Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025
Good morning! Today we have election results, including the winners in two statewide races for energy regulators, municipal elections and tax-related referendums in some coastal locations. We also have an update on the upcoming McIntosh County referendum and news about the only turtle species that lives in the salt marsh.
Questions, tips or concerns? Send me a note at mary.landers@thecurrentga.org
NEWS: ELECTIONS
Election results
Democrats Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard won seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, the only two statewide races in Tuesday’s election. The PSC regulates rates charged by investor-owned monopoly utility company’s, most notably those of Georgia Power. It also regulates the power company’s use of climate-warming fossil fuels. The two Democrats tapped into the frustration of Georgians facing rising monthly power bills to join the five-member board that has been all-Republican since 2007.
At her watch party in her hometown of Savannah, Johnson celebrated her sweeping victory, promising greater transparency at the PSC.
“‘We the people’ means government works for us and not the other way around,” she said.
Peter Hubbard laid out his goals in a prepared statement.
“As I serve out my first term on the Public Service Commission, I will work tirelessly to lower utility costs, to bring more clean, reliable energy resources to this state, and to refocus the Commission’s work on the public interest,” Hubbard stated.
For detailed PSC election and county-by-county results, click here.
NEWS: ELECTIONS
McIntosh referendum set for January
A public vote on a controversial McIntosh County zoning issue is back on the calendar. Probate Court Judge Harold Webster on Friday set a Jan. 20, 2026, date for the county’s referendum on zoning that would allow larger houses in the Gullah-Geechee enclave of Hogg Hummock, as Kathleen Russell of The Darien News reports. The 2024 referendum on the same issue was shut down mid-vote by a legal challenge from the county. But the Georgia Supreme Court in September ruled that referendum could move forward. Read Judge Webster’s order here.
NEWS: ENVIRONMENT
Terrapin study queued up
The Georgia Board of Natural Resources last week rejected a petition to protect diamondback terrapins from crab pots, but state wildlife experts will conduct a coastwide survey of the species and study methods to protect it. Terrapins are vulnerable to drowning in crab pots, and their slow maturation and low egg-laying rate make them especially susceptible to population decline, as Georgia Recorder‘s Ross Williams reports. They are the only type of turtle that lives in the salt marsh and are found in every Coastal Georgia county.
Also noted
The extreme intensity of Hurricane Melissa as it hit Jamaica last week has meteorologists and climate scientists talking again about the need to extend the hurricane wind scale to include a Category 6, as Marshall Shepherd, director of the University of Georgia’s Atmospheric Sciences Program and a former NASA scientist, discusses in Forbes.
Guide for healthy fish dishes: Healthy Coastal Neighborhoods has launched a new set of resources for consuming seafood in the Golden Isles. The new guides include a mobile-friendly website, a printed pamphlet, and a local cookbook. Cooks can quickly check consumption guidelines based on where seafood was caught. All recommendations are based on data from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which regularly tests fish for contaminants in Glynn County waters and across the state.
The wildlife residents at the Oatland Island Wildlife Center, 711 Sandtown Rd, Savannah, would love your leftover Halloween pumpkins. Drop off clean, uncarved pumpkins (no paint, glitter, bleach, or candle wax) from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. by the bench in the back circle at the center. Already carved your pumpkin? Find a neighbor with backyard chickens, which can safely make a meal of pumpkins as long as they have not yet begun to mold or rot.
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Democrats flip two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission
Democrats Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson have won two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, defeating two Republican incumbents and marking the first time the Democratic Party has won a statewide constitutional office in Georgia since 2006.
Brunswick mayor wins re-election in a landslide
Cosby Johnson won re-election as Brunswick Mayor with over 70% of the vote, and is committed to continuing his work on economic development, infrastructure, and homeownership, as well as passing the city’s homestead exemption.
Election results, Nov. 4, 2025
Results from cities, counties across Coastal Georgia.
Georgia will research imperiled diamondback terrapin but declines to require protections
The Georgia Board of Natural Resources has rejected a petition to protect diamondback terrapins from crab pots, but state wildlife experts will conduct a statewide survey and study methods for protecting the species.
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