Special Election Day – June 17, 2025
Good Morning! In the news today, voters go to the polls to choose candidates for the state’s Public Service Commission; no split-screen moment for the Savannah City Council; Georgia’s attorney general chastises Savannah city leaders over crime rate; and we note five things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
NEWS: ELECTIONS
Today’s vote: Electric rates, energy policy
It’s special election day in Coastal Georgia, as voters go to the polls to decide on two candidates for two seats on the state’s Public Service Commission. As The Current’s environment reporter, Mary Landers, writes, the commission determines how much millions of Georgians pay for electricity and the future of energy-guzzling data centers in the state.
At a candidate forum in Savannah last week, all three challengers for a seat on the commission called for more toughness with Georgia Power, especially after cost overruns at nuclear-powered Plant Vogtle have contributed to six rate hikes since late 2022, Landers wrote in a dispatch from the forum.
At the close of early voting on Friday, turnout in Coastal Georgia was very low. For instance, in Chatham County only 1,526 voters had cast ballots in-person, and only 194 absentee ballots had been returned out of the county’s 242,494 registered voters.
For more coverage of the PSC and what’s at stake for Coastal Georgians, click here. Most polls in Coastal Georgia will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. but double-check your county’s election board website for hours and voting locations. Check thecurrentga.org tonight for results.
NEWS: GOVERNING
No split-screen moment
With celebrations marking the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday in Washington and anti-Trump demonstrations in Coastal Georgia and elsewhere in the state and nation, last weekend generated what media organizations habitually now refer to as “split-screen moments” illustrating a divided, polarized nation.
At last week’s meeting of the Savannah City Council, however, there was no talk of split screens or division. Instead, the talk was of gratitude and vivid illustrations of unity.
Mayor Van Johnson read a city proclamation honoring the U.S. Army on its birthday and singled out for commendation Alderwoman Alicia Miller Blakely, Police Chief Lenny Gunther and other Army veterans who are now officials in the city government.
Lt. Col. Derick S. Taylor, commander of US Army Garrison at Hunter Army Airfield, accepted the proclamation on behalf of the Army and the 23,500 soldiers based in Coastal Georgia and the 20,000 Army veterans live here. “I’ve said it before, and I am on record that Savannah is the most military friendly community in all of America,” Taylor said.
The next item on the council’s agenda was Johnson’s reading of a city proclamation recognizing Pride Month, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a milestone in the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. “Let us reaffirm Savannah commitment to equity, love and belonging for every person, every family,” the mayor read.
Accepting the proclamation on behalf of the city’s LGBTQ+ community was Pam Miller. “I’ve always been extremely pleased with the leadership of Savannah and your willingness to work with our community to make Savannah one of the most genuinely warm and welcoming places for gay people to live, which is why it’s growing so much,” Miller told Johnson and the council.
NEWS: POLITICS
Carr, crime data and actual numbers
In a sign that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr will make law-and-order a centerpiece of his run for governor next year, Georgia’s Republican attorney has singled out Savannah city leaders for being soft on crime.
In an op-ed Monday in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Carr cited a weekend of horrific gun violence in May in which four people were killed to chastise Mayor Van Johnson and District Attorney Shalena Cook-Jones for measures he said ignore the “root causes of crime” and follow a “familiar pattern that erodes accountability and fuels violent crime.”
The Current’s data reporter, Maggie Lee, notes, however, that Carr’s use of statistics in his attempted beatdown of Savannah officials is misleading and erroneous.
“Carr used a tragic, rare occurrence — four shootings in a weekend — and cited crime statistics for his claim that Savannah’s leaders are soft-on-crime. In fact, the reported rate of violent crimes tracked by the FBI, including murder and aggravated assault, have fallen by half in a generation nationwide and continue around those new, lower levels. And in 2023, The Current reported on a seven-year slide in Savannah’s homicide count.
“Yes, counts of some crimes can go up or down over a year or a few years,” Lee says. “But the real picture is far more complex than one hand-picked weekend.”
NEWS: POLITICS
5 things for your radar
- The Savannah City Council approved a revised agreement with a private philanthropic group dedicated to raising money for Forsyth Park, in details spelled out by The Current’s Margaret Coker.
- It also approved a new ordinance barring urban camping, The Current’s Lily Belle Poling reports.
- The Georgia Municipal Association gathers at the Savannah Convention Center on Friday for its six-day annual convention.
- Following two alleged incidents of police brutality, the Savannah Police Department is revising its use-of-force policies, The Current’s Tyler Davis writes.
- The Bryan County Commission has appointed County Administrator Ben Taylor, Commissioner Gene Wallace and Marty Daniel to the newly established Richmond Hill-Bryan County Airport Authority. Ultimately, the authority will have 11 members.
- Chatham County Commissioner Pat Farrell (District 4) today formally announces his candidacy for the 1st District Congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who’s running for U.S. Senate. Forest City Gun Club, 9203 Ferguson Ave., in Savannah. The proceedings begin at 5:30 p.m. (912) 659-7211.
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