Government

Republican candidate takes shot at Herschel Walker in campaign ad

Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black is telling University of Georgia football icon Herschel Walker to put up or shut up in next year’s Republican race for the U.S. Senate. Walker, former President Donald Trump’s pick to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, has been hinting he may run for the seat but hasn’t made a firm decision. Black, who is already in the race, has released a TV ad contrasting his Georgia background with the fact that Walker now lives in Texas. The ad starts with a video showing Walker in front of car with a Georgia license plate, saying…

Could Zell Miller’s grandson be Georgia’s next lieutenant governor?

The grandson of the late U.S. Sen. and Gov. Zell Miller is running for lieutenant governor on a platform that includes restoring full funding of the HOPE Scholarship program his grandfather started. Bryan Miller of Watkinsville announced Thursday he will seek the Democratic nomination to succeed Republican Geoff Duncan as Georgia’s lieutenant governor. Duncan is not seeking re-election. Miller recently stepped down as executive chairman of the Zell Miller Foundation, a nonprofit he launched in 2016 to build on the elder Miller’s legacy by focusing on education, leadership and public service. Zell Miller, who died in 2018, was the driving…

Another republican makes bid to unseat Lucy McBath

Cobb County lawyer Jake Evans announced his candidacy Tuesday for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District seat. Evans, a Republican, recently stepped down as chairman of the state ethics commission to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Roswell next year In his announcement, Evans described McBath as a single-issue candidate for her championing of gun control legislation. McBath was elected to Congress in 2018 after losing her son to gun violence in 2012. “The Northern Arc of metro Atlanta is a thriving, dynamic region that cares about education, public safety, national defense and fair trade,” Evans said. “But we’re stuck with a…

Former Georgia lawmaker running to unseat Lucy McBath

Former state Rep. Meagan Hanson is running for Congress in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. Hanson, a Republican from Sandy Springs, served one term in the Georgia House of Representatives before losing her reelection bid in 2018. A lawyer by profession, she went on to serve as executive director of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform, a conservative legal activist group. Hanson is seeking to unseat two-term U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Roswell, who flipped the seat from Republican control in 2018 for the first time in decades. “With the direction the country is going, the America I had growing up…

Here’s how much Georgia candidates have raised in statewide races

The slow drip of campaign fundraising reports culminated Thursday with a few surprises as state-level politicking begins to ramp up again with Georgia poised for a return to the national spotlight. It’s still early to draw many conclusions, and some races – most notably, the governor’s race – are not even fully set. But Thursday’s campaign fundraising deadline gave some candidates a chance to flex their fundraising muscle as the 2022 matchups begin to take shape. Governor’s race: Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s is socking away millions in anticipation of a hard-fought reelection bid. He reported raising $3.9 million during the last…

Meet the people in charge of elections in DeKalb County

The DeKalb County Voter Registration and Elections Board welcomed three returning members and two new members earlier this week, as Judge Bedelia C. Hargrove administered the official oath to the entire group during a July 7, 2021, special called board meeting. The five members will serve a two-year term through June 2023. The DeKalb VRE Board is comprised of five members, two members are democrats, two are republicans and one member is an independent. They are: Anthony Lewis (R)Susan Motter (D)Dele Lowman Smith (D)Nancy Jester (R)Karli Swift (I) “I’m looking forward to working with our new board and forming a…

Here are the new laws going into effect July 1

The controversial election bill the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed in March garnered the most publicity by far of anything lawmakers did during this year’s session. But the legislature approved a host of other bills during 40 days under the Gold Dome covering a variety of issues that, like the election measure, take effect on Thursday. July 1 will see the implementation of a state tax cut and a series of new tax breaks for Georgia businesses. Local police departments will get new protections from budget cuts, and a new crime applicable to a type of theft popularized during the pandemic…

Here’s what Kamala Harris said in Atlanta on Friday

Vice President Kamala Harris brought the Biden administration’s “Month of Action” campaign for COVID-19 vaccinations to Atlanta Friday. After dropping by a vaccination site at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., now occupies the pulpit, Harris spoke to students at Clark Atlanta University. As of this week, 3.69 million Georgians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 34.8% of the state’s population, a rate that lags the national average of 44.1%. “We can do better,” Harris said Friday. “And we have to address the legitimate barriers that stand in the way…

Georgia is about to redraw voting districts

The Georgia House and Senate committees in charge of drawing new congressional and legislative district lines this year heard an earful Tuesday from activists calling for fairness in a process that is typically highly partisan. “As communities become more diverse, it is critical that district maps reflect that,” Michelle Zuluaga of the group Latinos for Democracy, told lawmakers during the first of 11 public hearings to be held across the state this summer and fall. “We want maps that will unite our state, not divide our communities.” The General Assembly draws new district boundaries every 10 years following the latest…

Pro-Trump businessman Mike Collins announces run for Congress

A second Republican candidate has entered the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro, who is leaving Congress to run for Georgia secretary of state. Mike Collins, a small business owner from Jackson, announced Tuesday that he will seek the Republican nomination in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District in next May’s primary. Collins is positioning himself as a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump and brings to the race the endorsement of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia. “I’m running for Congress because the radical left is out of control,” Collins said. “The liberals in Washington, D.C., won’t…

What to expect when Georgia redistricts Congressional seats

The once-a-decade process of redrawing Georgia’s congressional and legislative district lines is about to begin. The state House and Senate committees in charge of redistricting will hold a joint virtual town hall meeting next week to start gathering feedback from Georgia residents. The June 15 meeting, which will run from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., will be the first chance for citizens to weigh in on the results they would like to see from the process. The committees are expected to hold additional hearings during the next few months across the state. By law, states must redraw their congressional and…

Butch Miller announces run for Georgia Lieutenant Governor

Republicans are starting to step into the vacuum left when GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced last week he would not seek a second term. Georgia Senate Pro Tempore Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, entered the race for lieutenant governor Tuesday. Miller, a car dealer, was elected to the Senate in 2010 and chosen president pro tempore by his legislative colleagues in 2018. “As a state senator, I’ve worked with visionary conservative leaders to make our state the No. 1 state for business and a safe haven for the conservative, traditional values that made our state and nation great,” Miller said. “I’m…

Kemp to dedicate $5 million to fighting crime in Atlanta

Today, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced up to $5 million in funds from the Governor's Emergency Fund will be made available to state law enforcement to support crime suppression efforts in metropolitan Atlanta. You can watch Kemp's video message about crime in Atlanta and read the text of it below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrrNKv6_BYk “It’s no secret that our capital city has a serious crime problem – we see it covered in the news almost every day. That’s why, this legislative session, my administration pushed for harsher penalties for reckless street racing. This dangerous activity endangers lives, negatively impacts quality of life in…

Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor isn’t running for reelection. Here’s why

Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced Monday he will not seek reelection to another term as Georgia’s second-highest state elected official, opening the door for a fierce 2022 campaign between Republicans and Democrats vying to replace him. In a statement, Duncan – a Republican – said he plans to create a political organization called “GOP 2.0” aimed at “healing and rebuilding” the national Republican Party amid the fallout from former President Donald Trump’s continued claims of voter fraud in the 2020 elections. Duncan’s pivot away from Trump via public statements and television news appearances since the November 2020 general election pitted…

Keisha Lance Bottoms won’t run for reelection. Here’s why

ATLANTA -- Keisha Lance Bottoms shocked the city last night when she announced to a group of supporters that she would not be seeking reelection as mayor of the City of Atlanta. Bottoms cited her faith as the catalyst of her decision. "When you have faith and you pray for God's wisdom and guidance -- in the same way that it was very clear to me almost 5 years ago that I should run for mayor of Atlanta -- it is abundantly clear to me today that it is time to pass the baton on to someone else," Bottoms said…