April 19, 2022
Kemp and Perdue buck worrying trend
Incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp and his main Republican challenger, former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, are scheduled to face off this Sunday in the first of three debates ahead of the May 24 Republican primary. This weekend’s debate, on Atlanta’s WSB-TV, will be followed by a second on Savannah’s WTOC on April 28 and a third, three days later, sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting.
For the moment at least, the two candidates seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination have taken a stand against what appears to be a gathering trend: foregoing debates or, if you like, debate dodging.
The Republican National Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates, calling them biased in favor of Democrats.
In Georgia, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker appears to have decided it is best to forego any debate with his five opponents until the general election campaign. With a commanding lead in opinion polls tracking his nomination bid, Walker apparently has decided that debating his opponents can only hurt, not help, him.
Writes Politico’s David Siders, “Republican candidates this year are increasingly ducking out of primary debates or demanding greater control over the terms than ever before, raising questions about the future of an institution that has long been a central part of American campaigns.”
There are three big factors behind the shunning of debates: (1) “The media — a traditional arbiter of many debates — is so reviled by Republican primary voters that campaigns now recognize there may be more to gain from criticizing the process than participating.” (2) “There’s also been a surge in self-funding and celebrity candidates in 2022, whose inexperience at debating and fears of campaign-ending missteps may be leading them to dodge debates altogether.” (3) “Then there’s the shadow of Trump, whose complaints that debates are rigged is now the party line, with the RNC throwing the prospect of presidential debates in two years into question.”
The answer to intra-party discord: Barbecue
Ahead of Easter and Passover, a Republican booster in southeast Georgia did his part to bring both sides of his warring party together at his annual cookout to honor firefighters and law enforcement and emergency services personnel from across the state.
Gov. Brian Kemp was at Wayne Dasher’s annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Cookout in Glennville, which resumed after a two-year hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic. So were other candidates facing Trump-backed hopefuls in the May 24 Republican primary, Secretary of State Brian Raffensberger and Attorney General Chris Carr.
Also feasting on barbecue chicken and Brunswick stew at Dasher’s pond house were Herschel Walker and Gary Black. Days earlier, Walker had spurned an invitation to debate Black, his main opponent to represent the Republican Party in the U.S. Senate contest against Sen. Raphael Warnock in November.
Carr, the attorney general, was in Savannah earlier Thursday to discuss a new anti-gang prosecution unit with law enforcement officials from Chatham, Effingham and Liberty counties, as well as Chatham District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones and a deputy U.S. attorney general.
The goal of the unit, which the Georgia General Assembly established earlier this month, is to help the state’s largely autonomous police forces organize across county and jurisdictional lines to better fight gangs. The unit will operate out of the attorney general’s office and be staffed by 12 prosecutors.
“We want it to supercharge our ability to fight gangs,” Carr told The Current’s Margaret Coker.
Carter predicts ‘red tsunami’
Everyone knows midterm elections are never kind to the president’s party, which traditionally loses seats in Congress. But last week, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents Coastal Georgia in the U.S. House, went one step further.
“We really are looking at what we think will be a red tsunami coming up in November,” Carter told a group of Skidaway Island Republicans, predicting that the GOP could pick up as many as 37 seats in the House this November. The reason, the Pooler Republican said, is Joe Biden’s approval rating, which is the second lowest of any president’s at this point in their presidency since modern polling came into use.
In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Rep. Fred Upton did not forecast a Republican deluge in November but he did parse the numbers and their implications for the Republican caucus in House. The Michigan Republican said Sunday that the GOP would need to win at least 230 seats to cancel out Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) and those Republicans like her who, he suggested, are more interested in grandstanding than governing. Currently, Democrats hold a 221-209 majority in the House.
“It’s very hard to govern for Republicans if we’re under 230, knowing that we’ve got the MTG element that’s really not a part of a governing majority,” Upton said.”
Host Chuck Todd asked Upton what that said about the Republican Party today.
“Troubled waters, I guess you could say.”
Upton, the Michigan congressman, was among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection. He announced his retirement earlier this month after being drawn into a new district that would put him in a primary race with a Republican lawmaker endorsed by Trump.
Greene lost her committee assignments due to her apparent support for violence against Democrats prior to her election to the House. However, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has already promised she will get them back if the GOP regains control of the House in November.
Money, money, money
When we last heard, Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign war chest totaled $25.6 million. It appears he’ll need it.
The Mitch McConnell-connected Senate Leadership Fund will inject $37 million into the Georgia Senate race this fall to take back Warnock’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
The infusion of cash is part of a $141 million ad buy that will start in September to protect Republican seats in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as well as take Democratic-held seats in Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada, Politico quoted the fund on Monday as saying.
Georgia is the leading recipient of the fund’s largesse, followed by $27 million in North Carolina, $24 million in Pennsylvania, $15 million each in Nevada and Wisconsin and $14 million in Arizona.
Warnock took in $13.6 million over the first three months of the year, ending the quarter with $25.6 million in the bank for the campaign, his campaign said last week. During the same period, his likely Republican opponent in November, Herschel Walker, brought in $5.5 million, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Walker has raised $14.6 million since announcing his run and has close to $7.4 million in cash, the AP quoted his spokesperson Mallory Blount as saying. In other fundraising news, Donald Trump’s Save America PAC gave $500,000 to the anti-Kemp Get Georgia Right Super PAC on March 25, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Ask the people of Glynn County
Referenda were the topic of debate at a Republican candidate forum in Brunswick on Thursday, reports Gordon Jackson in the Brunswick News.
Glynn County Commission candidates Jane Fraser, Thomas “Bo” Clark, and David Sweat agreed on the need for a non-binding referendum on consolidating city and county services, though Fraser said she was wary about placing too much responsibility for preserving public safety in the hands of one person. She noted that several Georgia sheriffs have been removed from office in recent years for abusing their authority.
The three candidates diverged sharply over a referendum for a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST). Fraser said she opposed it, while Sweat said visitors, not locals, would bear the brunt of the levy. “We are blessed to have a place so many people want to visit,” the newspaper quoted Sweat as saying.
‘Power of the Pen’
The “Power of the Pen,” a documentary on the repeal of Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law in 2021, will be screened Tuesday, April 19, at 6:30 p.m. on the campus of Savannah State University.
The story of the law’s repeal — and the 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick that spurred it — was written by Rep. Carl Gilliard (D-District 162) and edited by Kareem McMichael, online content manager in SSU’s department of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Gilliard, who narrates the film, co-sponsored the legislation that repealed the citizen’s arrest law, which was passed in 1863 to “essentially lynch people legally,” he said.
“I decided to use the power of legislation to find a way to do something about this law,” Gilliard said.
The screening, sponsored by SSU, the SSU Student Government Association, and the Gilliard Foundation, will be held at the Torian Auditorium in the College of Business Administration, Howard Jordan building. It is free and open to the public.
Voter registration in Chatham County
The deadline for registering to vote in the May 24 primary election is April 25, the Chatham County Board of Registrars said Monday. Registration can be carried by mail, in person, or online. Absentee ballots can be requested until Friday, May 13. Early advanced voting begins May 2 and ends May 20, the board announced.
For the locations for early/advance voting, absentee ballots and other registration information, click here, phone (912) 790-1520, or visit the Board of Registrars’ main office at 1117 Eisenhower Drive, Suite E.
Got questions for candidates?
If you’ve got a questions for the Democratic candidates for Georgia’s First District Congressional seat, send them to us at this link. We’ll add them to our list to consider for our forum at 6 p.m. April 26 from Savannah State University.
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