Georgia leaders with rising national profiles are already making key decisions about their political futures as they lay the groundwork for 2026 races.

And state Republicans energized by the returning president’s victory face pressure to use their majorities to seek policy changes, while Democrats grapple over how to counter an ascendant GOP led by a resurgent Trump.

Here are some of the political questions that could define the state in the coming year.

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

How will Donald Trump’s second administration change Georgia?

Four years after Democrats dealt Trump a decisive blow in Georgia, the president-elect flipped the state back to the GOP column with vows to raise tariffs, combat illegal immigration and roll back President Joe Biden’s green energy plans.

What Trump 2.0 will look like for Georgia may not come into focus for months. But what is clearer is that Trump will enter the White House with more political muscle than he did eight years ago, when mainstream GOP forces still held sway in Washington and beyond.

Now, the Never Trump movement within the Republican Party has been largely eradicated and the president-elect’s internal foes have mostly made amends. Gov. Brian Kemp, who was on the outs with Trump for years, is among those who have struck a cautious truce.

Meanwhile, several top Trump Georgia loyalists were rewarded with nominations for roles in his inner circle. A trio of allies who lost 2020 campaigns — Doug Collins, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue — are in line for primo administration spots. Herschel Walker could soon set sail for a Bahamian post after his 2022 Senate whiff.

Still, the GOP’s December revolt over a Trump-backed stopgap spending plan, along with pushback over some controversial Cabinet appointments, was a reminder that Trump’s return to power doesn’t mean the party will always bend to his will.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Will Georgia lawmakers emboldened by Donald Trump’s victory embrace his MAGA priorities?

Just about every legislative session, Georgia Republican leaders promise they’ll stick to pocketbook policies that most voters applaud. And just about every legislative session, they delve into divisive social issues that stoke new battles in the culture war.

After Trump carried Georgia and every other battleground state, some Republicans say the victory amounted to a broad mandate to enact MAGA policies, whether they be a revival of “religious liberty” legislation, new transgender restrictions or stricter abortion limits.

Just look at red-state drives, they say, in Idaho to allow teachers and school staffers to carry weapons in classrooms, in Oklahoma to further restrict abortion, and Arkansas to sanction pharmaceutical companies convicted of “vaccine harm.”

Meanwhile, expect new pressure to revisit voting laws, including a bid to restrict party primaries only to Georgians who register as Democrats or Republicans, part of an effort to reduce crossover voting and nominate more ideological candidates.

Republican leaders will have to balance those demands from the party’s base with their own agendas — namely efforts to further cut taxes, secure Hurricane Helene relief and tilt a decades-long battle over litigation rules toward businesses and insurers.

Credit: Bita Honarvar

Credit: Bita Honarvar

Will Georgia be threatened as a growing green energy powerhouse?

Few states have benefited as much as Georgia from green incentives that have helped fuel an explosion of growth in the state’s electric-vehicle and alternative energy industry.

And so, the theory goes, few states could be harmed as much if Trump makes good on his promise to roll back the Biden-backed benefits that have helped make Georgia a “buckle of the battery belt” and a haven for the sort of high-tech investment that tends to also bring high-paying jobs.

Democrats such as U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who faces a tough 2026 reelection campaign, are sure to build their arguments to voters around the incentives. With every green jobs announcement comes a Democratic press release touting the federal incentives embedded in the law.

Republicans prefer to pitch Georgia’s business climate, and not the Democrat-powered Inflation Reduction Act, as the main engine for the industry’s growth. After all, they say, if the incentives are offered across the U.S., then why do these firms keep picking Georgia?

The two sides seem on a collision course in 2025. Even before the new year dawned, Biden’s administration aimed to cement its energy policy by announcing a $6 billion loan for a Rivian plant in east Georgia. And a senior Trump official labeled it a “political shot.”

Credit: Henry P. Taylor

Credit: Henry P. Taylor

How will Georgia Democrats counteract Donald Trump?

Trump’s first presidential victory in 2016 helped birth the rise of Ossoff and Stacey Abrams as leaders of a nascent Democratic opposition movement that promised a more confrontational approach to his policies.

Eight years later, Democrats are far more divided after Trump’s decisive comeback. This time around, there’s no consensus from party leaders on mounting an anti-Trump “resistance” or marshaling protesters for massive marches against his policies.

Instead, some state Democratic heavyweights want to focus on finding common ground with Republicans where possible — even if that means compromising with Trump — while sticking firmly with core issues, such as repealing abortion restrictions and expanding Medicaid.

Others, such as Abrams, say Democrats need to be even more ready to fight a second Trump administration, given his campaign promises to carry out “mass deportations, roll back climate protections and weaken guardrails in our government.”

At the Legislature, some Democratic leaders quietly advocate recalibrating the party’s stance on social issues, such as a new push by Republicans to ban transgender girls from competing in women’s high school sports that could come up for a vote in early 2025.

Others urge a wait-and-see approach. After all, they say, the best remedy for a postelection hangover is the potential overreach and excess of their political opponents, from the White House to Kemp’s office to GOP legislative leaders.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

What happens to Fulton County’s election-interference trial?

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis started 2024 on the cusp of a potentially history-making trial against Trump and his allies. Now, the case is on life support and her once-soaring reputation has been damaged.

Days after her racketeering case against “Young Slime Life” members unraveled, the Court of Appeals disqualified Willis and her office from proceeding with the election-interference case because she had been romantically involved with the special prosecutor she hired to try the case.

It was the second time a court ruled Willis had created a conflict of interest — she was earlier precluded from seeking charges against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones because she hosted a fundraiser for his 2022 campaign opponent — and it could be the death knell to her yearslong investigation.

The Georgia Supreme Court could hear Willis’ appeal and overturn the lower court’s ruling. And she could transfer the case to another prosecutor’s office with the resources and stamina to take up the case. But experts say both options seem unlikely.

Willis, who coasted to another term in November, also has more immediate concerns. Trump’s election has energized his allies in the Georgia Legislature, who are preparing a 2025 push to delve into her use of public resources on the probe.

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Will Gov. Brian Kemp run for the U.S. Senate?

Few political issues in Georgia seem to unite mainstream Republicans, traditional conservatives and MAGA acolytes quite like the debate under the Gold Dome over whether Kemp should enter a wide-open U.S. Senate race against Ossoff.

The term-limited governor is under tremendous pressure from all corners of the party to take on the first-term Democrat in 2026, a move they hope would spare Republicans a divisive primary while delivering the GOP’s best chance of unseating Ossoff.

Already, ambitious Georgia Republicans are making way for Kemp, even as they ready their own backup plans. Insurance Commissioner John King broke the ice in December when he said he’s preparing to challenge Ossoff — but only if Kemp decides against it. Many others are privately making the same calculations.

So where does Kemp stand? So far, he’s said only that he’s focused on a busy upcoming legislative session and promoting conservative policies in Trump’s next administration. He may not decide for months, at least publicly, whether to take the plunge.

On one hand, a successful Senate run against a young Democratic star would cement Kemp’s status as an elite GOP power — and keep him in the national White House conversation in 2028 just as Republicans contemplate what a post-Trump future looks like.

On the other, Kemp could have little appetite for the stifling gridlock of Washington after nearly a decade atop Georgia politics — and the sweeping power the state affords its governor. The prospect of yet another campaign riven by Trump-fueled dramatics may also be unappealing.

For the time being, expect Kemp’s role in national politics to grow. He has a federal PAC, a well-financed state leadership committee at his disposal and a new role as chair of the Republican Governors Association in 2025.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Will Jon Ossoff’s reelection strategy pay dividends?

There’s something else Republicans largely agree upon: Ossoff will be no pushover in 2026.

The Democrat came out of nowhere to almost win a Republican-held suburban U.S. House seat in 2017. Then he emerged from political exile as part of the winning coalition that also swept Biden to power and installed Raphael Warnock in the U.S. Senate.

Along the way, Ossoff built a fundraising apparatus that rivals just about every other name-brand Democrat and a get-out-the-vote operation inspired partly by his political mentor, the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

Reassembling that political jigsaw puzzle won’t be easy, and he’s already tested his political clout with a campaign to oust U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams from the state party’s top post and votes on failed measures to limit arms sales to Israel that roiled the Jewish community.

He’s promised to build the most robust voter turnout machine in state history to go toe-to-toe with Kemp — or whoever emerges as the GOP nominee. And he’s stressed his ability to work across party lines even as he remains a reliable vote for Democratic priorities.

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

How will Georgia’s other top races shake out?

Ossoff is one of the only givens on the 2026 political map. The rest of the field will start to take shape next year, and the political positioning is sure to manifest itself in ways that will reverberate across the state and nation.

Let’s start with the assumption that Trump’s recent appointees — Collins, Loeffler, Perdue and Walker — are no longer in the midterm hunt. Even if Kemp doesn’t run, though, plenty of other Republicans are hungry to take on Ossoff.

There’s King, who already is laying the groundwork for a Senate bid. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has high name recognition and two statewide wins under his belt. Others include U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Rich McCormick. And don’t rule out MAGA warriors such as U.S. Reps. Mike Collins and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The race to succeed Kemp, who can’t seek a third term, is so competitive that Attorney General Chris Carr waited just weeks after the November election to launch his campaign. He seems certain to be joined in 2025 by Jones, the GOP lieutenant governor. Other Republicans could enter the fray.

Democrats vow to put up a formidable contender. Abrams hasn’t ruled out a third attempt, and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath is considered a top-tier possibility. So is outgoing DeKalb County Chief Executive Michael Thurmond. A few lesser-known legislators are kicking the tires.

An even bigger shake-up could happen down the ticket, as both parties scramble to muster candidates for a slate of powerful jobs that could soon come open.

The fiercest jockeying centers on the Georgia Senate, where more than a dozen members are eyeing statewide gigs. It brings to mind the old Georgia Capitol saw that more than a few legislators are now repeating: “The House runs the state, the Senate runs for office.”