Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Good morning! We start today with the Biden-Harris campaign setting up shop in Savannah and Coastal Georgia. We then look at local reaction to last week’s Trump verdict. Finally, we look at some political news affecting Coastal Georgia that you may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com
NEWS: POLITICS
‘Enormous ground campaign’
The hub of an “enormous ground campaign” in Chatham County and elsewhere in Coastal Georgia.
That’s how Savannah Mayor Van Johnson described the Savannah office of the Biden-Harris reelection campaign, which he and other prominent local Democrats inaugurated Friday, The Current’s Jabari Gibbs reports. It’s the first of at least 7 that the president’s reelection campaign plans in Georgia.
The opening of the Savannah office came two days after Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Philadelphia to launch “Black Voters for Biden-Harris.” There the president gave a speech that highlighted what he said was Donald Trump’s history of fanning racial conflict.
In his remarks Friday to an audience that included former mayor Otis Johnson and former mayor and current state Rep. Edna Jackson, Savannah’s current mayor said the opening of a campaign office in Savannah followed discussions among local, state and national party officials over how to continue and build on the momentum of the 2020 presidential elections, which saw record voter turnout in the state.
But polling suggests that maintaining that support — let alone building on it — will be a daunting task this election year, especially among Black voters. Biden’s ability to shore up his support in what has been his most loyal voting bloc could ultimately determine whether he prevails in what’s expected to be a close election.
Voter apathy is also a concern. General elections always produce higher voter turnout than primaries. Still, only about 1-in-5 voters in five Coastal Georgia counties cast ballots in last month’s primary elections, statistics compiled by The Current’s Maggie Lee show.
NEWS: POLITICS
Legal system attacked, defended
Following the end Donald Trump’s trial in a New York state court last week, Coastal Georgia Republicans were quick to echo the former president in criticizing the prosecution, the venue and his conviction on 34 counts related to falsifying business records. None defended the legal process.
1st District U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter was on a tour of East Africa with other lawmakers when the jury handed down its verdict, but within hours a statement appeared on his social media expressing dismay over what he characterized as a “baseless trial with drummed up charges” and a justice system that has been “completely weaponized” by Democrats.
Later, in his weekly newsletter, Carter described the day of the verdict as a “dark day in American history” and described the New York venue as “a complete kangaroo court,” repeating the portrayal of the New York venue favored by state GOP chairman Josh McKoon and other Georgia Republicans.
State lawmakers had no immediate public reaction, with the notable exception was state Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah). With a “Well said governor,” Petrea posted a statement by former Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who called the verdict a “testament to the political debasement of the justice system in places like New York City.”
In addition to repeating Trump’s argument that the justice system has been weaponized against him, other Republicans praised the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
The Bryan County Republican Party said Trump has “tirelessly advocated for the American people,” while defeated state Senate candidate Beth Majeroni described Trump as the best president she’s ever seen. “All Americans should be grieving and should be speaking up today, regardless of their feelings for Trump,” she said the day of the verdict.
Top state Democrats defended the legal process. “No one is above the law—including Donald Trump,” said U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. The state’s other U.S. senator, Jon Ossoff, pointed to what he called a larger peril posed by Trump. “That Trump paid hush money to a porn star and jurors found he falsified business records to cover it up is just one short, tawdry chapter of a much bigger story: Trump is an aspiring tyrant who intends to rule, not lead, the United States.”
ICYMI
- “Brian Kemp will attend GOP convention as he builds up political operation” (Politico, May 28, 2024) “Kemp, according to his advisers, is continuing to mull a Senate run in his critical purple state in 2026, or a presidential bid in 2028 — when voters in both parties will likely be selecting new leadership.”
- “Hickman Named Chair of Study Committee on ‘Preservation of Georgia’s Farmlands’” (TGV News, May 29, 2024) “State Senator Billy Hickman [R-Statesville], who represents counties in southeast Georgia, has been named Chairman of the Senate Study Committee on the Preservation of Georgia’s Farmlands. . . . The Georgia Conservancy’s Georgia Now and Forever initiative determined that Georgia lost approximately 2.6 million acres of crop, hay, and pasture land from 1974 to 2016.”
- “Georgia government needs to replace ‘new’ system for campaign spending disclosure” reports (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 31, 2024) “Only a few years after introducing a new and “improved” e-filing system that is supposed to let the public know who is funding campaigns and what politicians are beneficiaries of Capitol lobbyists’ largesse, the state is looking to scrap it and start over.”
- “Department of Labor sues Hyundai over child labor” (CNN, May 31, 2024) “The United States Department of Labor alleged on Thursday that Hyundai and two of its supplier companies illegally employed a 13-year-old who was kept working for up to 60 hours a week on an assembly line in Alabama.”
- “‘2000 Mules’ publisher apologizes to metro Atlanta man for false voting fraud allegation” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 1, 2024) “Salem Media Group, publisher of the film and book “2000 Mules,” on Friday apologized to a metro Atlanta man who was falsely accused of voting fraud in the film.”
- “Hybrids vs EVs: What Americans are picking and why” (Washington Post, May 27, 2024) “Americans are starting to turn away from purely gas-powered cars, but most aren’t piling into electric vehicles. They’re straddling the line and buying hybrids.”
- “Trump claims he didn’t say ‘lock her up’ about Hillary Clinton” (The Hill, June 2, 2024) “Former President Trump said Sunday that he never called for former election rival Hillary Clinton to be sent to jail, despite making the demand during his 2016 campaign.”
- “RNC co-chair Lara Trump slams Maryland GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan for urging Americans to ‘respect’ hush money verdict” (CNN, June 2, 2024) “Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump said Sunday that Maryland Republican Senate candidate Larry Hogan ‘doesn’t deserve the respect’ of any Republican after he urged Americans to respect the verdict in Donald Trump’s hush money trial before it was delivered.”
- “Preying on white fears worked for Georgia’s Lester Maddox in the ’60s − and is working there for Donald Trump today” (The Conversation, May 16, 2024) “Maddox showed that it was politically profitable to play on the fears and anxieties of white people, who were afraid of the political power of Black voters. And what was true in Georgia in the 1960s turns out to be true throughout the South today, as Maddox’s victory based on racism holds lessons for the 2024 presidential election.”
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Hurricane forecast points to a dangerous 2024 Atlantic season: La Niña pairs with persistently warm ocean to power fierce storms
Warm ocean surface water – about 79 degrees and above – provides increasing heat energy that is released through evaporation. That heat triggers an upward motion, helping form clusters of storm clouds and the rotating circulation that can form rain bands around a vortex.
Cryptocurrency mining stirs concerns across rural Georgia
Opponents complain that server farms generating cryptocurrency are extremely noisy, impose a huge drain on electricity and water resources, and don’t generate enough jobs to justify those negative consequences.
Democrats warn that Georgia laws enable new, mass voter challenges
Representative warns that more voter challenges are ahead after two new laws opened potential.
Savannah opens first Biden campaign office in Georgia
Biden campaign opens it first Georgia office in Savannah as part of the national “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” effort.
Kemp calls for another Vogtle expansion
Governor Brian Kemp called for another expansion of nuclear Plant Vogtle during an event
Wednesday celebrating the completion of two new reactors at the east Georgia facility. The
construction of those reactors, known as Vogtle Units Three and Four, cost more than twice its original budget and ended years behind schedule.
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