As anticlimactic as today’s presidential primaries in Georgia might seem, the votes could actually mark an enormous milestone in the 2024 campaign for president.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are each expected to clinch enough delegates tonight to formally seal their nominations as Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington state each hold elections.
Oh, the symbolism! The state that helped deliver Biden’s victory in 2020 could help put him across the finish line in 2024 to formally become the “presumptive nominee.”
And the state that dealt Trump some of his most devastating political -- and legal -- setbacks could help the former president cement his third consecutive GOP nomination.
The Georgia primaries could make for a torrent of news. The TV networks are expected to declare Biden and Trump the victors in Georgia shortly after the polls close at 7 p.m. Biden could clinch the delegates to become the presumptive nominee shortly after.
He needs 102 delegates to secure the 1,968 necessary to win the Democratic nod. There are 254 Democratic delegates at stake on Tuesday, and the president appears likely to sweep the 108 that Georgia offers.
It might take a bit longer for Trump’s situation to clarify. As of Monday, Trump was 140 delegates short of the 1,215 needed to seal the nomination. The former president can win all of Georgia’s 59 delegates with a strong showing, but he won’t cross the threshold to clinch until the other three states voting Tuesday close their polls.
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Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC
Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC
MORE TO THE BALLOT. The clinching of presidential nominations is not all we’re watching in Tuesday’s primaries. There’s also a nascent protest-vote movement over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war that calls for critics to cast a blank ballot.
Also on some voters’ tickets is a special election runoff between Republicans C.J. Pearson and Gary Richardson for an Augusta-based Georgia House seat. The outcome will offer a gauge for the GOP electorate’s mood.
Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC
Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC
Pearson is a 21-year-old conservative commentator who has amassed social media followers since he was a preteen. More recently, he was the campaign manager for a fringe Republican who tried to challenge Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022 as well as the lead plaintiff in the Pearson v. Kemp “kraken” lawsuit that Trump allies filed to reverse Biden’s 2020 election results.
Richardson is more of a traditional Republican who focuses on his experience as a former Columbia County commissioner and his business acumen as owner of a string of local car washes. Kemp’s powerful leadership committee has made it known far and wide that they’re for Richardson.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
VOUCHER WATCH. The Georgia House is preparing for another debate over a significant expansion of private school vouchers that failed last year after a revolt of 16 Republican legislators.
We expect House leaders to revive Senate Bill 233 as soon as this week, likely with some significant tweaks after the surprise GOP rebellion a year ago scuttled a bill backed by Gov. Brian Kemp and other powerful leaders.
This year, legislative leaders waited until after the frenzied Crossover Day deadline to take up the debate again. Several of the 16 lawmakers told us they’ve been consulted on efforts to hash out a palatable compromise.
We’re not sure how many of them have changed their mind since last year, but we should note another significant development. None of the 16 legislators drew a Republican primary challenger, sparing them a brutal intraparty fight over the issue.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
PROMISE KEPT. Democratic state Sen. Josh McLaurin turned plenty of heads at the state Capitol last year when he promised to contribute $1,000 to a Democrat willing to take on state Rep. Mesha Mainor.
At the time, Mainor was a polarizing Democrat and the only member of her party to vote for a school voucher measure that failed amid a flurry of Republican defections.
She switched to the GOP a few months later, making her the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in the Legislature. Five Democrats have qualified to run in Mainor’s deep-blue Atlanta-based district, including her alleged stalker.
As for McLaurin, he said this week he kept his promise. He stroked a $1,000 check to one of those challengers, a seventh-grade public school teacher named Bryce Berry who is also a veteran of the Stacey Abrams and Sen. Raphael Warnock campaigns.
Proud to support Bryce for HD 56.
— Josh McLaurin (@JoshforGeorgia) March 11, 2024
I gave him the check! https://t.co/mgDzlOTY5x
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HOSPITAL REGULATION. Senate Republicans unveiled Monday their proposed changes to a House bill that would overhaul the process used to determine whether new hospitals can be established across Georgia.
The biggest changes presented to the Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee appear to hinge on the regulation of ambulatory surgical centers, or ASCs, our colleague Michelle Baruchman reports. House Bill 1339 would allow physician practices of different specialties to share operating rooms.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Some advocates worry this would threaten hospitals because it would allow ASCs to operate multiple services in one facility. While hospitals must provide stabilizing treatment for every patient, ASCs typically serve higher-paying patients.
Area hospitals rely on those same patients to help them make ends meet as they treat others who can’t afford to pay.
The bill, which passed the committee unanimously, is expected to be heard on the Senate floor Thursday. Disagreements with the House would then need to be reconciled in a conference committee.
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Credit: Michelle Baruchman/AJC
Credit: Michelle Baruchman/AJC
SHOW SOME LOVE. Georgia House members received their morning devotional prayer Monday from the Rev. Andi Woodworth, a transgender pastor. It’s believed to be a first in the chamber’s history.
“The labels we put on other people, even the roles we step into, can in some ways be dehumanizing,” said Woodworth, a pastor at Neighborhood Church, a Methodist house of worship in Candler Park. “I would invite all of us to see more of the people of Georgia as we are, not as we imagine us to be.”
The AJC’s Michelle Baruchman writes that Woodworth was invited to the Capitol by state Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, who called Neighborhood Church “the heart and center of my community.”
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Credit: AP
Credit: AP
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. SPEAKER. Monday would have been the late House Speaker Thomas Murphy’s 100th birthday.
The Republican-led House paused to mark the day for the legendary Democrat with a speech from GOP state Rep. Tyler Paul Smith, who is not only from Murphy’s hometown of Bremen, but was once an intern in “Mr. Murphy’s” law office.
“A story seldom told is soon forgotten,” Speaker Jon Burns said, before crediting Murphy with “returning the authority and power back to this House that had left us over a number of years.”
Murphy died in 2007 at age 83. He served as House speaker from 1973 to 2002.
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Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
UNDER THE GOLD DOME:
- Both chambers are out for a committee work day. Floor sessions resume Wednesday for the final sprint to Sine Die and the close of the 2024 legislative calendar.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
LISTEN UP. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told the “Politically Georgia” radio show Monday that President Joe Biden’s performance during the State of the Union, followed by his Georgia campaign rally over the weekend, put to rest questions about the 81-year-old’s aptitude.
“The energy (Biden) is bringing to this job is real, and it’s sustainable,” said Moore, a Democrat.
Monday’s episode also featured political science professors Charles Bullock and Karen Owen weighing in on the Georgia primaries and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s potential run for president through the No Labels third-party ticket.
Find that episode and other previous editions of “Politically Georgia” on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
On today’s program, U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, the Atlanta Democrat who also serves as chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, and Gabe Sterling, the state’s election manager, talk about what to expect in the presidential primaries.
And state Rep. Ruwa Roman, D-Duluth, will join the show to discuss the campaign to get Democratic voters to leave their ballots blank in protest of President Joe Biden’s response to the Israel-Hamas war.
Listen live at 10 a.m. on 90.1 FM, at AJC.com and at WABE.org.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
BIDEN’S GEORGIA PROBLEM. The rising cost of everyday items and lack of progress on racial justice issues have some Georgia voters lacking the enthusiasm for a second term from President Joe Biden, according to a new report from Reuters.
The article is based on interviews with Georgia voters and activists with groups like Black Voters Matter. The reporting includes polling that shows Biden trailing Republican former President Donald Trump in the state.
Reuters described a “messaging disconnect” with Black voters across the nation, including in Georgia. These voters either don’t feel the Biden administration has done enough to help improve their lives or are unaware of what the president has accomplished while in office.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden participates in a campaign meeting with Teamsters union members at their Washington headquarters. Later, he meets at the White House with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
- Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Hur appears before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to discuss his report on Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency.
- House members receive a classified briefing on TikTok from security officials.
- The Senate has confirmation votes scheduled.
- Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young testifies on Biden’s 2025 budget request at a meeting of the Senate Budget Committee.
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Credit: AJC file photo
Credit: AJC file photo
OXENDINE DATE SET. A federal judge has set a court date of April 15 for former Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine to stand trial for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering, the AJC’s Rosie Manins reports.
Oxendine was once a fixture at the state Capitol. He served as insurance commissioner for 16 years before launching an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.
He was indicted in May 2022 and pleaded not guilty.
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
CATOOSA DRAMA. The political and legal standoff in Catoosa County hasn’t relented after the local GOP resisted a judge’s order to qualify Republican contenders over the party’s objections.
On Friday, Superior Court Judge Don Thompson instructed the Catoosa Board of Elections — separate from the local GOP — to qualify the four candidates and indicated he could hold party officials in contempt if they don’t heed his warnings.
Well, this week we received word that the Catoosa GOP is taking their concerns directly to the voters. Party officials want a series of questions added to the county’s May GOP primary ballot.
They include:
“Do you think anti-Trump Democrats should be able to get a court order to force the elections board to qualify them as Republican candidates for office?”
“Did you know that Stephen Henry, Vanita Hullander, Jeff Long and Larry Black were not approved to run as Republicans by the Republican Party?”
The second question is a reference to the three incumbent county commissioners — Black, Hullander and Long — who were each blocked from qualifying by the county GOP for undetermined reasons. (The petition also misspelled the name of Steven Henry, a former commission chair seeking to return to office.)
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. It’s time to meet Quincy and Charlie Davidson, the Australian labradoodle and Portuguese water dog who call longtime AJC subscriber Linda Davidson their person.
Although Quincy has passed away since this photo was taken, a reliable source reports it captures him and Charlie watching the Davidsons read the AJC. They had plenty of practice, since the family has subscribed for more than 50 years.
For being the most loyal pals of some of our most loyal readers, Quincy and Charlie are definitely our dogs of the day.
Send us your pets of any political persuasion 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.
