Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for December 18, 2015

Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley who founded Methodism, and one of the great hymn-writers, was born on December 18, 1707. Wesley accompanied James Oglethorpe to Georgia in 1736.

The first national day of thanksgiving was observed on December 18, 1777 commemorating the American victory over the British at Saratoga the previous month.

Congress wrote, “It is therefore recommended to the Legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES, to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for solemn THANKSGIVING and PRAISE; That at one Time and with one Voice the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor”.

On December 18, 1834, Governor William Lumpkin signed legislation chartering the Georgia Methodists Conference Manual Labor School at Oxford, Georgia, which would later become Emory College in 1836 and Emory University in 1915.

On December 18, 1865, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward issued a statement verifying the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery in the United States.

The office of Superintendent of Public Education and Georgia Schools was created on December 18, 1866 when Gov. Charles Jenkins signed legislation passed by the General Assembly; on December 18, 1894, Gov. William Atkinson approved a resolution for a Constitutional Amendment to make the State School Commissioner elected statewide.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

If you’re heading to the Ted Cruz rally in Cobb County tonight, the time has changed – doors will now open at 6 PM and the program starts at 7 PM. Times for the Cruz event on Saturday in Bloomingdale, GA are unchanged.

Former Donald Trump staffer Seth Weathers has started a SuperPAC to support Trump turn out crazy unconventional voters.

Voters in Sumter County will decide whether to allow Sunday sales of alcohol at the same time they vote for President on March 1, 2016.

This morning at 10 AM, JaNice Van Ness will be sworn-in ceremonially at the Georgia State Capitol. Newsmax takes a look at the race, the first national media mention I’ve seen of it.

Republican JaNice Van Ness won a special election for the Georgia state Senate on Dec. 1. What’s remarkable is the district is heavily Democratic and gave Barack Obama 72 percent of its vote in 2012.

Coming in a district that is also roughly 56 percent black, the win of Rockdale County Commissioner Van Ness (who is white) was not only surprising but unique and even historic.

“If there is any national message here, I hope it will be that if people educate themselves on the issues, you can achieve change — and every vote counts,” said Van Ness, who won by a mere 84 votes out of more than 7,400 cast.

Van Ness (who was formerly Rockdale County GOP chairman) told me how she believed “if ever we had an chance to elect a conservative [to the Senate], it was in a special election. I also felt my involvement in the community with a diverse group of people would provide the outreach we needed to win.”

A small business owner and member of the Rockdale Baptist Church, Van Ness is unabashedly pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, and pro-Second Amendment.

“And, as a 25-year member of our local Chamber of Commerce, I stressed how the unaffordable Affordable Care Act [the official name for Obamacare] was putting some serious challenges to the work of small business owners like me,” she added.

The Republican State Leadership Committee weighed in strongly for her.

“JaNice Van Ness’ special election win this month was the embodiment of the RSLC’s philosophy that a candidate makes a district competitive, not the other way around,” RSLC spokesperson Ellie Wallace told me, “Her victory in a district President Obama carried with 72 per cent of the vote proves that the candidate who shows voters the right ideas with the right experience to move that district in the right direction is the one who will prevail.”