Keisha Lance Bottoms starts a listening tour in DeKalb County.
Barry Loudermilk to lead revived Jan. 6 committee.
Jody Hice gets a new job in Washington.
Opinion battle
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is critical of the cuts to Medicaid in President Donald Trump's tax and spending law.
Credit: Sarah Peacock for the AJC
President Donald Trump won on Capitol Hill when Congress passed his “big, beautiful” tax and spending law. But the battle for public opinion is just beginning.
One Nation, the public policy organization aligned with Senate Republican Leader John Thune, is spending $5 million on TV ads in Georgia criticizing Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff for voting against the law.
The ads note the law limits taxes on tips while giving a hefty increase to a credit for parents.
“Every time you turn around, something is draining our pockets. Lately it’s been Sen. Jon Ossoff,” a woman says in the ad.
Ossoff, undeterred, held a news conference on Wednesday highlighting the law’s cuts to Medicaid. He pointed to an analysis from Brown University that estimated 37 nursing homes in Georgia would be at risk of closing.
“I want to sound the alarm on the impact of this recently passed Trump budget bill on seniors in Georgia,” Ossoff said.
It’s still early, but so far public polling seems to favor Ossoff. A poll from earlier this week said more than half of Georgians oppose the bill. A national CBS/YouGov poll found more than half of Americans said they believed the law would increase their health care costs.
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State Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, will speak to reporters at 2 p.m. today about his new study committee to examine Republicans’ goal of eliminating Georgia’s income tax.
The Georgia Department of Labor is still struggling to process claims for unemployment benefits, a process that could be further slowed by federal budget cuts, the AJC’s Gray Mollenkamp and Caleb Groves report.
Rallying DeKalb
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (left) participated in a local Juneteenth Parade last month.
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is kicking off the first statewide tour of her campaign for governor this afternoon with a show of political muscle in DeKalb County, the most important Democratic stronghold in Georgia.
Bottoms plans to roll out endorsements during the stop in Clarkston from a slate of prominent DeKalb leaders, including former county CEO Burrell Ellis, former state Sen. Nadine Thomas and Decatur School Board Member Jana Johnson-Davis.
Bottoms, an ex-Biden administration official, is also set to meet with former staffers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were fired after President Donald Trump ordered sweeping cuts to the Atlanta-based agency.
But the Clarkston event also doubles as a warning shot to Michael Thurmond, the former DeKalb CEO who has signaled for months that he is weighing whether to join the race.
So far, Bottoms’ main Democratic rival is state Sen. Jason Esteves of Atlanta, who has locked up support from some of the party’s biggest names and an impressive seven-figure fundraising haul. A Thurmond candidacy could further fracture the field.
Double whammy
Jennifer Dorian is the president and CEO of WABE.
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
NPR and PBS lost a chunk of their funding after Congress canceled $1.1 billion in previously approved spending for public broadcasting. But the bigger cuts are still to come.
That’s because the bulk of the broadcasters’ funding comes not from the government, but the hundreds of local affiliates across the country that pay fees to air shows such as “Morning Edition and “Antiques Roadshow.”
These member stations rely a lot more on federal funding than NPR and PBS do. WABE, Atlanta’s NPR station, says it will lose about 13% of its budget. As a result, these member stations will likely want to renegotiate the fees they pay the national broadcasters.
“I think they need to absorb some of this loss,” Jennifer Dorian, CEO of WABE, told the “Politically Georgia” podcast this week. “We’re going to see … a nationwide reset of how much money we can all as stations give NPR and PBS.”
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New hire
The Georgia State Election Board appointed Hope Coan as its new paralegal, despite questions over her qualifications for the role.
Coan, formerly an executive at Coan Construction, is married to the board’s former executive director, Mike Coan. He resigned in January and was replaced by Republican James Mills, a former state representative.
“I do not believe this particular individual meets the necessary qualifications for this job,” board Chair John Fervier, an appointee of Gov. Brian Kemp, said of Hope Coan.
Board member Janice Johnston said Mills requested that Coan be appointed to the position. Coan will succeed Alexandra Hardin, who took a job as an executive assistant to the secretary of state.
Fervier, who abstained from the vote, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution there were other candidates with legal experience “that appeared to be perfectly qualified for this position and were not considered.”
“I have absolutely no knowledge or any information whatsoever about any of the candidates,” said the board’s sole Democrat, Sara Tindall Ghazal.
Think again
State Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, is leading a news conference today about the Cobb County Board of Education.
Credit: AJC file photo
Cobb County has turned blue in recent years, part of the political engine driving Democrats’ resurgence in Georgia. But when it comes to the state’s second largest school district, Republicans still rule.
Voters were reminded of that last week when the Republican majority of the Cobb County Board of Education decided it would stop streaming the public comment portion of its meetings.
The board acted on the request of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale, who said it would limit the district’s legal liability. But Democrats on the board protested, saying the policy would erode the public trust.
Today, those board members will get some backup from Cobb County’s Democratic delegation in the state Legislature.Delegation Chair David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, will lead a news conference with four other state lawmakers and two parents to urge the board to reconsider.
“When only those who are physically present can hear the concerns of their neighbors and fellow community members, we undermine the very spirit of this policy, which aims to connect the entire community,” the delegation said in a statement.
Listen up
Supporters cheered for U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Atlanta, during his "Rally for our Republic" in Savannah last month.
Credit: Sarah Peacock for the AJC
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast the hosts discuss Georgia’s fast-forming 2026 political landscape, including the open races for governor and lieutenant governor, and the race to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
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.
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Another Jan. 6 committee
U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, will lead a special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Georgia U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk will once again take the lead on a special committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol and Democrats’ response to it.
Loudermilk said the decision to restart the committee, which was first established by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023, came at the request of President Donald Trump shortly after he took office.
“He wanted me to continue the investigation, and told him I was dedicated to doing it,” said Loudermilk, R-Cassville.
The creation of the special committee must be approved on the House floor. Loudermilk had hoped to do that this week, but lawmakers ended up going home early for their August recess to avoid a tough vote on whether to release investigative files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 while in jail.
Trump has tried to move the conversation away from the Epstein files by focusing on other topics ranging from the name of professional sports teams to conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama. But Loudermilk said this new Jan. 6 investigation is not another deflection.
“We’ve been working on this way before this Epstein thing was ever an issue,” he said.
Today in Washington
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, R-Lithonia, spoke at a news conference in 2023 about the Restoring Artistic Protection Act.
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Happenings:
President Donald Trump will visit the Federal Reserve.
The House is out until Sept. 2.
The Senate will vote on more of Trump’s nominations.
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, will hold a news conference to reintroduce the Restoring Artistic Protection Act, which would prohibit federal prosecutors from using artists’ music lyrics as evidence.
Boxing rules
U.S. Rep. Brian Jack, R-Peachtree City, wants to create new regulations for boxing.
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
U.S. Rep. Brian Jack is teaming up with a former MMA fighter to introduce new regulations for the sport of boxing.
Jack, R-Peachtree City, and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, sponsored the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act. It proposes a new system that includes a national minimum compensation of $150 per round for professional boxers, improved health insurance coverage and anti-doping regulations.
“Professional boxing is the only sport regulated by Congress, and ambiguity in current law — adopted over a quarter-century ago — has stifled investment," Jack said in a news release.
Davids had a brief career as an MMA fighter before getting elected to Congress in 2018.
Congressional conduct
Jody Hice is pictured speaking at a campaign event in Atlanta in 2022.
Credit: Nicole Craine/The New York Times
House Speaker Mike Johnson has appointed former Georgia U.S. Rep. Jody Hice to fill an empty seat on the board of directors of the Office of Congressional Conduct.
Formerly known as the Office of Congressional Ethics, the OCC is an independent, nonpartisan panel that reviews misconduct complaints involving U.S. House members or staff. When the panel deems a complaint has merit, it refers the case to the House Committee on Ethics.
Hice gave up his House seat to challenge Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s reelection bid in 2022. Despite having President Donald Trump’s endorsement and repeating his false conspiracies about the 2020 election, Hice finished second to Raffensperger in the Republican primary by a margin large enough that no runoff was needed.
Shoutouts
State Rep. Shea Roberts (center), D-Atlanta, first took office in 2021.
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Today’s birthday:
State Rep. Shea Roberts, D-Atlanta.
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
Postmaster General David Steiner was on hand for the unveiling of the Benjamin Franklin stamp on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Cliff Owen/AP
The U.S. Postal Service is celebrating it’s 250th anniversary with special stamps, including the one honoring the nation’s first postmaster general — Benjamin Franklin.
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.
