Keisha Lance Bottoms makes promises to former federal workers.
New Fayette County election chair wants to educate voters.
Blake Tillery vows Georgia will eliminate state income taxes.
Tipping the scales
(Left to right): Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King, and U.S. Reps. Mike Collins of Jackson and Buddy Carter of St. Simons Island.
Credit: AJC file photos
With a flurry of calls and meetings Thursday, Gov. Brian Kemp reshaped Georgia’s U.S. Senate race — and made clear he’ll play an aggressive role in a contest he opted against joining himself.
The governor personally told Insurance Commissioner John King and U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins that he’s backing former football coach Derek Dooley, a longtime friend preparing to launch his first bid for public office.
The fallout was swift. King, who had hoped Kemp would eventually come around, folded his campaign within hours and opted to seek reelection as insurance commissioner rather than attempt to take on U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, the Democratic incumbent.
Collins responded without rancor, predicting to Kemp that he’d back him when he wins the GOP nomination. And Carter’s campaign responded with ablunt statement.
“Politicians don’t elect our Senators,” his campaign said, “the people of Georgia do.”
Now a three-way race is taking shape. Both Collins and Dooley are expected to enter the contest soon, setting the stage for a nasty fight Kemp hoped to avoid.
Kemp’s strategy is borne out of his frustration over the last two Senate campaigns. In 2020, his handpicked contender Kelly Loeffler wound up in a race for President Donald Trump’s favor that overshadowed all else.
Carter, meanwhile, is already on air and ready to spend. He’s poured more than $2 million into early advertising and, according to his aides, plans to spend at least $8 million more from his own fortune.
“This is not about anyone in the primary. This is about the general,” Carter told us. “It’s about a Republican who’s going to support President Trump and America First policies in the Senate — unlike Jon Ossoff.”
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Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (left) and Attorney General Chris Carr will be battling one another in the 2026 Republican primary for governor.
Credit: AJC file photos
Good morning! You made it to Friday, which can only mean one thing: time to test your knowledge about the week’s political news. The questions are below. The answers are at the end of this newsletter. No peeking. Good luck!
The Frost family used nearly $1.4 million in campaign contributions, much of it swindled from investors, to build political clout in Georgia and beyond. Which state Republican party got the most money from them?
A) Georgia.
B) Maine.
C) Arizona.
D) Alabama.
Georgia is on track to have among the largest price increases in the nation for health insurance plans sold on the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange. Which company would have the biggest increase in Georgia according to initial filings?
A) United Healthcare.
B) Cigna Healthcare.
C) Kaiser Permanente.
D) Alliant Health Plans.
The State Ethics Commission declined to investigate a complaint filed by Attorney General Chris Carr against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Both men are running for governor as Republicans. What was the complaint?
A) Not filing a financial disclosure report on time.
B) Improperly coordinating with a super PAC.
C) The source of a $10 million campaign loan.
D) Campaign contributions larger than allowable limits.
State lawmakers are studying Georgia’s high rate of chronically absent students. Republican state Rep. Chris Erwin has an idea to help. What is it?
A) Fine parents if their kids miss too many days of school.
B) Make virtual learning available for students with attendance problems.
C) Offer financial incentives to parents to take their kids to school.
D) Increase the number of school buses.
Campaign promises
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms (third from left) listened to laid off Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers during a roundtable in Clarkston on Thursday.
Credit: AP
President Donald Trump’s decision to lay off thousands of federal workers sparked plenty of backlash among Georgia’s government workers and their allies. Now, Keisha Lance Bottoms is trying to tap into that anger to propel her campaign for governor.
The former Atlanta mayor met with about a dozen laid off workers on Thursday, pledging that if elected, she would direct state agencies to prioritize hiring former employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “wherever possible.”
She also promised to launch fellowship programs to place former federal workers in local health departments and work with Atlanta-based universities to create pathways for research, teaching and clinical work.
“The state should be there not just for policy, but with real tangible support for those of you all navigating job loss,” she said.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, listened during an event hosted by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Thursday in Clarkston.
Credit: Adam Beam/AJC
Bottoms appeared to impress Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. He began his comments by asking Bottoms for permission to go ahead and call her “governor.” The union represents 820,000 workers across the country.
Kelley told us the union has not endorsed Bottoms, and she hasn’t asked for one.
“She has a track record for standing for working people,” he said. “I don’t see that AFGE would have a problem endorsing Keisha Lance Bottoms.”
Educating voters
Zach Livsey is chair of the Fayette County Board of Elections.
Credit: Courtesy photo
The new chair of the Fayette County Board of Elections is a 23-year-old Democrat with multiple stints as a staffer underneath the Gold Dome.
Zach Livsey took office this summer, saying he’s the youngest ever to lead the county election board.
“A lot of people look up and they read the news or see the headlines and they often think the president has all the power,” he said. “The power is down here at the local level and elections are conducted in our backyard.”
But his first elections as chair likely didn’t feel that powerful. Just 2,363 of the county’s more than 93,000 registered voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary runoff for the District 3 Public Service Commission seat. He said it’s inspired him to focus on voter education efforts in the county.
“The number one priority for our jobs, and my role as chairman of the board, is to follow the law,” he said. “But within that, also there are opportunities to increase turnout, to increase engagement, to make sure people know what elections are going on.”
Livsey was chief of staff to former state Rep. Tish Naghise, who died in 2023. Most recently, he was chief of staff to state Sen. Kenya Wicks, D-Fayetteville.
When he’s not working in politics, he’s a sommelier at a wine bar owned by former state Rep. Virgil Fludd.
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No taxes
State Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, is expected to join the lieutenant governor's race.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
State Sen. Blake Tillery on Thursday cleared up any confusion about a Senate study committee on eliminating Georgia’s income tax.
“My role as chair is not to debate whether we do away with the state income tax,” Tillery told reporters on Thursday, including the AJC’s David Wickert. “It’s to determine how we will do away with the state income tax.”
Tillery said it will take years to do it. But he said he expects lawmakers to adopt a “realistic and responsible” plan in 2026. That just so happens to be an election year, when Tillery is likely to be running for lieutenant governor. Tillery was appointed chair by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is running for governor.
Cutting taxes is always a popular election year promise, and it’s one Republicans have been making quite a bit in recent years. The GOP-controlled Legislature has approved a series of tax cuts and refunds, aided in part by budget surpluses accumulated after the pandemic.
It’s not just Republicans. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democratic candidate for governor, wants to do away with the income tax for teachers.
“I’m not saying that other people and other professions don’t deserve it,” she said. “We looked at what the budget can absorb. We’re starting with teachers.”
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RAP Act
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (fifth from right), D-Lithonia, participated in a news conference on Thursday in Washington in support of the Restoring Artistic Protection Act .
Credit: Tia Mitchell/AJC
Fresh off the heels of the racketeering trial involving the rapper Young Thug, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson is renewing his push for a federal law that would prevent the government from using artists’ lyrics against them in most cases.
Johnson, D-Lithonia, has introduced versions of the Restoring Artistic Protection Act in the past and they failed to gain traction. That is unlikely to change with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress.
But he said during a news conference Thursday that the conversation is worth having and he considers it an effort to protect the free speech of rappers and other types of artists.
“For far too long, prosecutors have unjustly targeted artists, using their creative work as evidence of guilt, despite lacking tangible proof that the artistic expression is anything more than imagination and creativity,” he said, according to his prepared remarks.
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Today in Washington
President Donald Trump heads to Scotland, where he will meet with political leaders and visit two golf courses that he owns.
The House and Senate are out until Sept. 2.
First Liberty fallout
U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, first took office in 2003. He's up for reelection next year.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
U.S. Rep. David Scott sent a pointed letter to the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing the agency of failing to detect the alleged $140 million Ponzi scheme carried out by First Liberty Building & Loan, a Newnan-based firm.
The letter asks SEC Chair Paul Atkins to answer questions about its investigations of First Liberty and detail how the agency plans to help victims recover their investments.
“This is not just a case of regulatory failure, it is a betrayal of the trust that everyday investors place in our financial system and the institutions tasked with protecting them,” wrote Scott, an Atlanta Democrat who is on the House Financial Services Committee.
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