Today’s highlights include:
- Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan goes behind “enemy” lines.
- Jason Carter’s DNC speech offered a bridge to the legacy of Jimmy Carter, his grandfather.
- Local officials ask the State Election Board to stop changing the rules so close to the presidential election.
Arvin Temkar/AJC
Arvin Temkar/AJC
As Democratic National Secretary Jason Rae asked how Georgia’s delegation would cast its votes for the party’s presidential nominee, the camera panned to the audience then back to a side aisle where a spotlight illuminated a lone figure.
In a surprise appearance that electrified the United Center in Chicago on Tuesday, Atlanta rapper Lil Jon bounded down stairs and toward the convention floor, performing a few bars from his biggest hits as he joined Georgia’s delegation.
He led the crowd in “We’re not going back” chants and changed the lyrics of “Turn Down for What” into a voter-friendly “turn out for what.”
Hyosub Shin/AJC
Hyosub Shin/AJC
When the music died down, U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, announced the state’s delegates were behind Vice President Kamala Harris: “The South got something to say,” she said.
Democrats had already shaken up the normally sedate roll call ritual, a pass-the-microphone routine that usually features politicos from each delegation ticking through the highlights of their home territory as they tally up the votes to formally nominate a presidential candidate.
This year, D.J. Cassidy played symbolic tunes from each state to introduce their delegation. Most states featured the usual assortment of governors, lawmakers and activists. But a few sprinkled in celebrities: Eva Longoria for Texas, R&B artist Anthony Hamilton for North Carolina, actor Sean Astin for Indiana and filmmaker Spike Lee for New York.
Lil Jon, however, was the only roll call live performance. And it was clear Georgia had set a new standard.
Miguel Martinez/AJC
Miguel Martinez/AJC
The epic roll call was also broadcast live at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held a campaign rally in the same location where former President Donald Trump was crowned by Republicans a little over a month ago. The AJC’s Patricia Murphy was there and reported that Walz said he could feel the energy.
“Something’s happening. And it all begins with Kamala Harris,” Walz said.
More reading:
- Here’s a Spotify playlist of featured roll call songs.
- Georgia wins on social for viral DNC roll call with Lil Jon.
- Follow all of the convention action on the AJC’s live blog.
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Hyosub Shin/AJC
Hyosub Shin/AJC
DUNCAN FOR HARRIS. It’s Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention, and former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan is behind enemy lines.
Duncan is scheduled to be one of several Republicans to address Democrats in Chicago on Wednesday. He tells the AJC’s Greg Bluestein that his “focus will be on the millions of Republicans watching at home that are sick and tired of making excuses for Trump everywhere they go.”
Duncan is a part of the “Republicans for Harris” movement, continuing a long tradition of campaigns highlighting defectors from across party lines.
Former Texas Democratic Gov. John Connally famously launched “Democrats for Nixon” way back in 1972. “Reagan Democrats” was a thing in the 1980s. And then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, spoke at the 2020 DNC.
“It’s not just former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan,” AJC columnist Patricia Murphy wrote Tuesday. “By the end of the convention, delegates will have heard from the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona; a former White House press secretary to Trump; former Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger and from Duncan himself.”
And Democrats won’t soon forget when then-U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, the former Georgia governor and architect of the HOPE scholarship, was the keynote speaker for Republicans at George W. Bush’s 2004 convention.
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Arvin Temkar/AJC
Arvin Temkar/AJC
A LINK TO THE PAST. If the opening day of the Democratic National Convention was about President Joe Biden passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, Day 2 offered another generational bridge — this one reaching all the way back to Georgia’s Jimmy Carter.
Carter, at 99, is the oldest living former U.S. president. He’s in hospice care and could not make the trip to Chicago. But his grandson, former Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter, addressed the convention on Tuesday to honor the peanut farming president.
Arvin Temkar/AJC
Arvin Temkar/AJC
“His legacy is measured by the lives he has touched and the good he has done. Kamala Harris carries my grandfather’s legacy,” Jason Carter said.
The AJC’s Greg Bluestein has more on Jimmy Carter’s legacy and his connection to Biden.
Arvin Temkar/AJC
Arvin Temkar/AJC
Prior to Carter’s remarks, Patti LaBelle sang her ballad “You Are My Friend” as the names of deceased Democrats were projected on the screen. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died in November, was among those remembered.
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GOOD TROUBLE. Out: a 110-year-old monument to the confederacy. In: a 12-foot tall bronze statue of the late Georgia congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis.
The statute won’t be officially unveiled until next week. But work crews installed it in Decatur last week, per the Associated Press.
The statue of Lewis replaces an obelisk that had been erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908. Officials removed the monument in 2020 after it became a target for protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota.
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Ben Hendren for the AJC
Ben Hendren for the AJC
I SAID WHAT I SAID. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill isn’t changing her mind.
Hill ruled last month that the Cobb County Commission’s Democratic majority cannot redraw their district maps. On Tuesday, the commission asked her to reconsider that ruling. She declined.
“I don’t want to use the term disingenuous, but I do find it hard to believe that the county could not have foreseen or predicted the outcome that resulted in this case,” Hill said.
The case might not be done yet. The AJC’s Taylor Croft reports the county could appeal the ruling to a higher court.
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Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
TOO LATE. Local officials across Georgia want the State Election Board to stop changing the rules so close to the election.
The AJC’s Mark Niesse reports the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials on Tuesday released a statement warning the changes would “risk undermining the public’s trust.”
“This could ultimately lead to errors or delays in voting, which is the last thing anyone wants,” said Travis Doss, the association’s president and the Richmond County elections director.
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Jason Getz/AJC
Jason Getz/AJC
GUN STORAGE. A state Senate study committee had its first meeting on Tuesday to consider the best way to encourage Georgians to store their guns safely to reduce the number of deaths involving children.
Our AJC colleague Maya T. Prabhu sat in on the hearing, which featured presentations from gun control groups and other experts.
The committee’s chair, state Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, said he wants gun safety legislation, but he’s not interested in restricting gun ownership.
“One of the things that I thought about in creating this study committee is, what can we do to save as many children as possible from an untimely death associated with a weapon in someone’s home that’s not stored safely,” Jones said.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree that curbing shooting deaths of children is a goal, but legislators this year took varied approaches on how best to achieve that.
With bipartisan support, the House passed a bill that would offer a $300 tax credit for gun owners who purchase safe storage devices, such as gun safes and locks, and complete a firearm safety course.
Republican senators passed a bill that would have removed the sales tax for the purchase of firearms, ammunition, gun safes and other gun accessories during the first week of hunting season in October. Democrats voted against that measure.
Neither bill made it across the finish line to become law.
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Hyosub Shin/AJC
Hyosub Shin/AJC
LISTEN UP. “Politically Georgia” continues from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens joins the show today to talk about how Vice President Kamala Harris is working to broaden her base of support.
Jason Carter will also join the show to talk about what it was like delivering a speech at the DNC focused on the legacy of his grandfather, former President Jimmy Carter.
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 Tuesday’s show, Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson and state Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, shared their thoughts about the opening night of the Democratic National Convention.
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Miguel Martinez/AJC
Miguel Martinez/AJC
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden is on vacation in California.
- Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to attend the Democratic National Convention tonight for the acceptance speech of her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
- The U.S. House and Senate are in recess until Sept. 9.
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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.
This story has been updated to correct details around George Floyd’s death in 2020.
