Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker will have plenty of backup as he starts his sprint to a December 6 runoff against Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is headlining a rally with the former football star at The Mill in Canton this evening. Cruz is just the first of many big-name Republicans expected to stump for their nominee in Georgia over the next four weeks.
NBC also reports that U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, the head of the GOP Senate campaign arm, pledged to raise “every dime” necessary to win the race. And the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent donors and GOP members a memo Wednesday outlining details of the group’s joint fundraising committee, known as Georgia Victory Committee.
“The collective effort is the most efficient and effective path forward,” it read. “While we anticipate independent outside groups will get involved in the race, our joint effort is the most important because it will encompass all tactics under a unified strategy between Team Herschel and the party.”
The big question looming is what role Gov. Brian Kemp will play in the race. On the eve of the election, Kemp and Walker held rival events scarcely two miles from each other. Then on the night of the election, they held two rival events barely 200 yards apart.
The two Republicans have never been cozy on the campaign trail. But with a Dec. 6 runoff looming, their strained relationship could play a consequential role in the GOP effort to oust Warnock and flip control of the chamber.
Kemp is arguably the most popular Republican politician in Georgia in the wake of a convincing win over Democrat Stacey Abrams, the nemesis of the GOP. What’s more, he’s spent millions building his own get-out-the-vote infrastructure that Walker’s aides would love to leverage.
There are ongoing talks between the camps about ways to work together. And Kemp said there’s already been more coordination than meets the eye. He indicated he’s willing to step up those efforts.
“We will do what they want us to do,” Kemp told Channel 2′s Fred Blankenship. “And we are already putting our heads together to see how we can help.”
Warnock won’t be on his own, either. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee plans to spend $7 million on mobilization efforts in Georgia, Politico reported.
And U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff put out a public call to his fellow Democratic senators Wednesday to go all in for Warnock. That set off a tag-team effect from New Mexico U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich to Hawaii’s Sen. Brian Schatz, to New Jersey Democrat Corey Booker, and so on.
Expect more of the same, and then some, for the next four weeks.
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Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
SWINGERS. Are you one of the thousands of Georgians who split their tickets Tuesday between Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock? Let us hear from you greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
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Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
WEDNESDAY QUARTERBACK. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan chose not to run for a second term this year, so he’s also free to say whatever he wants about his party and its choices.
That’s exactly what he was doing in New York City Wednesday morning, on the set of CNN’s morning show, saying out loud what plenty of other Republicans were privately thinking back home in Georgia.
“A lot of Republicans like me are waking up this morning and thinking, ‘What could have been? What could have been if we had picked a better candidate that could have won with a margin like Brian Kemp?’ he said of Herschel Walker.
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DEMOGRAPHIC DETAILS. Democrats are asking themselves what’s next in Georgia. Although they were relieved with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s performance, they’re also passing around an NBC exit poll that shows Gov. Brian Kemp’s strong performance among minority groups Tuesday.
Kemp won 43% of Latino voters and 46% of Asian-American voters, compared to Donald Trump’s 37% share of Georgia Latinos two years ago. (Asian voters were not detailed in 2020 exit polls.)
On Tuesday, Stacey Abrams won the 90% of the Black vote, but just 25% of the white vote. Breaking down the Black vote further, Abrams won 93% of Black women’s votes, but 84% of Black men.
The 2018 exit polls did not break out Latino and Asian voters, but did show Abrams fared slightly better with Black voters four years ago. She won 88% of Black men’s votes and 97% of Black women.
Republican operatives began work at the beginning of the 2022 election cycle to make long-term inroads into Georgia’s minority communities.
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PURPLE WAVE. Atlanta Journal-Constitution Washington columnist Jamie Dupree caught up with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Wednesday (more on that later) and asked him to weigh in on Tuesday’s mixed election results for the GOP.
“Election Day was a very big night for Gov. DeSantis and for Republican governors in general,” he said. “It was a much narrower night for Republicans in the House and Senate. And I think there’s a lot of thinking that Republicans have to do about the outcome.”
It wasn’t “the red wave that we would have expected” he added, based on the issues voters said they cared about heading into Election Day.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
GAVEL UP. The race to succeed House Speaker David Ralston is coalescing around two leading candidates after yet another potential contender bowed out.
State Rep. Alan Powell said Wednesday he’s decided against running for the post and will instead endorse Majority Leader Jon Burns’ bid. He credited Burns’ “historical knowledge and devotion to open dialogue and debate in the ‘People’s House.’”
Powell is just the latest domino to fall. Earlier this week, two other key figures opted against a run, too. Jan Jones, the No. 2 Republican in the House, dropped out of the race and threw her support behind Burns. And state Rep. Matt Hatchett said he won’t pursue the leadership gig, either.
Instead, Burns will face state Rep. Barry Fleming, a Harlem Republican who has pressed the chamber to take a more strident stances on conservative issues. The jockeying began after Ralston announced he won’t seek another term as speaker amid ongoing health problems.
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Credit: Lynsey Weatherspoon/The New York Times
Credit: Lynsey Weatherspoon/The New York Times
CROSSOVER DAY. Among the state House and Senate results that caught our attention Tuesday night were two Democrats switching chambers next year.
State Sen. Michelle Au won her race for state House after her own state Senate district was redrawn by Republicans last year. And state Rep. Josh McLaurin won his race for the state Senate after Republicans rejiggered the lines of his state House district, too.
Au noted Wednesday that she and McLaurin’s moves mean they’ll be “crossing over like a bill.”
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TALK, SPEAKER. A Virginia judge has rejected former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s effort to avoid testifying before the special grand jury in Georgia investigating former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
The AJC’s Jamie Dupree was in the courtroom, where he reports there was no VIP treatment for Gingrich, who had to wait nearly an hour while Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Judge Smith ran through a series of local criminal cases. That meant the former Speaker of the House sat quietly while various defendants in prison jumpsuits were brought in for their own legal proceedings.
Credit: Matt Rourke/AP
Credit: Matt Rourke/AP
When his turn came, Gingrich asked the judge not to make him travel to Atlanta to answer questions, saying an appearance would be “unduly burdensome.”
Smith disagreed and the two sides decided that Gingrich would appear in Atlanta for questions on Nov. 29. His attorney later said he would appeal Smith’s ruling.
Gingrich has been an active presence on the golf course and the Georgia campaign trail this year. Over the weekend, he traveled with GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy to South Carolina, Florida and Texas.
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ICE DETENTION. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will hold a hearing Tuesday on medical mistreatment of women at immigration detention facilities, including one in Georgia.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff chairs the committee, which has been digging into various problems at federal prisons this year.
Witnesses during Tuesday’s hearing include a woman who was held at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, along with officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the private health company that oversaw medical treatments there.
The ICE center within the Irwin County jail was forced to shutter in 2021.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
GROUND CREW. Three women who fought to desegregate Georgia State University will be awarded honorary degrees to the institution after a unanimous vote by the Georgia Board of Regents this week.
Known as the “Ground Crew,” Myra Payne Elliott, Barbara Pace Hunt and Iris Mae Welch all applied in 1956 to attend Georgia State College of Business Administration, which GSU was known as at the time. When they were denied admission, they partnered with the NAACP to file a discrimination lawsuit.
The case ultimately led to desegregation of all of Georgia’s public colleges, but Elliott, Hunt, and Pace were never admitted to Georgia State.
Only Elliott, who is 90, is still living. She will be presented her degree and watch posthumous awards conferred to Hunt and Welch during commencement ceremonies in December.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
