Sunday Solutions — Nov. 10, 2024
Good morning! Is it us or do we all feel like we’ve been through some sort of wind tunnel for about a …year? Well, nothing really stands still, so we’re moving forward to start looking at the January state legislature and what’s ahead for it. We’ve even left you a terrific playlist for your day.
NEWS: GA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
‘We understand it takes time’
Georgia Sen. Harold Jones II is the new state Senate Minority Leader and he’s well aware of the challenges ahead for the new session of the General Assembly in January. The state Republican party held its 10-seat advantage in last week’s elections, so Jones understands the what his Democrats will need to do to have input in policymaking for all parts of Georgia. The Current’s Craig Nelson covered the party’s caucus meeting Friday in Savannah to hear the perspectives after the voters shifted away from a lean Democratic majority to a Republican one in the presidential race. The Republican caucus meets in a few days to set its agenda.
NEWS: ELECTIONS
A wrapup from the elections week
- Coastal Georgia votes for president: Here’s the look at how various precincts throughout Coastal Georgia voted thanks to data reporter Maggie Lee. Also see the voter shifts chart by county for changes and the data collected around issues driving decisions in Georgia and the nation from The Associated Press.
- Three new sheriffs elected in Coastal Georgia as voters seek change. From public safety reporter Jake Shore.
- After bitter election fight, Chatham district attorney says she’s ready to focus on reforms. Also from The Current’s Shore.
- Georgia GOP maintains firm control over state Legislature: An overall look at what’s next under the dome from Georgia Recorder’s Jill Nolin.
- Georgia’s record early voting, post-2020 stress tests helped to defuse election rules overhaul: Georgia Recorder’s Stanley Dunlap finds disagreement on how new laws and rules affected voting turnout.
- He joined his local election board because he was concerned about fraud. He found none. The Current’s Gillian Goodman found Bryan County citizen who got involved to learn how things worked, and he did.
AND: We’ve created a one-stop page for your post-election reference, considerations and bar bets where we’ve linked every piece of data and work from The Current’s elections coverage. It includes links to data from Georgia and the national votes from The Associated Press, stories, candidate Q&As and more. Go here to check it out.
🦈 SHARKS & SCIENCE: JOIN US THIS WEEK! 🦈
How did you do?
The questions have gotten harder and we’ve had some leaderboard shifts this week. The reporters and social media interns have taken the scores as a challenge, so it’s not going to let up. Here’s your Sunday opportunity to test your news knowledge with a few short questions related to The Current’s stories from recent weeks. Below you’ll find our leaderboard with the top scores from the previous week, and the overall leaderboard, which tracks scores over time.
We will continue to track scores and update the leaderboard each week.
Leaderboard Nov. 3, 2024
First Place (10/10): Kaspar
Second Place (8/10): Tbolt
Third Place (6/10): Shots
Overall Leaderboard:
First Place: Shots
Second Place: SGMark
Third Place: EMF33
Make sure you compete every week and leave your nickname for a chance to win an exclusive prize from The Current!
TRIBUTE: ARTS & CULTURE
☕ Your second cup: American stories in music
In all of the elections hoopla, we almost missed noting the death of Quincy Jones, a musician and producer who’s helped define the American soundscape since the 1950s. Even if you don’t know his name, you likely know his work. Jones died last week at age 91 leaving an innovative catalogue that starts early with Count Basie and moves to set a tone for greats such as Frank Sinatra (“Live at the Sands”) and Ray Charles (“I Can’t Stop Loving You”). Those and his later work with Michael Jackson (“Thriller), continue to influence performance and pop today with strong storytelling through the music production. We’re linking a thoughtful piece from a musical historian about how Jones changed American culture for music and education. And, we’ve got a bonus Spotify playlist of his great work to get you moving for the week ahead. Enjoy.
A quick thank you to a special team
Our elections coverage drew a record number of readers to thecurrentga.org and to our social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. A lot of that happened through the hard work of a four-person special elections crew led by 2023 summer reporting intern Sarah Harwell. The elections interns — all University of Georgia students — are Audrey Hamm, Emily Laycock, and Bridget Goodman. We owe them a chunk of gratitude for helping provide timely info to you on what’s next for us all.
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After tough election result, Harold Jones takes on Senate minority leadership
By Craig Nelson
Augusta’s Jones takes over as minority leader while the state senaate has a 33-23 GOP majority.
Georgia GOP maintains firm control over state Legislature
By Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder
Gov. Brian Kemp used his well-funded Georgians First Leadership Committee to pour more than $2 million into the effort and personally campaigned with a slate of candidates.
Georgia’s record early voting, post-2020 stress tests helped to defuse election rules overhaul
By Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder
Since 2020, Georgia’s legislature made multiple changes to state’s election law, including those affecting absentee ballot voting, mass voter challenges, and granting partisan poll watchers increased access as election workers process ballots.
Election 2024: Summary
By The Current
Elections summary from The Current GA compiling results links, stories, data and maps from the 2024 November General Election.
After bitter election fight, Chatham district attorney says she’s ready to focus on reforms
By Jake Shore
District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones says her tough reelection is a signal Chatham County voters are interesting in continuing her reforms to criminal justice system and prosecution.
Three new sheriffs elected in Coastal Georgia as voters seek change
By Jake Shore
Voters elevated first-time candidates for sheriff across Coastal Georgia, in powerful positions that control detention and enforcing laws.
Coastal Georgia votes for president
By Maggie Lee
About 261,000 Georgians from six coastal counties cast a vote for president in 2024. Republican Donald Trump took about 131,000 votes, dominating precincts in more rural areas. Democrat Kamala Harris did best in larger towns and city precincts, with about 130,000 votes. About 58% of registered voters cast a ballot. That means about 190,000 Coastal […]
Georgia: Voter issues, shifts
By The Current
Of all issues important to Georgia voters, the economy and immigration stand out.
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