PG A.M.: Haley faces Super Tuesday survival test ahead of Georgia primary

Haley has repeatedly vowed to continue her campaign through today’s vote — but hasn’t said whether she would stay in the race until the next round, highlighted by the Georgia primary next Tuesday.

For Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor, the outlook seems bleak. Trump has a sizable delegate lead and is expected to carry most, if not all, of the 15 states that hold Super Tuesday votes.

The question entering today’s elections is whether Trump will go 15 for 15 — and if Haley can avoid a knockout blow by capturing a few states and narrowing the former president’s margins in some others.

Her allies think her best chances may come in Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia. While Trump is expected to carry the four states, each has a sizable number of independents and college graduates who tend to favor her bid.

As always, Trump allies are pressing her to quit the campaign. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Rome Republican whose town will host a Trump rally this weekend, said Haley needs to “hang it up.”

“Or just switch parties, actually,” Greene told us. “My message for her is to go ahead and switch parties.”

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SUPER TUESDAY. With former President Donald Trump likely to all but sew up the Republican nomination in today’s primaries, his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden, will likewise continue his march toward November.

Biden is expected to dominate in the 16 Democratic contests as his challengers continue to draw single-digit support. However, there are bubbling efforts among some liberal activists to vote against him and log their discontent with the president’s support for Israel.

As for the GOP race, polls show Trump could come close to the number of delegates needed to win the nomination with today’s election. He’ll still be too short to officially declare himself the presumptive nominee.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley remains in the running and is coming off her first outright primary victory in the District of Columbia where she carried a low-volume contest in a heavily Democratic area with roughly 2,000 GOP voters casting ballots.

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TRUMP AD. Just in time for the Georgia primary, a Trump-aligned super PAC called MAGA Inc. has purchased roughly $180,000 in airtime for radio ads targeting Black voters.

The spate of ads is running in nine Georgia markets and seeks to undercut President Joe Biden’s base by highlighting familiar GOP themes.

“Biden says the civil rights issue of our time is transgender equality. Really, Joe? Men competing against girls and men using girl’s bathrooms is not civil rights. Biden is wrong and confused,” says the narrator in one of the spots.

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Credit: Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC

Credit: Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC

LISTEN UP. Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., join today’s episode of the “Politically Georgia” radio show. Girtz addresses the lingering effects of nursing student Laken Riley’s recent killing on the University of Georgia campus and the attention the slaying has brought to how the city handles crime, public safety and its growing population of immigrants.

Warnock offers an update on the latest from Washington, D.C., including his call for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and the silent protest that took place during his sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Sunday. He’ll also share insights on the efforts to pass long-term funding bills and the debate over aid to Israel and Ukraine.

Listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 FM, at AJC.com and at WABE.org.

If you missed it, Monday’s episode featured former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, the AJC’s newest opinions contributor, and professors Alan Abramowitz and Anthony Michael Kreis reacting to the United States Supreme Court’s ruling that former President Donald Trump can stay on the ballot in Colorado.

Find that show and other previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC

Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC

UNDER THE GOLD DOME: Legislative Day 30

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

GOOCH AWARD. The AJC politics team told you last year about Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch’s efforts to recognize members of his caucus who exemplify “courage and vision while providing leadership in a collaborative effort with their Republican colleagues to advance the conservative agenda in the Senate.”

On Monday, our colleague Maya T. Prabhu tells us Gooch, a Republican from Dahlonega, doled the “award” out to a Senate Democrat for the first time.

“This award has been given to deserving senators who are primarily pushing conservative ideologies and good, strong fiscally responsible pieces of legislation,” Gooch said teasingly. “One of our senators from the minority party went above and beyond the means of a true patriot.”

Credit: Courtesy Georgia Senate video feed

Credit: Courtesy Georgia Senate video feed

Gooch was recognizing state Sen. Josh McLaurin, an Atlanta Democrat, for an amendment he proposed to Gooch’s bill to create an “America First” license plate — an obvious nod to the former president. McLaurin snarkily suggested the plate be changed to say “Donald Trump First.”

A parliamentary maneuver attempted by McLaurin also ended with Gooch cutting debate short on the controversial religious freedom legislation.

McLaurin took the razzing in stride.

“All I can say is, if there are any Republicans in my district who accuse me of being a left-wing nut, this is my answer,” he said.

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404 ERROR. The Georgia General Assembly’s website and internet went down Monday, interrupting the livestreaming of afternoon committee hearings.

The Senate Press Office said while they were unable to livestream, they would be archiving the meetings online.

Staffers told our colleague Maya T. Prabhu that not only could they not access the Legislature’s website, they also were unable to use the state’s internet for much of the day. Some staffers said the internet would cut in and out.

The website remained disabled through Monday night.

A spokesman for Gov. Brian Kemp said he had not heard whether the outage was connected to the ongoing Fulton County ransomware attack.

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KEMP IN THE PUNCHBOWL. Gov. Brian Kemp talks about one of his favorite issues — community businesses — in an event later this morning. The “Investing In Your Community” forum is organized by Punchbowl News, an online political news outlet.

Kemp will sit for an interview with Punchbowl founder Anna Palmer to discuss how private equity supports jobs and small businesses in Georgia. The discussion starts at 9 a.m. at the recently opened Signia Hotel, located next to Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Georgia World Congress Center, and will be livestreamed by Punchbowl News.

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REMEMBER LAKEN. All nine Republicans in Georgia’s U.S. House delegation have sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking that he address the death of Laken Riley prior to Thursday night’s State of the Union address.

The 22-year-old nursing student was killed in Athens last month. A Venezuelan man who entered the U.S. illegally has been charged in the slaying.

“Your inaction to resolve the unprecedented humanitarian and national security crises at the U.S. Southern border has directly led to her tragic death,” the group says in the letter.

They ask Biden to enact new restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border, build a border wall and kick out undocumented immigrants. They also ask the president to respond to a similar letter from Gov. Brian Kemp.

Biden visited the border last week and called on Republicans to support the Senate’s bipartisan immigration policy measure. That bill would provide new money to cities and states dealing with the influx of migrants while allowing the president to close the border once certain thresholds are met.

House Republicans have refused to entertain the proposal.

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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

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Credit: Courtesy of the City of Atlanta

Credit: Courtesy of the City of Atlanta

SURPRISE RESIGNATION. Atlanta City Council member Keisha Sean Waites announced her resignation at Monday’s meeting. She is launching a bid for Fulton County Superior Court clerk, the AJC’s Riley Bunch reports.

Waites is leaving after just two years into an initial four-year term. She was elected in 2021 to serve in an at-large seat that represents the entire city and would have served through January 2026.

The current clerk, Ché Alexander, is finishing out the unexpired term of Cathelene “Tina” Robinson, who retired after holding the role for 16 years. Alexander worked as Robinson’s chief deputy and was appointed by Robinson to fill her role in retirement.

Alexander has filed paperwork indicating she plans to contend for a full term.

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Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

DOG OF THE DAY. The dogs aren’t barking again today as this feature remains on a short hiatus. The woofing will return later this week.

In the interim, send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.

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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.