It’s still in the embryonic stages, but we’re witnessing what could be the first step toward a pro-Donald Trump Republican ticket that will challenge GOP incumbents on the former president’s bad side next year.
It started Monday with Trump’s endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jody Hice in Hice’s quest to unseat Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Trump’s intervention in that contest pushed another potential Raffensperger challenger, former state Rep. Vernon Jones, to suddenly threaten a challenge against Gov. Brian Kemp.
Jones, a former Democrat, confirmed he is considering a GOP primary challenge against Kemp, who is up for re-election next year.
“I’m looking closely at Georgia’s race for Governor,” Jones wrote on Twitter. “If it weren’t for Brian Kemp, Donald Trump would still be President of these United States.”
Trump is also said to be scouting potential challengers to Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan — state Sen. Burt Jones’ name keeps surfacing — and has egged UGA football legend Herschel Walker to run for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Walker and Vernon Jones might be longshots: Walker doesn’t live in Georgia and Jones only formally switched to the GOP a few weeks ago. But simply surfacing their names could compel other Republicans with longer histories in the party — and who think they deserve a turn in the front of the line — to run.
At least publicly, it looks like Democrats believe they can outmatch some of these potential Trump ticket candidates. State party Chairwoman and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams had an enthusiastic Twitter response to the idea of a Vernon Jones’ GOP candidacy: “Let’s go!!!!”
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Under the Gold Dome (Legislative Day 37):
- 8:00 am: House and Senate committee meetings begin, including a Senate Ethics Committee hearing on House Bill 531, a House-passed elections bill;
- 10:00 am: The House gavels in;
- 10:00 am: The Senate convenes.
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State Sen. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, introduced several measures Monday to respond to the murders of eight Georgians at Asian spas in the Atlanta area last week.
Senate Bill 309 would direct Georgia law enforcement officers to undergo in-language response training; Senate Bill 308 would create language translation for use at 9-1-1 centers; and Senate Bill 311 would create a five-day waiting period for firearm purchases.
House lawmakers introduced three companion bills to the legislation Monday as well.
Au spoke out against the sharp increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans last week. The Atlanta shooting spree happened the next day.
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Nearly all of the responses at the state Capitol to last week’s shootings have urged unity for Georgians going forward. Nearly all.
On Tuesday, state Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, went to the well of the Senate to accuse his Senate colleagues of “false statements,” “race baiting,” and being hypocrites for speaking out against Asian hate crimes in response to the murders, which he called “tragic.”
“The media keeps stating a ‘white’ man killed them. Why does that matter? I thought color doesn’t matter,” Thompson said, before asking why he hasn’t heard more about Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, who was also shot during the rampage.
“He was Hispanic, and he was shot. Do you hear that in the narrative? No, it’s a false narrative. You’re hypocrites for facilitating intimidation, false statements and race baiting. Why not be transparent? Are you afraid of the truth?”
Keep in mind that Thompson is a likely candidate next year for state Labor commissioner, regardless of whether incumbent Republican Mark Butler runs.
Sen. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, was not in the chamber to hear Thompson’s remarks, but state Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, could be heard from a floor above as she responded during Thompson’s speech with an incredulous, “Wow.”
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Atlanta will decide Savannah’s energy plans. That’s the takeaway from a report in the Savannah Morning News that details how House Bill 150, now moving through the General Assembly, could keep local governments like Savannah from implementing their own energy policies in the future.
More:
“With Atlanta sitting at 1,000 feet above sea level and a nearly five-hour drive to the beach, Georgia lawmakers on the whole don't seem too concerned with sea level rise from climate change.
But many coastal municipal leaders are worried about it. Case in point: the Savannah City Council. This eight-member board last year unanimously passed Savannah's 100% clean energy resolution, which says all electricity consumed in the city of Savannah will be generated from renewable energy by 2035, and all other energy needs will be generated from renewable energy by 2050.
City Council didn't even get a plan written to reach those goals before lawmakers under the gold dome, with some nudging from fossil fuel companies, passed legislation that is expected to make it harder to quit using natural gas, a potent driver of climate change.
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More than a year after going to remote and later hybrid learning, the Athens Banner-Herald reports Clarke County Schools will return to five-day per week in-person learning in April.
Clarke Superintendent Xernona Thomas said the decision was driven by the availability of COVID-19 vaccines for teachers. Distance learning will still be an option for families that want it.
“The timing of having everyone return following Spring Break is intentional because by then, the majority of our district staff will have received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” she said.
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In case you missed it (we did), Gov. Brian Kemp used his executive authority last week to suspend the mayor of Nashville. Ga., Taylor Scarbrough, after Scarbrough was indicted for theft and criminal damage to property.
The Valdosta Daily Times reports the charges stem from an incident last February, when the mayor allegedly used his neighbor’s excavator without asking and damaged it in the process.
State law gives Kemp the authority to step in.
“On May 3, Kemp named state Attorney General Christopher Carr, Rincon Mayor Ken Lee and Union City Mayor Vince Williams to a commission to determine if the indictment interfered with the mayor's duties.
“The commission found the indictment “does relate to and does adversely affect the administration of the office of Mayor, and that the rights and interests of the public are adversely affected thereby," the governor's order states."
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U.S. Rep. Jody Hice made a splash locally yesterday as he launched his candidacy for Georgia Secretary of State. But he got national attention from CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and others when he Zoomed into a U.S. House hearing to argue against a bill that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state of America.
Hice reasoned that the District of Columbia is too liberal, “gerrymandered to maximize tax revenue,” and lacks basic infrastructure that all real states have, including a car dealership.
“DC would be the only state, the only state, without an airport, without a car dealership, without a capital city, without a landfill…”
When several speakers told Hice that Washington does, indeed, have a dealership, he responded, “If there’s a car dealership in D.C., I apologize for being wrong, I have no idea where it is.”
There are, in fact, more than a dozen car dealerships in D.C., most of them selling low-end used cars, but none in the upscale Capitol Hill neighborhood where Congressmen spend the bulk of their time.
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A state appeals court has ruled that a lower court judge can decide whether or not to enforce a subpoena that the state ethics commission sent to Stacey Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
Abrams has resisted the subpoena for personal emails and more documents, saying she has already turned in over 4,000 pages worth of checks, wire transfers, bank statements and campaign spending, the AJC’s James Salzer reports:
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jane Barwick said last year that she didn't have jurisdiction to enforce subpoenas from the commission, which is looking into whether Abrams' campaign illegally coordinated its efforts with nonprofits supporting her bid for governor. Georgia law prohibits independent groups from coordinating with candidates.
Abrams ultimately lost the election to Republican Brian Kemp. A rematch between the two is expected in 2022, and her camp has noted that the ethics commission's executive secretary, David Emadi, was a Kemp donor in 2018.
In a statement Friday, Emadi said, “We hope that the Abrams campaign and The New Georgia Project will now comply with the subpoena, providing evidence to the commission which will allow us to ultimately conclude our investigation and thereby provide Georgia citizens with full transparency regarding the 2018 gubernatorial election."
