Stacey Abrams says a 2026 run for office is not “top of mind.”
Tyler Harper and Jon Ossoff spar over hurricane relief.
Marjorie Taylor Greene stands firm against cryptocurrency bill.
Honoring John Lewis
Before his death, U.S. Rep. John Lewis visited the set of John Lewis: Good Trouble, a documentary about his life.
Credit: Magnolia Pictures
“Good trouble lives on.”
That’s the mantra for a national day of action today honoring Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia civil rights icon who died five years ago.
Organizers planned hundreds of events commemorating the longtime lawmaker’s legacy — and protesting President Donald Trump’s administration — from the tiny Maine town of Houlton to the San Francisco Bay area.
Thousands of demonstrators are expected at some of the larger gatherings, including Daley Plaza in Chicago, outside the Harlem State Office Building in New York and Liberty Mall in Boston.
There are about 20 Lewis events in Georgia, from Ellijay to Valdosta. The biggest might be a Good Trouble March from the famed Lewis mural on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park.
Participants in the Memorial Freedom Bike Ride celebrating the legacy of the late Georgia U.S. Rep. John Lewis gathered for a balloon release at his mural on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta in 2022.
Credit: Jenni Girtman for John R. Lewis Legacy Institute
A coalition of civil rights groups, including the NAACP and League of Women Voters, are behind the Good Trouble Lives On demonstrations. They say they want to build on the momentum of last month’s “No Kings" protests that coincided with Trump’s birthday.
“This is more than a protest. It’s a moral reckoning,” organizers say. “A continuation of the movement Lewis helped lead, and a new front in the struggle for freedom.”
White House spokesman Liz Huston shrugged off the demonstrations.
“Nearly 80 million Americans gave President Trump a historic mandate to Make America Great Again,” she said, “and he is delivering on that promise in record time.”
A message from UBER
Your next Uber could be a Waymo ride
The future is arriving! Uber and Waymo are bringing autonomous rides to the streets of Atlanta. Your next trip could be even more special. Ride in a fully autonomous Jaguar I-PACE at no extra cost when you opt in via Ride Preferences. Choose UberX, Uber Green, Comfort or Comfort Electric to get matched with a Waymo.
Good morning! The 2026 midterm elections are more than a year away. But candidates and the people who support them are already making moves. Keep up with the news by reading the AJC’s Live Elections Hub.
Here are three other things to know for today:
President Donald Trump said he convinced Coca-Cola to use cane sugar in its sodas, but the company did not confirm, the AJC’s Amy Wenk reports.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, split with Trump on multiple issues in recent weeks. But the firebrand Republican insists she isn’t in conflict with the president, writes Tia Mitchell.
Lawmakers, mental health advocates and medical professionals say Insurance Commissioner John King, a Republican candidate for Senate, has not been enforcing Georgia’s mental health law, the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman reports.
Distancing
Two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams (right) spoke as Arekia Bennett-Scott, the executive director of Mississippi Votes, listened at last month's Democracy in Action Convening in Jackson, Miss.
Credit: Sophie Bates/AP
Stacey Abrams didn’t close the door on a 2026 run for office during an interview on NPR this week. But she did nudge it a little.
“Politics is a tool, and it’s a very important one for getting good done, but it’s not the only one. And I am really focused right now on the other tools in my toolbox,” Abrams told “Fresh Air” host Tonya Mosely.
Abrams was on the show to promote her new novel, “Coded Justice,” about a Supreme Court clerk who investigates an artificial intelligence system that’s supposed to benefit veterans. But Mosely made sure to ask Abrams about politics.
“I’m not taking running for office off the table, but it’s not right now top of mind,” said Abrams,a Democrat who lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018 and 2022.
Abrams said she has “not made any decisions” when it comes to 2026 in part “because there’s an urgency to 2025 that we cannot ignore.”
“My focus right now is on, how do we ensure that we have free and fair elections in 2026?” she said.
Harper vs. Ossoff
Georgia Agricultural Commissioner Tyler Harper is a Republican, while U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is a Georgia Democrat up for reelection in 2026. (AJC file photos)
Credit: AJC file photos
Georgia farmers are still waiting for some federal hurricane relief, and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff wants to know what’s taking so long.
About $16 billion of the money is already available through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program. The other $4 billion will be split among 14 states to fund block grant agreements.
It’s that $4 billion that is still in limbo. Ossoff wrote a letter to Republican Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins this week, asking for an update on what he said was “the failure” of their agencies to reach an agreement.
Ossoff noted that Rollins promised the block grants would move “very, very quickly.” She also said during a March event at the state Capitol the emergency package would soon start being disbursed to Georgia farmers.
It’s the second letter Ossoff has sent Harper. The first letter, back in May, prompted an angry response with Harper accusing Ossoff of politicizing the issue, calling it “beyond shameful.”
Harper wasn’t too happy with this latest letter, either. He told us that Ossoff “is desperate to distract from the fact” that he voted against President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, which he said included “a $60 billion investment to strengthen farm safety net and crop insurance programs.”
“He doesn’t need to use the Atlanta paper as a middleman to ask for an update on Georgia’s negotiations, he can pick up his phone and call me anytime,” Harper said.
Advertisement
Head start
State Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, sponsored a bill last session that he hoped would prevent disruptions in the teacher licensing and higher education accreditation processes.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump to begin dismantling the Department of Education, you can expect the administration to move quickly to disperse its myriad of functions to other parts of the government.
Student loans? That’ll head to the Treasury Department. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? That could land at the Department of Health and Human Services. What about those billions of dollars in grants? The Department of Labor is already shifting to cover those.
State governments will have to move fast to adapt to this cascade of changes. Georgia has gotten a head start. Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law in May that updates all references to the Department of Education in Georgia’s code to include the line “or its successor.”
Republican state Sen. Bo Hatchett of Cornelia, the bill’s sponsor, believes that will be enough to prevent disruptions in the teacher licensing and higher education accreditation processes.
“We won’t have to go in and have a special session to redo the law because we’re already ready,” he said.
Hatchett said he was most proud about the law getting bipartisan support. Thirteen Democrats voted for it, including Sen. Jason Esteves,D-Atlanta, who is running for governor.
But don’t confuse Esteves’ vote with support for Trump’s action.
“Just like he promised, Donald Trump is dismantling the Department of Education, and kids across Georgia are already paying the price,” Esteves said. “I’ve worked across the aisle to defend public education and expand resources for students, and I’ll continue that work as governor.”
Three billboards
A billboard in Augusta paid for by the advocacy group More Perfect Union.
Credit: Courtesy photo
An advocacy group billing itself as “building power for the working class” has paid for three billboards in Augusta criticizing U.S. billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg.
More Perfect Union says it spent more than $1 million on 50 billboards across eight states. They sent us a photo of one showing a picture of the Facebook founder with the words “we make, they take.”
More Perfect Union received a lot of attention last year when they produced a video of a couple outside of Atlanta who blamed one of Meta’s data centers for limiting their water supply. The New York Times reported on the couple this week.
The group says their goal is to “provoke conversations” about the imbalance between the people workers and “right-wing billionaires, plutocrats, and corporations that reap the rewards.”
Listen up
An Atlanta Braves fan catches a ball in the stands during the first inning of the MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell discuss the political reverberations of the MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta. Then they dig into the first fundraising numbers for Georgia’s 2026 Senate contenders.
You can listen and subscribe to the show for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.
Advertisement
Second day of drama
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, voted against cryptocurrency legislation earlier this week.
Credit: Anna Rose Layden/The New York Times
A vote on the U.S. House floor was held open for nearly 10 hours Wednesday, the longest ever in history, because Republicans remained split on how to advance cryptocurrency legislation.
Nearly all of the holdouts eventually reversed course and allowed the bill to move forward. That number included Georgia U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens.
But one Republican still voted “no” with Democrats: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Initially, Greene was among a dozen Republicans who blocked the bill because they were unhappy that Speaker Mike Johnson did not allow an amendment to ban the federal government from creating its own digital currency. But the amendment was added onto the National Defense Authorization Act after negotiations with President Donald Trump.
But that wasn’t enough for Greene.
Today in Washington
President Donald Trump will receive an intelligence briefing and sign executive orders.
The House is expected to vote on cryptocurrency legislation and on a defense appropriations bill.
The Senate, after voting overnight on legislation to rescind $9 billion in previously approved spending, will vote on more Trump nominations.
Correction
In Wednesday’s newsletter, we told you how much money 9th Congressional District Republican candidate Sam Couvillon raised in the last three months. But we got it wrong. We should have said he raised $173,000 and has $298,000 in cash on hand.
Shoutouts
Jim Durrett is president and CEO of the Buckhead Coalition and executive director of the Buckhead Community Improvement District.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Transition:
Jim Durrett says he will retire early next year as head of the Buckhead Coalition and the Buckhead Community Improvement District.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
Before you go
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns and other lawmakers prayed for those affected by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas on Wednesday at the Capitol in Atlanta.
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns and a bipartisan group of lawmakers led a prayer service for victims and survivors of the Texas floods at the state Capitol on Wednesday.
“We want Texans to know we care,” said Burns, a Republican from Newington.
The Politically Georgia team starts your day with insights and analysis from Peachtree Street to Pennsylvania Avenue. If you do not want this newsletter, unsubscribe here.
The Politically Georgia team starts your day with insights and analysis from Peachtree Street to Pennsylvania Avenue. If you do not want this newsletter, unsubscribe here.
