Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024
Good morning! The 2024 presidential election has finally arrived in Georgia. Polls opened yesterday for three weeks of in-person early voting leading up to the March 12 presidential primary to determine the Democratic and Republican nominees. Meanwhile, we look at some of Rep. Buddy Carter’s recent social media postings and update political news from across the region and the state. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
The (usually) talkative Buddy Carter
1st District U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter is nothing if not voluble.
The five-term Republican congressman from St. Simons weighs on his social media accounts on subjects ranging from Hunter Biden’s business deals and America’s porous borders to the hiring of a new Atlanta Falcons football coach and the New Year’s Eve party plans of his constituents.
Demonstrating that he’s more than just a legislator interested in dry details of policy, Carter’s accounts in recent days are homages to Sgt. Kennedy Sanders of Waycross and Sgt. Breonna Moffett, the two Coastal Georgia soldiers who were killed in Jordan earlier this month and whose remains were laid to rest following two separate funeral ceremonies on Saturday.
Yet for all the diversity, civic commitment, and frequent charm they reflect, Carter’s social media postings are also revealing for what they don’t address, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
10 things for your radar
1. Progress Report: U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff issues a three-year report on his accomplishments in office — gearing up, one reckons, for a tough reelection race in 2026.
2. Work load: The chief judge of Chatham County’s Magistrate Court, Mary Kathryn Moss, and pro tem Magistrate Court Judge Tracie Macke told a Ladies on the Right luncheon last week that 18,000 cases are filed with the court each year. Both women are on the ballot in May, seeking four-year terms. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Pennington, a candidate for Superior Court judge, vowed to address the backlog of cases in that court.
3. Grilling Fani: It will be days, if not longer, before we know whether Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis and her office will be disqualified from the election interference case against Donald Trump. Many Black women leaders empathize with her experience on the witness stand.
4. Kemp weighs in: Gov. Brian Kemp is putting boots on the ground in Texas to aid efforts by Gov. Gregg Abbott effort to control illegal crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border. Kemp was one of 13 Republican governors 13 Republican governors who joined Abbott at Eagle Pass, Texas, earlier this month.
5. Talking points: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome) has been appointed one of 11 floor managers for the Senate impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
6. No thanks: Georgia is one of 14 GOP-led states that have turned down federal money to feed low-income children in the summer.
7. Lost opportunity: Passage of Medicaid expansion in the state legislature this session looks increasingly unlikely, as Republican leaders back away from an Arkansas-style plan. If so, Georgia would remain one of 10 U.S. states to rebuff such expansion. Failure also means a lost opportunity to improve maternity mortality rates in Georgia, some of the nation’s worst.
8. Big foot: Legislation in the Georgia General Assembly that would help establish small-scale solar projects across the state are meeting opposition from Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric utility.
9. Keeping on: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will need about 40% of the vote in this Saturday’s Republican presidential primary in her home state to convince donors she still has shot of winning the nomination, a University of South Carolina professor says.
10. Hot tip: The Current yesterday inaugurated Coastal Navigator, a weekly newsletter that lists public meetings and agendas for the week ahead. Overseen by ace data reporter Maggie Lee, it will help you follow the work of your elected officials. Sign up here.
ICYMI
- “Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at funeral for Sgt. Breonna Moffett” (WJCL, Feb. 17, 2024) “[Breonna Moffett’s mother] said, ‘We always raised our kids to believe in God, to put God first.’ And I would always say to Breonna, ‘Make sure you put God first,’ and she would say, ‘You don’t have to tell me that because I do it every single day.’”
- “Post office won’t deliver to Midway veteran due to dirt road erosion” (The Current, Feb. 15, 2024) “‘Everybody’s in agreement that there’s an issue,’ [Charles] Dawson said, showing the stack of email correspondence that he has had with the Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission and Midway City Hall. ‘But no one will fix it.’”
- “Georgia election board votes down proposal to limit absentee voting” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feb. 13, 2024) “A divided State Election Board opposed a resolution Tuesday asking Georgia legislators to end no-excuse absentee voting, which is used by hundreds of thousands of voters in every major election.”
- “Conservative group tells judge it has no evidence to back its claims of Georgia ballot stuffing” (Associated Press, Feb.14, 2024) “True the Vote’s assertions were relied upon heavily for ‘2000 Mules,’ a widely debunked film by conservative pundit and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza.”
- “‘New Literacy Test’: The Black Organizers Waging War on Disinformation” (Capitol B, Feb. 13, 2024) “As the 2024 elections draw closer, advocates across the U.S. — especially across the South — are preparing for what they believe will be even more intense and sophisticated efforts to deceive, including artificial intelligence-generated voice clones that mimic public figures and dish out false information.”
- “Jimmy Carter’s Long Goodbye” (New York Times, Feb. 17, 2024) “Mr. Carter entered hospice care one year ago Sunday, choosing to forgo further life-prolonging treatment with the intent to return to his simple home in Plains, Ga., to pass his final days in comfort and peace. As it turns out, there have been more final days than he or anyone around him anticipated.”
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