice with Kemp (for now), his campaign aides would love reinforcements from the governor’s vaunted machine, which helped him score a sweeping victory over Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2022.

Set aside the personal reasons why Kemp might not want to direct his machine to promote Trump. Hall noted the other reasons the operation can’t easily pivot from boosting legislative candidates to Trump-driven messaging. And it starts with cold, hard cash.

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

“In 2022, we spent $8 million on that plan,” he said of the reelection bid. “The Kemp organization at this point doesn’t have that cash on hand. And you have to think through legally how, structurally, you do this.”

Kemp’s machine has filled the void of the Georgia GOP, which once used its resources to help down-ticket candidates but is now primarily helping Trump’s campaign pay for legal bills for the co-defendants in Fulton County’s election interference case.

Hall said the Kemp network is spending “almost $2 million to turn out the vote” and help state legislative Republican candidates in about a half-dozen swing districts defeat Democrats.

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Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

FAR RIGHT. Close readers of the newsletter are by now familiar with the antics of Kandiss Taylor, the far-right Republican who ran for governor on a “Jesus, Guns and Babies” platform and more recently won an election to lead a key party post.

Taylor used her losing campaign in 2022 to promote false conspiracy theories that state GOP leaders were secret Communists, Democrats were satanic pedophiles and Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

She refused to concede in that 2022 race despite capturing only 3% of the vote. She also promised to demolish a granite monument in northeast Georgia known as the “Georgia Guidestones” that was later partly destroyed by an explosive. (Taylor thanked God for “striking down” the attraction.)

Now she’s under fire for a different reason. The left-leaning Media Matters watchdog group reports that Taylor made several antisemitic comments, including complaining that Jewish people are “controlling everything” and alleging in a recently-deleted tweet that unnamed politicians “pander to the Jews.”

Taylor called it a “hit piece” and said she rejects antisemitism. State Rep. Esther Panitch, the lone Jewish member of the General Assembly, scoffed at her response.

“This is not an apology. To reject antisemitism, you should apologize for all the antisemitic things you have said and not go on antisemitic shows,” the Sandy Springs Democrat said.

We reached out to Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon on Monday for comment and have yet to hear back.

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Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

NOT SO FAST. The Democratic Party on Monday sued to block some new election rules from taking effect, saying they would “invite chaos.” The AJC’s Mark Niesse reports Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign supports the lawsuit.

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Credit: AJC file photo

Credit: AJC file photo

LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” Katie Sanders, editor-in-chief of Politifact, discusses the veracity of statements made at the recent Democratic and Republican political conventions. Plus, retiring AJC political reporter and editor James Salzer joins the show to talk about his stellar career.

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 Monday’s show, Cody Hall, Republican strategist and top aide to Gov. Brian Kemp, talked about the relationship between Kemp and former President Donald Trump. Also, Quentin Fulks, principal deputy campaign manager from the Harris-Walz campaign, discussed how Democrats can keep up momentum after their party’s national convention last week.

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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

TRUMP FORCE 47. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign traveled to Jackson, Georgia, on Monday for the latest in a series of events focused on turning out voters ahead of this year’s election.

These Trump Force 47 events focus on training supporters, called “captains,” on ways to reach out to family, friends and neighbors. Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins hosted the two events in Jackson, his hometown. He posted a video on X between events encouraging others to come out and join in.

“Make sure that people understand we’ve got to again increase the vote this time around,” Collins said. “They need to either do it by absentee voting, by early voting, or making sure they vote on Nov. 5.”

Trump has questioned the integrity of Georgia elections and has criticized voting by mail. But at least in this instance, his campaign and supporters are sending the message that all methods are welcome as long as the box by his name is checked.

Other Trump Force 47 trainings in Georgia have featured Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Rome and far-right political activist Jack Posobiec in Cherokee County.

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Credit: AP

Credit: AP

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL:

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FRESH FACE. You may have noticed a new byline at the top of today’s newsletter. That’s because Adam Van Brimmer, who has co-written and edited for Politically Georgia for the past year, is stepping away to focus on being the AJC’s full-time Savannah bureau chief.

In his place is another Adam — Adam Beam — who uses em dashes way too much. A South Carolina native, Beam comes to the AJC after nearly two decades in journalism — a sentence that is really hard for him to type. He’s a Gamecock who considers the Georgia Bulldogs a football rival, but has accepted that the feeling isn’t mutual.

The crew sends the biggest of shoutouts to Adam Van Brimmer, whose hard work and dedication made the newsletter shine. He will enjoy getting to sleep in a little later, but will undoubtedly still be a regular among these paragraphs. Vice President Kamala Harris is coming to Savannah on Thursday, after all.

Say “hi” to the new Adam at Adam.Beam@ajc.com.

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Credit: File photo

Credit: File photo

SHOUTOUTS. 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, 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.beam@ajc.com.