Third parties back Georgia GOP’s bid to quash election interference case

Today’s newsletter highlights:

Geoff Duncan holds his first campaign event as a Democrat.
Democrats launch campaign push in Public Service Commission races.
Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director testifies before a Senate panel.

Coming together

Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office

Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office

A Georgia Supreme Court ruling left Fulton County’s election interference case against President Donald Trump and his allies on life support. Now the Georgia Republican Party wants to gut what’s left of the case.

Josh McKoon, the party’s chair, joined with the leaders of the state Libertarian and Constitution parties to demand prosecutors drop charges against three Republican electors indicted in the case.

In a rare joint statement, the three party leaders said they disagree on many issues but are “united in the belief” that the GOP electors acted lawfully. They also called the indictment a “wrongful act.”

The charges target three of the 16 GOP presidential electors who met in December 2020 to cast their votes for Trump even though Democrat Joe Biden won the state. They are: Shawn Still, an activist later elected to the state Senate; then-GOP chair David Shafer; and Cathy Latham, the former Coffee County Republican Party chair.

Each has maintained their innocence, and the state party has helped finance their legal fees.

The electors argue their vote was needed to preserve Trump’s ability to return to office if he succeeded in overturning Biden’s win in court. Prosecutors say they were part of a broader illegal scheme to pressure state legislators to overturn a legitimate election.

Things to know

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Good morning! Georgia’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.4% in August, the Georgia Department of Labor announced this morning. That’s lower than the national unemployment rate of 4.3%.

Here are three other things to know for today:

A rural hospital is closing its labor and delivery unit, saying its precarious finances could not weather further funding cuts in President Donald Trump’s new tax and spending law, the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman reports.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the TV host turned administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told an Atlanta health care conference on Wednesday that he’s hiring, the AJC’s Ariel Hart reports.
Dublin City Schools owes close to $7 million in unpaid health benefits and must make substantial cuts in order to keep operating, the AJC’s Cassidy Alexander reports.

Campaign trail

Credit: Patricia Murphy/AJC

Former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan kicked off his campaign for governor on Wednesday with his first-ever event as a Democrat. To get things started, he headed to the Black Coffee Company, a Black-owned business in South Atlanta, where he ordered black coffee.

It wasn’t a rally or even a speech, but instead a chance for Duncan to chat up customers in the same spot that has hosted Stacey Abrams, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and plenty of Atlanta City Council members in the past.

Duncan didn’t seem to get any hard “yes” votes with the visit that we could tell, but he did leave plenty of people open to considering him in the Democratic primary down the road.

“I think he was a breath of fresh air,” said Jamin Butler, president of the business. “He’s the only candidate who has come here so far, and I think that says something.”

Speaking to reporters afterward, Duncan dismissed comments from fellow Democratic candidates who said he’s not really a Democrat.

“Well, I’m not focused on them. I’m focused on the 11 million Georgians. I’m trying to deliver them, deliver a platform that focuses on their issues,” he said.

And he said he’s the best person to take on Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the Republican who’s President Donald Trump’s preferred candidate.

“Burt Jones is going to have to explain Donald Trump, and good luck with that.”

Democrats’ push

With just a month to go until early voting begins in the statewide Public Service Commission elections, Georgia Democrats are rolling out a full-court press for their candidates, Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson.

The Democratic Party of Georgia unveiled an unusually robust organizing push for a down-ballot, off-cycle contest — a sign of how much is at stake in the races that shape the state’s utility and energy policies.

Democrats are hoping that upset victories against Republican incumbents Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson build momentum heading into next year’s midterm elections, when U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and other statewide officials are on the ballot.

The plan includes twice-weekly volunteer phone banks targeting likely voters and training sessions for local activists to run door-to-door canvassing in their communities.

Bring it

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Competitive Georgia, a deep-pocketed conservative booster group, is launching an ad blitz backing Republican Jason Dickerson in Tuesday’s state Senate special election runoff for a GOP-leaning suburban district.

The ads link Democrat Debra Shigley to liberal politicians such as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

The group spent millions last session supporting Gov. Brian Kemp’s litigation overhaul, and leaders say they’ll continue to play aggressively in state legislative races.

Shigley, a community advocate and former attorney, was the leading vote-getter in a seven-candidate special election to succeed former Republican state Sen. Brandon Beach.

Though the GOP is still favored to hold a district stretching across parts of north Fulton and Cherokee counties, the race is being closely watched as a test of whether Democrats can compete in Atlanta’s fast-changing northern suburbs — and as an early gauge of both parties’ strategies heading into 2026.

No call

Credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP

Susan Monarez’s testimony before a U.S. Senate committee demonstrated the frayed relationship she had with the Trump administration’s senior officials throughout her brief tenure as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One detail that stood out to us: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not call Monarez in the hours and days after a gunman fired nearly 200 shots at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters on Aug. 8.

“I did not speak to the secretary on the eighth or any successive days. I didn’t speak to the secretary until Aug. 11 when he came down to visit,” Monarez said.

“Are you telling me the secretary of Health and Human Services failed to even give you a courtesy call upon learning employees there had been shot at?” U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., asked.

“He did not call me,” Monarez replied.

U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., questioned her motives, suggesting she hired attorneys before the Trump administration fired her. Monarez said she couldn’t remember when she hired them.

“I think you might have an honesty issue here,” Mullin said.

Ethics complaint

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Democrats and Republicans on the Fulton County Commission have clashed over whether to appoint two Republicans to the local election board. Now, Democratic Commissioner Dana Barrett isn’t just disagreeing with her Republican colleagues — she has lodged an ethics complaint against one of them.

Barrett on Wednesday said Republican Commissioner Bridget Thorne implied in a statement earlier this month that she will control GOP nominees Julie Adams and Jason Frazier if they are appointed to the election board.

In Barrett’s complaint, she cited Thorne as saying, “If Jason and Julie did anything that was illegal or harmful or falsely removed anybody, I’d be the first person to correct them. And they would take that correction.”

Barrett said the suggestion that a commissioner can direct the actions of the election board “raises grave concerns about the improper exercise of influence over independent officials expected to operate free of external political pressure, especially from members of the body that appointed them.”

The Democratic majority has refused to appoint Adams and Frazier multiple times, saying they unqualified to serve on the board. Adams voted against certifying last year’s primary election. Frazier has challenged the registrations of thousands of voters.

Last month, a Fulton County judge found the commission in contempt of court for defying his order that they appoint the GOP nominees. Senior Superior Court Judge David Emerson imposed $10,000 daily fines on the commission. But the fines have been paused while the commission appeals.

Listen up

Credit: AJC file photo

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we analyze Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s entrance into the already crowded governor’s race. Then immigration attorney Charles Kuck joins the show to discuss the aftermath of the immigration raid on the Hyundai plant near Savannah. Kuck represents several of the Korean workers who were detained.

You can listen and subscribe to Politically Georgia for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

Getting closer

Credit: Screenshot

Former Atlantan Bill White got one step closer to being U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced his nomination by a party-line vote of 11-10.

Although nominations have been a sticking point for the full Senate lately, White’s nomination is already up for a cloture vote by the full chamber, meaning he could be packing his bags for Brussels by the end of the month.

The same committee met with former Georgia football star Herschel Walker last week but hasn’t yet voted on whether to advance his nomination to serve as ambassador to the Bahamas.

Today in Washington

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Happenings:

President Donald Trump met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the final day of his overseas trip.
The House is scheduled to vote on energy policy legislation and a resolution honoring the life of Charlie Kirk.
The Senate could vote on a list of Trump’s nominations.

Shoutouts

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Today’s birthday:

Former state Rep. Mike Coan, economic development administrator for Barrow County. He recently was the executive director of the State Election Board.

Milestone:

James A. Scott is now the fourth person statewide to achieve critical infrastructure assessor program basic level certification from the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.

Before you go

The state Ethics Commission sanctioned five of the seven candidates who ran in a special Georgia state Senate election earlier this month for failing to disclose personal financial information.

That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.

AJC reporter Caleb Groves contributed to this report.

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