Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Good Morning! Good morning! In the news today: Looming election chaos, the mid-term money race, and a U.S. senator and Coastal Georgia Republican challenger tangle over the Iran war. Finally, we note some things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS: ELECTIONS
Not much time
Chatham County elections director Brook Schreiner says county officials will have to come up with at least $1.5 million to comply with Georgia’s new election laws unless Gov. Brian Kemp convenes a special session of the legislature to agree on a date to implement new election laws and approve funds to pay for them.
A provision of Senate Bill 189, which lawmakers passed in 2024, requires the removal of QR codes from ballots by July 1. New ballots and other equipment must be purchased to comply with the law, but the legislature adjourned earlier this month without reconciling different deadlines for instituting the changes mandated by the new law mandated and allocating the funds to fund the changes.
Kemp hasn’t indicated if he’ll call a special session to address elections-related legislation before general elections on Nov. 3.
Without state intervention, each of Georgia’s 159 counties will be on the hook for needed money. “I’ve already started my budget process for the fiscal year,” Schreiner told the Chatham County Republican Party at its quarterly meeting last week. “That doesn’t give us much time.”
Schreiner is scheduled to hold an information session for the Democratic Party of Chatham County at 6 p.m. April 29, at the John Delaware Community Center, 1815 Lincoln St., Savannah.
NEWS: POLITICS
Money and politics
We’ll soon receive an updated picture of the state of campaign war chests — and the contributors to them — as candidates for federal, state and local elections ramp up their stumping in advance of the May 19 party primaries.
Wednesday is the deadline for the 1st Congressional District candidates and U.S. Senate candidates to file 1st-quarter campaign donation reports to the Federal Election Commission.
In the 1st Congressional District contest, Republican candidate Jim Kingston led all candidates in the money race at the end of 2025, with $1.38 million in cash on hand. Fellow Republican Pat Farrell was a distant second at $465,285. Michael McCord topped Democratic candidates with $54,786.
Contributors to Kingston’s campaign included top House Republican Jim Jordan, who stumped for the candidate in Savannah last week. In December, Jordan’s campaign committee and his Buckeye Liberty political action committee gave a total of $9,000 to Kingston’s campaign.
In the U.S. Senate race, the latest official reporting showed incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff with $25.55 million in cash on hand as of Dec. 31, 2025, followed by Republicans Buddy Carter with $4.19 million; Mike Collins with $2.33 million; and Derek Dooley with $2.31 million. In loaning his own campaign $3 million, Carter is the only Senate candidate financing his own campaign.
For state and local candidates, the next deadline to file campaign finance reports is April 30, with a five-day grace period. The reports will be publicly available “immediately” on submission, said spokeswoman for the State Ethics Commission, which oversees the state’s campaign finance reporting, said Monday.
NEWS: GOVERNING
Uncertainty
With President Trump’s naval blockade of Iran going into effect yesterday, the Iran war has entered a period of uncertainty for the global economy, U.S. foreign policy, and midterm elections. (There’s the imbroglio with Pope Leo XIV, too.)
Coastal Georgia Republican Congressman Buddy Carter and Jon Ossoff, the Democratic U.S. senator that Carter is running to replace in November, haven’t commented specifically on the blockade, but they’ve had plenty to say about the war and last week’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire.
In an interview with Newsmax, Carter hailed the ceasefire as a “great victory” and declared, “We have the opportunity here to have the golden age of the Middle East.”
At a luncheon speech on St. Simons yesterday to Golden Isles Republican Women, Carter said he supported Trump because by “making certain” Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, the president “is saving millions of lives in the future,” reports Jabari Gibbs, The Current’s Glynn County reporter.
“We have got to end this once and for all,” Carter said.
In remarks Saturday at the annual Carter-Lewis Dinner hosted by the state’s Democratic Party, Ossoff struck a different note about the war:
“Thirteen brave Americans killed and hundreds wounded, thousands of civilians dead, military equipment it will take years to replace, skyrocketing inflation, massive damage to our reputation and position in the world. But Iran’s ballistic missiles and drones are not destroyed. The regime is intact, along with its ability to throttle the global energy supply, along with its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which it only assembled after Donald Trump shredded President Obama’s Iran deal.”
NEWS: POLITICS
8 things for your radar
- GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson will hold a meet-and-greet at 5 p.m today (Tuesday) at the AC Hotel, 601 E. River St. in Savannah. Yesterday, in St. Simons, he told The Current’s Jabari Gibbs that if elected, “I’m going to be the number one business development person of Georgia. I’m going to negotiate directly with CEOs all over the world, especially here in the United States, to bring business to every part of Georgia.” Jackson was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in St. Simons of the Golden Isles Republican Women, where he appeared with U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, Secretary of State candidate Vernon Jones, state Reps. Buddy DeLoach, Rick Towsend and Steven Sainz; and 1st Congressional District GOP candidates Pat Farrell, Brian Montgomery, and Eugene Yu.
- The Savannah Debate Series is hosting a debate this evening at 6 p.m. between the candidates for president of the Savannah-Chatham County School Board, incumbent Roger Moss and challenger Dionne Hoskins-Brown. It’s to be held at the Southwest Chatham Library, 10497 Abercorn St. in Savannah.
- Fighting to reclaim his seat on the Public Service Commission, Republican Fitz Johnson is facing a residency challenge, The Current’s Mary Landers reports. The Monday hearing didn’t yield an immediate ruling but did expose some other questions about the residency. Read the story after the hearing here.
- “Proposed GA tax relief measure threatens teacher layoffs in schools,” writes Ty Tagami of Capitol Beat News Service.
- Former (and current?) Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris is scheduled to headline a fundraiser Friday in Savannah for the Georgia Democratic Party. For more information, click here.
- Democratic 1st Congressional District candidate Pat Wilver kicks off his two-week, 15-city walking tour of Coastal Georgia.
- Chatham Area Republican Women is sponsoring a “big beautiful brunch” to urge attention and protection for the nation’s “most vulnerable voters”: nursing home residents, the elderly, the military and citizens abroad. For more information and reservations on the event, to be held at 10 a.m. April 25 at the Palmetto Club, 1 Cottonwood Drive, in The Landings, click here.
- State Supreme Court candidate Jen Jordan, a Democrat, holds a meet-and-greet at 8 a.m. Friday at Savannah Coffee Roasters, 215 W. Liberty St., in Savannah.
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