Correction: Updated at 2:33 p.m. March 31, to reflect 8 candidates for the Democratic primary for Congressional District 1 attended the forum.
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Good morning! In the news today: State lawmakers wrap it up, 1st Congressional District candidates introduce themselves, and finally, we note some things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS: GOVERNING
Literacy, paper ballots, police video
The Georgia General Assembly is scheduled to conclude its annual 40-day session by Thursday’s midnight deadline. The session’s finale, sine die, is typically neither smooth nor elegant. As the end approaches, the legislature “doesn’t wind down as much as hits a wall at full speed,” The Current’s managing editor, Susan Catron, noted in Sunday’s newsletter.
We’ll aim to pick up some of the pieces at the session’s end. For now, we’re closely watching the fate of what House Speaker Jon Burns (Newington) touted at his top priority for the session and Sen. Billy Hickman (Statesboro) for years has promoted as one of his: improving literacy.
Only 1 in 3 Georgia students is reading on grade level by the end of third grade, Burns says. A special subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee this week is weighing a House-approved bill, HB 1193, that would put a literacy coach in every elementary school in Georgia.
Funding is at the center of the debate. So is control of the program: Under the House bill, the program would be supervised by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, which the state’s Department of Education opposes. So, the fight continues.
Also, we’re watching efforts to overhaul the state’s voting system. A bill passed by the state Senate on Friday would replace electronic ballot marking with hand-marked paper ballots starting July 1.
The measure — approved by Coastal Georgia Republican senators Ben Watson (Savannah), Mike Hodges (Brunswick), and Hickman, with Derrick Mallow (Savannah), a Democrat, voting against —also would strip the secretary of state’s role in overseeing election challenges and recounts and put that responsibility solely in the hands of the State Election Board.
The bill now goes to the House, which earlier passed an election overhaul bill that set Jan. 1, 2028, as the deadline for instituting hand-marked paper ballots.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and many election officials have said that the Senate’s July 1, 2026, deadline is unrealistic and that purchasing and putting in place new machinery and training election workers in each of the state’s 159 counties can’t be done before the Nov. 3 elections.
Finally, we’re watching the fate of a bill, SB 482, that would limit access to police video and mugshots. Supporters say it would protect the innocent and victims of tragedies, but free speech advocates say it could undermine legitimate news gathering. Mallow, a Democrat, joined Republicans Watson, Hodges, and Hickman, in voting for the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously.
NEWS: ELECTIONS
Meaningful differences
The eight Democrats vying for Coastal Georgia’s seat in U.S. Congress this fall introduced themselves to a packed room of Chatham County Democrats last week. The forum revealed meaningful differences about the candidates’ motivations for running and their speaking styles, more than about their policy differences.
To learn more about how each candidate would deal with federal issues affecting Coastal Georgia, a video of the 90-minute forum, organized by Savannah Indivisible and Coastal Georgia People’s PAC, is available here.
Don’t have time but want to know more? Following, in alphabetical order, are excerpts from the thumbnail biographies the candidates to the audience at Savannah’s Otis S. Johnson Cultural Arts Center:
Defonsio Daniels: I’m running because as I was trying to get backing for other candidates the people whose doors I was knocking on said you are the only guy who understands us. I worked the fields as a child, was homeless, made it to college and the Marines. I’m a beacon of hope for others who feel hopeless.
Joyce Griggs: I was born to lead and trained to serve. I have 33 years of military service. America, we are on life support. You need someone to get us off life support. I am not a politician; I’m a servant. I have the name recognition that Democrats need to get across the finish line.
Amanda Hollowell: I’m solutions-first and people-first person. If you want someone like that to help create change, then I am that candidate. Savannah is my chosen home. As a single mother and caregiver for my disabled veteran father, I’ve worked to improve voting rights for two decades.
Michael McCord: I’m the loudmouth, smart-ass moderate. I’m the most qualified person to represent this district. I grew up in a trailer in rural South Carolina. I’m a blue-dog Democrat, someone who can understand the counties like Long, Bacon and Pierce, places that the Democrats have left behind.
Joey Palimeno: I’m the working-class, dad candidate. A father of four and vet tech, I’ve always loved politics. I’ve been involved since high school as a volunteer for the Obama campaign. Trump is a symptom. He is the result of ignoring the working class for 40 years.
Sharon Stokes-Williamson: I was a state and federal social and health-care policy worker who lost my job in 2025 and lost my health care. I’m a Beach High School, Savannah State and Armstrong College graduate. Every family in our district deserves safety and dignity. Too many people are working hard and falling behind.
Pat Wilver: I’m a West Point graduate, Ranger-qualified officer who wants to reclaim power from the billionaire class. We need decisive action to turn around the tide of fascism. I believe that Congress must reclaim its power over war and the purse and that we should tax the rich to support our children and environment.
Randy Zurcher: Trump is a megalomaniac and criminal. He and his backers want a Russian-style oligarchy. We are on a slide to authoritarianism. The only appropriate response is resistance. I am the resistance candidate.
NEWS: POLITICS
11 things for your radar
• The Current’s Sarah Harwell talks to demonstrators at “No Kings” protests in Savannah and Rincon, two of the six such protests in Coastal Georgia on Saturday.
• James Kingston, a GOP candidate for Coastal Georgia’s 1st Congressional District seat, announces a rally in Savannah on April 8, with special guest U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. For ticket information, click here.
• Brian Hussey and Joe Welch have qualified to run for the Chatham County Commission (District 4) seat vacated by Patrick Farrell. They will be on the May 19 ballot.
• The state Senate’s Rules Committee Monday decided against sending to the Senate floor for a vote a plan to strengthen health access in rural and underserved communities in Georgia through community health workers. Sen. Ben Watson (R-Savannah) oversaw the bill’s passage through the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, which he chairs. But when he and other members of the Rules Committee were limited in the number of bills they could each request to be moved to the floor, they all chose other priorities above HB 291, the Georgia Recorder reports.
• Tybee officials to hold spring break public information meetings at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday at Tybee’s Public Safety Building at 78 Van Horne Ave.
• Lt. Gov. Burt Jones proposes a “good ole-fashioned one-on-one debate” with fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson. “I let him pick the venue. I’ll let him pick the moderator, because I don’t think action Jackson is ready for it.” Jackson’s campaign said Monday it will soon have more information on debates.
• Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorses Rick Jackson for governor.
• State Rep. Steven Sainz (R-St. Marys) says legislation he’s sponsoring has been stalled in the General Assembly since he endorsed Jackson for governor.
• After U.S. Congress fails to end the partial federal government shutdown before its two-week spring recess, the news outlet TMZ asks readers to send photos of members of Congress who are vacationing during the recess. A camera finds Buddy Carter.
• Savannah Indivisible plans to hold what it’s calling a “data center town hall,” on April 8 at the Savannah Cultural Center. For more information, click here.
*The Current and its editor-in-chief, Margaret Coker, along with ProPublica, received an honorable mention “2026 Best of Business” award from the Society for Advancing Business Writing and Editing for their series of stories on Georgia’s “Pathways to Coverage” healthcare program.
Said the judges: “The series chronicled the program dysfunction that ensnared thousands of eligible Georgians, including the star of a Pathways testimonial video who was dropped from coverage multiple times. This series succeeded in exposing the flaws in the Pathways program–and illuminates what an integral part Deloitte is.”
For a link to the series, click here.
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Georgia Senate cuts $110M from public college funding in $38.5B budget
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