Morning, y’all! Primary political ad season is officially over. Enjoy the few days of peace before midterm political ad season begins.
A lot of politics to cover today, obviously, but then we get to talk about Paddington Bear.
Let’s get to it.
RUNOFF ELECTION RESULTS
GOP nominee for governor Rick Jackson, with his wife Melody, greets supporters at his election night party at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North. (Jason Getz/AJC)
Rick Jackson defeated Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in Tuesday’s Republican runoff for governor, capping off one of the biggest political upsets in recent Georgia history.
The billionaire spent more than $100 million of his own money on his campaign, painting himself as a conservative political outsider in the vein of President Donald Trump.
However, Trump’s coveted endorsement went to Jones.
He’ll face U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November. Ossoff will be the No. 1 target of Republicans who hope to flip his seat and preserve their Senate majority.
Trump endorsed Collins. That means one of Trump’s candidates won and one lost, creating an interesting result for those who saw the contests as a test of Trump’s influence in Georgia.
I asked AJC deputy politics editor Adam Beam what the biggest surprise of the night was.
“It’s surprising that both of Gov. Brian Kemp’s endorsed candidates lost,” he told me.
“Kemp entered the year at the height of his powers. The AJC poll from the end of April showed he is the most popular Republican politician in Georgia. Tuesday’s results show that popularity is not transferrable.”
Beam added that, despite his reputation, this isn’t the first time Kemp’s endorsements have gone askew.
“Kemp has a history of high-profile misses. He also elevated Kelly Loeffler to the U.S. Senate, only to see her lose to (Raphael) Warnock in 2021.”
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Lawmakers adjourned for the year in April, but they're scheduled to return for a special session on Wednesday. (Ben Gray for the AJC)
No rest for Georgia legislators, who will trudge from their summer doings back to the Capitol today for a special legislative session that AJC chief political reporter Greg Bluestein described as something “almost nobody wanted.”
The two goals:
Hammer out a new vote counting method before the self-imposed July deadline makes the current QR code counting method illegal.
Discuss rearranging Georgia’s congressional districts, an opportunity many Republican-led state legislatures have pounced on after the Supreme Court nullified key parts of the Voting Rights Act.
The vote counting issue has to be settled. The redistricting? As a classic Magic 8 Ball would say, “Reply hazy, try again.”
They worry the effort would energize Democrats amid difficult midterm battles and lose voters who trusted the party would focus on economic and public safety issues.
Kemp hasn’t been as forceful on the issue as some GOP colleagues would have liked. He nixed any changes implemented before this year’s midterm elections but has kept the door open for changes effective for the 2028 presidential election.
One night can change things
Now, you may be wondering: Will last night’s election results affect the special session? Back to Adam Beam in politics:
“Rick Jackson’s defeat of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones makes it less likely the Republican-controlled state Legislature will redraw political districts during the special session,” he said, citing House Republican concerns of Democratic voter mobilization.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS, IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HAD ENOUGH
⚖️ A federal judge in Atlanta recused herself from the DOJ case seeking unredacted voter rolls from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after she attended an event sponsored by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ campaign.
Hot Wheels vending machine owner Kristen Albert said she knew kids would enjoy the machines, but was surprised to see how passionate adults are, as well. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)
Did you know some of the earliest vending machines dispensed tobacco and postcards? We can do a little better than that.
The Japanese trend of funky vending machines has caught on in Atlanta, and you can now get books, Hot Wheels, bagels and even pieces of art.
Kate Kiefer Lee, owner of Long Story Books, invested in a book vending machine as something unexpected for customers that also served as a sort of billboard.
“It has exceeded all of my expectations,” she said.
The vending machine is selling books much faster than she expected, and every month, the stock is refreshed to swap out some titles.
Some cool contraptions to check out if you’re in the area:
📚 Books: Long Story Books on Krog Street
🏎️ Hot Wheels: Terminal South, The Outlet Shoppes in Woodstock, Toco Hills shopping center
🖼️ Mini art prints: Krog District, Little Tart Bakeshop, Little Shop of Stories
Luckily, the bear isn’t a humanoid animal a la “Cats.” It’s a full-on mascot-style puppet costume, which led to the desperate and mortifying Google search, “Paddington musical who is in the bear.” Answer is at the bottom.
ON THIS DATE
June 17, 1993
Most Pepsi tampering cases ‘faked.’ The Pepsi-tampering mystery was unraveling today as several claims of objects found in soda cans were pronounced hoaxes. At least three people were arrested and police said at least four others have recanted. And some experts said they wouldn’t be surprised if all the cases turned out to be hoaxes, perpetrated by people who were out for money, attention or thrills.
The “Great Pepsi Hoax,” as it was called, was classic urban legend writ large. Who puts a syringe in a Pepsi can? How would that even be possible? Someone call OSHA.
ONE MORE THING
In “Paddington: The Musical,” Paddington comes to life in the least creepy way imaginable thanks to the talents of puppeteer and voice actor James Hameed and actress-puppeteer-stunt double-motivational speaker Arti Shah. Shah is the one who spends the majority of the play in the bear. Theater people are going to have to invent a new award for this.
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