Presidential Primary Day, March 12, 2024
Good morning! It’s presidential primary day in Georgia. Polls will be open across the state until 7 p.m. On the Republican ballot will be Donald Trump and 10 (former) opponents; on the Democratic ballot will be Joe Biden and 2 (former) opponents. 🗳️ Please vote if you haven’t already!
With candidate qualifying now over, we start today with races in Coastal Georgia that caught our eye and then look at one drama in today’s primary. Finally, we look at the political back-and-forth over the killing of Laken Riley.
Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
The stage is set
With Georgia’s candidate qualifying period now over, the outlines of Coastal Georgia’s primary elections in May and the general election in November have come into focus.
Some candidate lists for Coastal Georgia counties are still being processed, but The Current has compiled those county lists using the secretary of state’s office and the individual county list as they are available. To see who qualified in your county, click here.
What stands out from the candidate lists are the large number of incumbents running uncontested in the May primary or the November general election — or both.
That’s because gerrymandering and the large amount of money are required to run an effective political campaign. Hateful rhetoric and scrutiny by one’s opponent and the media are other reasons: Politics has always been a contact sport; now it’s a demolition derby.
But it also strikes us that committees representing Republicans and Democrats up and down the coast have done a poor job of recruiting candidates.
That said, in the weeks ahead we’ll be highlighting key races in the region. Some in Chatham County have already caught our attention. Here are some others:
In Glynn County, vying for the county commission’s district 2 seat, which includes St. Simons and Sea Island, will be Republicans Amy Abbott, Bob Duncan, and George T. Ragsdale. With no Democrat entering the race, the winner of the May 21 Republican primary is guaranteed the seat being vacated by Cap Fendig, who decided against seeking reelection.
The commission’s at-large, post 2 seat also is up for grabs in May’s Republican primary. Running for a place on the November ballot alongside independent candidate Laura Khurana will be incumbent Walter Rafolski and challengers Elizabeth Atkins and Julian “Puddy” Smith. No Democrat filed to contest the seat.
[Full disclosure: Khurana and Smith are donors to The Current; Ragsdale is a past one.]
Another notable Brunswick-area race is the Republican primary for district attorney pitting incumbent Keith Higgins against former prosecutor John B. Johnson, whose conduct in office was controversial, The Current’s public safety reporter, Jake Shore, has written.
Shore tells us he’s closely watching the races for sheriff in McIntosh and Chatham. The former, between Republican Chris Mitchell and Democrat Thornell TK King, is a contest for the only open sheriff’s seat in Coastal Georgia.
The latter pits the incumbent, Republican John T. Wilcher, against Democrats Richard Coleman or Kevin L. Burns, both of whom have criticized Wilcher’s oversight of the county jail.
No primary suspense? Ask Kemp.
In the next 24 hours, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are likely to clinch their respective party’s presidential nominations, though that’s likely to happen in the state of Washington or Hawaii, not before midnight here in Georgia.
Unlike the presidential primaries in South Carolina, Michigan and Vermont, Georgia’s primary will tell us little new about the strengths and weaknesses of Biden and Trump as they head into the fall election.
In those three primaries, exit polls and voter turnout numbers provided telling data about voter enthusiasm and what each candidate must do to bolster their strengths and mitigate their liabilities. Not Georgia’s.
But for Georgia voters, especially Republicans, the primary doesn’t lack for suspense.
Just ask Gov. Brian Kemp.
In the wake of Trump’s victory in Georgia, will Kemp endorse the former president? If so, how soon and how forcefully?
The governor already has said he will “support the party’s nominee,” but plainly he is no fan of Trump and has so far refused to endorse Trump by name.
Kemp’s equivocating is about to get harder, a Chatham-based veteran political operative explained to The Current yesterday.
If Kemp, the state’s top Republican, explicitly endorses Trump and the former president loses in November, he’ll lose a point of distinction that could prove crucial in a scramble for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028.
Straddling the same fence and facing the same dilemma is Nikki Haley, Kemp’s potential rival for the nomination.
“You can only say ‘I told you so” [in 2028] if you don’t endorse,” the operative said.
Rallying cry
The political back-and-forth over the killing of Laken Riley last month shows no signs of subsiding.
Speaking in Rome on Saturday, Donald Trump said Riley “would be alive today if Joe Biden had not willfully and maliciously eviscerated the borders of the United States and set loose thousands and thousands of dangerous criminals into our country.”
Trump went on: “I will stop the killing. I will stop the bloodshed. I will end the agony of our people, the plunder of our cities, the sacking of our towns, the violation of our citizens and the conquest of our country. These people are conquering our country.”
Showing how Riley’s death has become a rallying cry for Republicans and their frustration with President Biden’s handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, members of Trump’s audience waved signs reading, “Remember our angels.”
Audience members also wore t-shirts bearing the words, “Say her name,” appropriating the slogan that brought the group Black Lives Matter and its grievances over police violence to Black woman to prominence a decade ago.
On Thursday, the day of Biden’s State of the Union address, U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter and other Republican members of the Georgia congressional delegation went to the House floor to introduce the “Laken Riley Act,” which would require the detention of any migrant who committed burglary or theft. The bill passed with the help of 37 Democratic votes.
“Make no mistake about it: If that border had been secure Laken Riley would be alive today,” Carter had earlier told WSAV-TV, echoing Trump.
Commenting on an identically named piece of legislation that passed the state House of Representatives late last month, Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) took pains on Sunday to insist that legislation that the bill had been in the making for a year.
“I also want to be clear that this bill has nothing to do with immigrants,” Petrea told NewsNation. “It is precisely targeted to those illegally in the country who wind up in our jails.”
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Savannah, said Riley’s killing at the hands of an undocumented immigrant was tragic but that Republicans were using it cynically after scuttling a border-security deal.
GOP lawmakers “walked away from this bipartisan legislation — or at least a chance to debate it — and now they’re trying to score political points in the wake of a young woman’s death,” Warnock told CNN on Sunday. “That is craven politics at its worst.”
We want to meet your friends! If you like this newsletter be sure to share it.
With candidates set, Chatham County’s election season gets serious
County commission chair Ellis gets opponent; most races go unopposed as economic boom forces new challenges for leaders.
What is a frozen embryo worth? Alabama’s IVF case reflects bigger questions over grieving, wrongful death laws
It’s important to understand wrongful death laws, legal claims where family members can bring a civil lawsuit against a person who intentionally or carelessly caused the family member’s death, which is different from any criminal charges.
Qualified candidates for 2024 elections in Coastal Georgia
Voters will choose candidates for nonpartisan posts on May 21 when they will choose partisan candidates for Nov. 5 election.
Rivian pauses construction of Georgia EV plant
In exchange for creating 7,500 jobs, state and local economic development agencies offered Rivian $1.5 billion in incentives including tax credits, a 25-year no-cost lease, and $198.1 million in site and road improvements on 1,978 acres.
Georgia House Minority Leader announces he won’t stand for reelection
The retirement of the Macon lawmaker after 14 years serving in the Legislature means that there will be new leadership for both chambers’ Democratic Caucuses.
We want to meet your friends! If you like this newsletter be sure to share it.
Support independent, solutions-based investigative journalism without bias, fear or favor on issues affecting Savannah and Coastal Georgia.
You must be logged in to post a comment.