When Vice President Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Georgia Democrats quickly rallied around her pick. But many also quietly took a crash course on his background, soaking up everything they could about him.
Back in 2020 when then-presidential candidate Joe Biden tapped Harris as his No. 2, Georgia Democrats needed no such review. Harris was a known quantity to state leaders long before she joined Biden on the ticket. She had held events here since her days as a San Francisco prosecutor.
Walz, meanwhile, was low-profile until recent weeks, when he burst onto the national scene as a plainspoken attack dog against former President Donald Trump. But he does have a Georgia connection.
After enlisting in the National Guard in 1981, at age 17, Walz took his first plane ride to west Georgia where he trained at the military installation then known as Fort Benning.
Campaign officials say he lived in the Columbus area for several months, going through basic training and then advanced individual training at what is now known as Fort Moore. He then returned home to finish his senior year of high school.
Walz served in the military for 24 years, reupping in the Guard several times, including after the Sept. 11 attacks. Expect the Harris-Walz campaign to double down on his background in a state that boasts the fifth largest military population in the nation.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
WALZ THE PROBLEM? Not every Georgia Democrat fell in line with party leaders after Vice President Kamala Harris tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her political partner.
Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, the most prominent Democrat in Georgia to publicly call for President Joe Biden to step aside, said picking Walz missed a moment to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters.
In a column in the AJC, Bordeaux wrote Harris wasted a chance to “show independence and to help establish her more moderate credentials” when she picked Walz, a favorite of the Democrat’s liberal base, over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Bourdeaux wrote:
“OK then, Walz does no harm perhaps, but Harris now has made the challenge to break out harder. Can she define herself in a way that will win Georgia? With every ad labeling her as a San Francisco liberal, Republicans are scrambling to define her. The door to show she is her own person is closing fast."
Credit: Caroline Yang/The New York Times
Credit: Caroline Yang/The New York Times
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and a California Democrat, challenged Bordeaux’s assertion and those of other Walz critics. She told The Hill to characterize Walz as far-left is “so unreal.”
Added Pelosi: “He’s right down the middle, he’s a heartland of America Democrat.”
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Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
ELECTION RULE. The State Election Board on Tuesday expanded the process county election boards use to certify voting results. Those officials must now conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before validating outcomes, a step that voting rights groups fear could give partisan board members more discretion to reject the outcome.
Our AJC colleague Mark Niesse attended Tuesday’s meeting and noted the three board members who voted in favor of the new rule are the same three praised by former President Donald Trump at his recent campaign rally in Atlanta.
Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
Certification is a required part of each election, a step that must be taken before counties can finalize results six days after an election.
A county’s failure to certify an election could throw the results into a dispute that would have to be settled by the courts before Georgia’s statewide election certification deadline Nov. 22.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
PRISON REFORMS. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff held a news conference at the King Center on Tuesday to highlight the enactment of his Federal Prison Oversight Act, which President Joe Biden recently signed into law.
The law requires regular unannounced inspections of all federal prisons to ensure adequate inmate care and welfare. It also creates an anonymous tip line at the Department of Justice for people to report dangerous prison conditions and abuses.
The legislation followed multiple Congressional investigations led by Ossoff. Those probes found widespread civil and human rights abuses in federal, state and local facilities, including in Atlanta. A 2022 investigative report by the AJC, titled “Out of Control,” brought many of the issues to light.
“There is a human rights crisis behind bars in the United States and it’s unfolding as we speak,” Ossoff said. “And it requires our urgent attention”
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SPORTS WARS. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and his Senate allies are ready to open a new front in the ongoing dispute over whether transgender students can compete in school sports.
Jones announced a recently created committee designed to investigate how administrators promote “the protection of women’s sports” will hold its first hearing on Aug. 27.
The lieutenant governor earlier tapped eight lawmakers — six Republicans and two Democrats — to the Senate Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sports. It will be chaired by GOP state Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming.
“As a state, we must do all we can to see that women’s sports and their rights are not threatened,” said Jones.
Critics say Republicans are trying to score political points. The Georgia High School Association already requires athletes to compete on teams based on their gender assigned at birth, essentially banning transgender athletes from participating.
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Credit: David Barnes/AJC
Credit: David Barnes/AJC
AG REVIEW. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on Tuesday weighed in on the controversy over whether an Advanced Placement African American Studies course violates the state’s divisive concepts law.
In a letter to the author of the legislation, state Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, Carr said it is “clear” the measure passed in 2022 was designed not to “prohibit the implementation of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or dual enrollment courses.”
Insider Greg Bluestein and AJC colleague Josh Reyes report the letter was sent last Friday, two days after State School Superintendent Richard Woods said he declined to approve — and thereby fund — an AP African American Studies course taught in several Georgia schools because some topics in the curriculum violated the divisive concepts law.
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Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
Credit: Seeger Gray/AJC
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond provides insight on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joining the Democratic presidential ticket as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
Also, state Rep Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, talks about working with Walz on the Democratic National Committee and her concerns about changes being considered by the State Election Board.
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 Tuesday’s show, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said former President Donald Trump’s attack on state Republican leaders was proof that the party is destined to lose in November.
House Republican leader Chuck Efstration of Dacula also joined the podcast to discuss Trump’s chances of winning Georgia. Efstration outlined his legislative proposal to address homelessness as well.
And former Atlanta Mayor and Harris ally Kasim Reed spoke about the selection of Walz as Harris’ running mate. Reed opined on Harris’ candidacy in a commentary that published on AJC.com this morning.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden has no public events on his schedule.
- Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, campaign in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
- The House and Senate are in recess until Sept. 9.
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Credit: Branden Camp for the AJC
Credit: Branden Camp for the AJC
NEXT GENERATION. The president and CEO of one of the nation’s historic civil rights organizations is stepping down.
The AJC’s Shelia Poole reports that the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s leader, Charles Steele Jr., will leave his post after the group’s annual gathering, which is being held this weekend.
The organization was cofounded in 1957 by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who served as its first president. A spokesman for Steele said the 78-year-old will move into an advisory role as the organization reconsiders its mission.
“We will still be in civil rights, but we are dealing with fulfilling the dream of Dr. King through affordable housing and getting people in the position to own homes,” Steele said in a news release. “More than ever, people are being evicted, and we must provide a solution.”
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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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