We said earlier that Secretary of State Brian Kemp would be playing to rural Georgia in the 2018 gubernatorial election, probably hoping to recreate Donald Trump’s path to victory in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. After rolling out his “Georgia First” campaign message, it looks like he is on to phase two on his plan:
It’s been a long time coming. Over seven years in fact. Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle is trying to “drop the lieutenant from his title” and become the next governor of Georgia. On Sunday afternoon, Cagle made official what everyone has known for quite some time. He announced his 2018 gubernatorial bid at the Gwinnett Infinite
According to an article in the Ledger-Enquirer earlier today, one of Columbus’ two city-wide Council members is looking at a run for Mayor. Skip Henderson, a 20- year veteran on the Columbus City Council, won reelection last year with 59% against a local attorney. “If we decide to do this, we have to jump in pretty
Dick Yarbrough is the latest to weigh in on the debacle that killed Rep. Bert Reeves’ adoption law update on the last day of the 2017 session of the Georgia General Assembly. His words aren’t kind, nor should they be. I’ve seen us lose more good and necessary legislation (locally and federally) to purposefully-toxic amendments than I
In 2015, the Georgia General Assembly reworked seventeen House districts’ boundaries through H.B. 566. A lawsuit filed Monday alleges that the changes in Districts 105 and 111 violate the Voting Rights Act because lawmakers diluted black voting strength with the changes in order to protect incumbents. The suit asks a three-judge panel to review the changes and
The Republican race to replace Secretary of State Brian Kemp is beginning to heat up. Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle issued a press release announcing his candidacy for Secretary of State in 2018. You may recall that our current Secretary of State is seeking to be Georgia’s next governor. Mayor Belle Isle will be joining
In the not so distant past, Democrats held an iron grip on the governor’s office in Georgia. There was an unbroken string of Democratic governors in Georgia from Benjamin Conley in 1872 to Roy Barnes in 2002. Sure, these weren’t the types of Democrats you see now. Most were very conservative, although some statewide Democrats
A couple of weeks ago I previewed the need to get the issues of rural Georgia into the 2018 statewide campaigns. The plight of rural Georgia affects us all, as policy decisions made in Atlanta (and often influenced by the 55% of the state that live in “Atlanta”) make a disproportional impact in that other
Brian Kemp and Casey Cagle are two Republicans who are definitely running for governor next year. Other possible contenders include Speaker of the House David Ralston, state senators Michael Williams, Hunter Hill, Josh McKoon, and Burt Jones, state representative Allen Peake, former congressmen Lynn Westmoreland and Jack Kingston, and political operative Nick Ayers. I will
It looks like Brian Kemp has company. The AJC is reporting that Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle has filed papers to run for governor in 2018. Cagle and Kemp are the only Republicans who are running so far (more analysis on this matchup is coming soon). No Democrats have announced yet, but House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams
