It’s been another wild year in Georgia politics, with President Donald Trump moving back into the White House, Marjorie Taylor Greene quitting Congress and enough flipped elections to make the whole country pay attention.
At the end of a year full of highs and lows, it’s time to give out my second annual “Cookie and Coal Awards” for Georgia politics. The Cookie awards recognize outstanding achievements in governance, relevance or sheer political survival. The lumps of coal go to those for whom even Santa would say need to make better choices next year.
This year’s list has a few repeat achievers or offenders, depending on where you sit. Here’s how 2025 stacked up.
The cookies go to:
The Democratic Party of Georgia
Credit: Daniel Varnado for the AJC
Credit: Daniel Varnado for the AJC
After a disastrous 2024 and no obvious way out of the wilderness, the state Democratic Party limped into 2025 with low spirits and despondent members.
But a leadership change at the top installed Charlie Bailey as the full-time party leader, taking over for U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams. The Atlanta Democrat’s full-time job in Congress had limited her time and duties for the party, to members’ great frustration.
Bailey started his tenure with what he described to skeptics as a plan to win statewide in 2025, specifically by flipping two Public Service Commission seats that had been held by Republicans for decades.
Sure enough, Democrats used a go-everywhere strategy and a single message of affordability to not just flip the seats but to win in a 26-point rout. Democrats also posted a closer-than-expected loss in a special election in Cherokee County and then flipped a state House seat near Athens. The results not only narrowed Republicans’ state House majority but also sent Georgia Democrats into next year’s midterm election with high hopes and armloads of data for what worked for them in a year when few expected good news.
Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Georgia Republicans suffered multiple false starts and failures this year (see lumps of coal), but their party chair, Josh McKoon, has been a steady presence at the top. While previous chairs have stoked internal divisions and even gotten into hot water themselves, McKoon has managed to keep the state party out of the heat of the increasingly warring factions of the GOP.
McKoon steered the party through the conclusion of the Trump 2020 election interference case and has himself been a mostly no-drama presence in a party full of it.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
The Atlanta mayor had a rocky 2024, including high-profile battles over the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center and a communications breakdown over burst water mains in some of the city’s busiest neighborhoods.
But he made it through his entire election year in 2025 without ever drawing a serious challenger. On Election Day, Dickens finished with more than 80% of the vote.
In a city full of ambitious politicians, Dickens’ feat of running mostly unopposed while also raising more than $4 million for his reelection campaign, speaks to his strength at the ballot box.
The mayor has plenty of challenges ahead in his second term, but getting elected this year was not one of them.
The Caregivers
Credit: Daniel Varnado for the AJC
Credit: Daniel Varnado for the AJC
It’s a cliche to say that a politician is resigning to spend more time with his or her family. But 2025 will go down as the year when multiple potential top candidates took themselves out of contention in order to attend to a loved one’s needs.
Former state Sen. Jason Carter made it known that he would not consider a run for governor so that he could be with his family as his wife battles cancer. Likewise, U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath suspended her Democratic bid governor after her husband received a serious health diagnosis.
Democratic State Rep. Shelly Hutchison resigned her seat in the state House to be a caregiver to a family member, while Atlanta City Council President Doug Shipman decided against reelection because of a health need in his family, too.
You have the sense that these would have been exactly the leaders voters would want, selfless and family-focused, but those are the same attributes taking them out of politics for now.
The year in politics has delivered plenty of low points, too.
The lumps of coal go to:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Although Hegseth is not a Georgian, he made his mark early this year by returning Columbus’ Fort Moore to its original name of Fort Benning. Not only had the Army recently spent $5 million to rename the base for famed Vietnam veteran Lt. Col. Hal Moore and his wife, Julia, but Hegseth used a sleight of hand to resurrect the Benning name that originally honored avowed white supremacist and Confederate Gen. Henry Benning. As I wrote in my column at the time, the Army can do so much better than the Benning name. By honoring Hal and Julia Moore, they already had.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Last year ended on a low note for DA Willis when her office was disqualified from the Trump election interference case as a result of her own personal behavior.
This year brought the final blow to the Trump case when the state prosecutor overseeing the selection of a new DA recommended dismissing the case altogether. With the entire case now thrown out, significant misconduct following the 2020 elections in Georgia, including violent harassment of poll workers and an unauthorized breach of voting equipment in Coffee County, may never be punished.
The Georgia GOP
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Georgia Republicans lost two statewide PSC races and dropped a state House seat due in large part to meddled messaging, a MAGA-first focus and unenthused voters. Add personnel scandals, two crowded statewide primary races for governor and Senate, along with warnings of losses ahead coming from their own members, and the state party has some serious work to do to right the ship ahead of the midterm elections.
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