Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 30, 2025

May is ALS Awareness month. I’ll probably mention it a couple times more this month.

On May 1, 1707, the Act of Union with England, passed by the Scottish Parliament brought together England and Scotland and made the Union Jack the official flag of Great Britain.

George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America in New York City on April 30, 1789. From Washington’s inaugural address:

it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.

In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either.

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.

On April 30, 1803, negotiators from France and the United States finished discussions of the Louisiana Purchase, which would double the size of the country.

By the middle of the 18th century, France controlled more of the modern United States than any other European power: from New Orleans northeast to the Great Lakes and northwest to modern-day Montana. In 1762, during the French and Indian War, France ceded its America territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to Great Britain. Spain, no longer a dominant European power, did little to develop Louisiana Territory during the next three decades. In 1796, Spain allied itself with France, leading Britain to use its powerful navy to cut off Spain from America.In 1801, Spain signed a secret treaty with France to return Louisiana Territory to France.

Reports of the retrocession caused considerable uneasiness in the United States. Since the late 1780s, Americans had been moving westward into the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys, and these settlers were highly dependent on free access to the Mississippi River and the strategic port of New Orleans. U.S. officials feared that France, resurgent under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, would soon seek to dominate the Mississippi River and access to the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. envoys agreed to pay $11,250,000 and assumed claims of its citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000. In exchange, the United States acquired the vast domain of Louisiana Territory, some 828,000 square miles of land. In October, Congress ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France formally transferred authority over the region to the United States. The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was Thomas Jefferson’s most notable achievement as president.

The Second Confederate National Flag was adopted on May 1, 1863.

On April 30, 1886, former Confederate President Jefferson Davis arrived in LaGrange, Georgia for the unveiling of a monument to Benjamin Hill. Earlier that day, he spoke in Newnan, Georgia.

On May 1, 1886, Jefferson Davis visited the Benjamin Hill monument at Peachtree and West Peachtree Streets in Atlanta, having arrived the previous day. On May 2, 1886, Jefferson Davis left Atlanta, headed to Savannah.

Savannah officials had successfully solicited Davis to attend a variety of special ceremonies and events being planned in Savannah. On the way, the train stopped briefly in Forsyth and Macon, where the ex-Confederate president was greeted by crowds and spoke briefly from the back of his train. Although he didn’t leave the train, Davis would return to Macon the following year for a more formal visit.

On May 1, 1971, “Joy to the World,” by Three Dog Night was the #1 song in the nation.

Kennesaw, Georgia City Council adopted an ordinance on May 1, 1982 requiring each household to own a gun and ammunition.

(a) In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore.

(b) Exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who suffer a physical or mental disability which would prohibit them from using such a firearm. Further exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who are paupers or who conscientiously oppose maintaining firearms as a result of beliefs or religious doctrine, or persons convicted of a felony.

On May 1, 1991, Rickey Henderson broke the major league baseball stolen base record on the same day that Nolan Ryan, the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball, recorded his seventh no-hitter.

The official state tartan of Georgia was designated on May 1, 1997.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Today is “No-Kill Awareness Day,” under House Resolution 288 by State Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) and Senate Resolution 105 by State Sen. Carden Summers (R-Cordele).

Donald Trump’s approval is underwater in Georgia but the Democratic Party is submarining. From the AJC:

In a nutshell: Trump is in trouble in the state he just won in November. After 100 days back in the White House, just 43% of Georgia voters approve of the job he’s going, with 55% saying the country is headed down the wrong track.

A majority of Georgia voters said they disapprove of how he has managed the economy, including the sweeping tariffs he has implemented. A majority also disapprove of Trump’s immigration policies, the Department of Government Efficiency — including Elon Musk’s outsize roll in slashing the federal workforce — the president’s approach to NATO, and more.

Although the president’s approval rating is at 43%, when Georgia voters were asked how they feel about the Democratic Party, just 35% said they have a favorable impression, compared to 58% who have an unfavorable impression. More concerning, some of the disapproval is coming from unexpected quarters, with 35% of liberals, 51% of young voters (people 18-29), and 61% of people with a high school degree or less saying they’re down on the Democrats.

Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue supports designation of the Okefenokee Swamp as a World Heritage site, according to the AJC.

Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was chosen by President Joe Biden’s administration to be nominated for a spot on the United Nations’ World Heritage List, a honor reserved for the planet’s most iconic natural and cultural treasures.

Now, as President Donald Trump shakes up the federal government, his former agriculture secretary is urging the new administration to support the Okefenokee’s bid.

In a letter dated April 17, Sonny Perdue — the two term Georgia governor and now chancellor of the University System of Georgia — wrote Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to lay out his case for the Trump administration to support the nomination.

In the letter, written on Board of Regents letterhead, Perdue called Trump a “champion” of clean air and water, as well as a successful businessperson who “understands the need to support our local and rural economies.”

“This designation truly is the best of both worlds and will support our environment and local economy in Southeast Georgia for generations to come,” Perdue wrote.

There are 1,223 sites globally with World Heritage designation, including 26 in the U.S. If selected, the Okefenokee would join renowned sites like Yellowstone National Park, Peru’s Machu Picchu and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The refuge has also been at the center of an intense fight over a titanium mine planned near its southeastern edge. The mine, which has faced stiff opposition from environmental groups, is waiting on final approval from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

Perdue stressed the ecological importance of the refuge, plus the economic jolt he said the designation could bring to rural areas around the swamp.

Some estimate the Okefenokee could see annual visitors double to 1.6 million if it adds the World Heritage label to its résumé. The chancellor also referenced a study commissioned by The Conservation Fund, which found the tourism influx could create 750 long-term jobs and add $60 million to the economies of nearby counties.
“This is a rare opportunity to celebrate our natural heritage and create meaningful economic opportunities for rural Southeast Georgia,” Perdue wrote.

Former United States Senator David Perdue (R-SSI) was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador to China, according to the Associated Press.

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed former Sen. David Perdue as ambassador to China, just as the U.S. and China are locked in a tariff showdown that threatens to redefine diplomatic relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Perdue, a Republican who served one term as a U.S. senator from Georgia, was confirmed 67-29 with some Democratic support. At his confirmation hearing this month, the former business executive called the U.S. relationship with China the “most consequential diplomatic challenge of the 21st century.”

“Our approach to China should be nuanced, nonpartisan and strategic,” Perdue said.

President Donald Trump, who selected Perdue in December, slapped 145% tariffs on Chinese goods this month, and Beijing retaliated by charging 125% tariffs on U.S. products, with no sign for any immediate climbdown.

Perdue will arrive in a China that is increasingly challenging U.S. global dominance. Chinese forces are more assertive in the Taiwan Strait as well as in the South China Sea, and the country has risen to be a near-peer competitor in areas such as artificial intelligence and humanoid robots.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said ahead of the vote that Perdue’s nomination was “certainly one of the most important appointments that will come across this floor.”

Perdue lost his Senate seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff four years ago and ran unsuccessfully in a 2022 primary against Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. Perdue pushed Trump’s false claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 election during his failed bid for governor.

Before launching his political career, Perdue held a string of top executive positions, including at Sara Lee, Reebok and Dollar General.

As a business executive, Perdue has lived in Hong Kong and touted his global perspective. He’s been criticized for having outsourced jobs to China but embraced Trump’s “America First” strategy during his confirmation hearing, vowing to help “ensure our own national and economic security remains uncompromised.”

At the hearing, Perdue also said Washington and Beijing should “seek areas where our interests align to develop a better and safer working relationship.”

From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Tifton Gazette:

Perdue received some bipartisan support in the 67-29 confirmation vote, with 15 Senate Democrats joining 51 Republicans and one independent in supporting his nomination.

During one six-year term in the Senate, Perdue was a staunch ally of President Donald Trump during the latter’s first term in office. Trump backed Perdue’s unsuccessful Republican primary challenge in 2022 to Gov. Brian Kemp, who had angered Trump for refusing to aid the president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia after his reelection defeat at the hands of Democrat Joe Biden.

Perdue’s new role will put him at the center of a trade war between the U.S. and China, with Trump slapping a 145% tariff on Chinese imports early this month and China reciprocating. During confirmation hearings, Perdue said he would make reducing China’s exports to Mexico of chemicals used to produce fentanyl a top priority.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce released a report on how tariffs are affecting local businesses, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.

Georgia Chamber CEO Chris Clark said there are concerns of retaliatory measures that could start a ripple effect, which could stifle company growth and lead to layoffs.

“I’ve heard from companies that are literally losing $4 to $6 million a week. If we have those services somehow prohibited, monitored or regulated in a different way, it could cost Georgia jobs,” said Clark.

The report details that in 2022, Georgia carried a $27 billion services trade surplus as businesses, professional and technical services, financial services and transportation services.

“While that’s not part of the administration’s focus on the trade war, there are barriers that are going up and there are reciprocal trade tariffs that are going in, and China has already announced they’re going to go after the service sector in the US and Georgia is going to be impacted,” said Clark.

Georgia’s leading export partners include China at $1.2 billion, Canada at $2.1 billion and Mexico at $1.1 billion.

Clark said Georgia has the ability to open up more markets through negotiations, but said they’re hoping for a swift end to tariff talks.

“We’ve heard that China is now looking at certain companies here in America that are doing business in China and asking for their intellectual property, looking at their licensing as well, how they operate, maybe even the potential to take their products that are being made over there and send them somewhere else. You’ve got to really be careful, you need a trade attorney, you need to be plugged into your local chamber,” said Clark.

Georgia’s service economy relies on international companies for business growth.

Emory University Professor Ray Hill said tariffs are likely going to cause a major shift in the country’s top industries.

“We export about $300 billion more in services than we take in. So one of those services is intellectual property. People pay us about $100 billion more for the intellectual property we’ve developed than we pay foreigners for their intellectual property. Services are the high-paying jobs and the sort of intellectually driven part of what we do,” said Hill.

Georgia House Bill 268 by State Rep. Holt Persinger (R-Winder) seeks to improve school safety after the Barrow County school shooting, according to the Associated Press.

But like with most new laws, putting the words into practice will be key.

“Everybody’s got to work together,” Rep. Holt Persinger, the Winder Republican who represents Apalachee High School and sponsored the bill, said after the signing ceremony. He said that included not only schools and local law enforcement agencies, but Georgia’s child welfare, mental health and emergency management agencies.

House Bill 268 was driven in part by the belief among many that the Barrow County school system didn’t have a full picture of the warning signs displayed by the 14-year-old accused in the fatal shootings. School officials never became aware that a sheriff’s deputy in Jackson County had interviewed Colt Gray in May 2023 after the FBI passed along a tip that Gray might have posted a shooting threat online.

The new law requires police agencies to report to schools when officers learn that a child has threatened death or injury to someone at a school. It also mandates quicker transfers of records when a student enters a new school, creates at least one new position to help coordinate mental health treatment for students in each of Georgia’s 180 school districts and sets up an anonymous reporting system statewide.

Public schools will have to provide wearable panic buttons to employees and would be required to submit electronic maps of their campuses to local, state and federal agencies once a year.

The law also makes adult prosecution the default when children aged 13 to 16 are charged with terroristic acts at school, any aggravated assault with a gun, or attempted murder.

The measure, though, required only a reduced version of a student-tracking database that was once a centerpiece of the bill, after opponents raised fears that it could become a permanent blacklist of students. Instead, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency was directed to create a database of students who an investigation has found threatened violence or committed violence at schools. The law directs GEMA to make rules about when names would be included and how someone could petition to be removed. But lawmakers didn’t specifically appropriate any money to GEMA for what they called an “emergency alert system.”

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith called the measure a “good start line,” but agreed cooperation would be key moving forward.

“You’re not always going to get the job done unless you communicate,” Smith said. “And you’ve got to understand what lanes they’re in. Law enforcement has a lane, education has a lane, and then you have the taxpayers who have a lane.”

Local legislation for homestead exemptions in Lilburn and Norcross passed both chambers and await Governor Kemp’s signature or veto, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The bills, House Bill 761 for Lilburn and House Bill 772 for Norcross, set up referendums that would be held in November if Kemp signs off on them.

“This just makes sure we dotted our “I”s and crossed our “T”s and it also gives the citizens an opportunity to weigh in on it,” Norcross Mayor Craig Newton said.

The Lilburn and Norcross bills are separate from another pair of homestead exemption bills which deal with exemptions on schools taxes in Gwinnett County.

House Bills 539 and 540, which were authored by state Rep. Matt Reeves, are also waiting on Kemp’s desk. They would increase the general exemption for homeowners on school taxes to $10,000 and expand a special exemption for public servants by making military veterans and all Gwinnett County Public Schools and Buford City Schools employees who were not already covered by that exemption eligible for it.

While voters in Lilburn and Norcross would vote on their city exemptions in November of this year, voters across the county will decide whether to implement the extra school tax exemptions during a referendum that will be held in May 2026.

The Gwinnett County and Buford school boards, as well as the cities of Lilburn and Norcross opted out of a statewide floating homestead exemption. These bills give homeowners a chance to still try and lower their tax bills, albeit in a more locally tailored way.

House Bill 761 was filed by state Rep. Jasmine Clark, with Reps. Marvin Lim and Dewey McClain serving as co-sponsors.

This bill creates a $5,000 city homestead exemption for any homeowner who is within the Lilburn city limits, as well as a $10,000 exemption for any homeowner in the city who is at least 65 years old.

“While the mayor and council agree with state leaders that local tax relief is needed to offset the financial impact of double-digit percentage increases in assessed valuations, they do not agree with the ‘one-size-fits-all’ model proposed by the state,” city officials said in a statement issued in February.

Meanwhile, House Bill 772 was filed by state Rep. Ruwa Romman with Lim and state Rep. Arlene Beckles co-sponsoring it. It deals with the senior citizen homestead exemption in Norcross.

Newton and Romman said the bill, if signed by Kemp and then approved by voters, would codify and complete efforts city leaders started years ago to raise exemptions for Norcross homeowners.

Romman explained the city has an escalating ramp leading to a senior exemption for homeowners. It starts when the homeowner is 62 and their exemption is $9,000 and then gradually increases to $18,000 and finally to $45,000 when they turn 65.

In addition to codifying the escalating exemption, the maximum exemption would be increased from $45,000 to $90,000 when the homeowner turns 65.

“We did not finish the process of taking it to the legislature,” Newton told the Daily Post earlier this month. “It happened between the crossover of new and old city managers and it got lost in the shuffle.

The Decatur Board of Education rescinded their earlier action to drop DEI initiatives, according to the AJC.

The City Schools of Decatur’s board of education voted unanimously Tuesday to reinstate some equity policies that it had repealed exactly two weeks ago.

The board’s decision was in response to rulings by three federal judges last week as the judges temporarily stopped the Trump administration’s mandate for K-12 schools to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Earlier this month, the Trump administration directed school districts to certify that they would comply with the order or forgo federal funding.

However, judges in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and New Hampshire all ruled that the way the administration enacted the policy was probably illegal. The rulings came in lawsuits filed by the NAACP, national teachers’ unions and other groups.

Decatur’s school board voted on April 15 to rescind two policies called Equity and School Board Governance. The equity policy states, “All learning environments must be inclusive, safe, secure, and supportive while also ensuring that no student group is marginalized.” The board also amended three policies on equal employment opportunities, equal educational opportunities and gender equity in sports.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the board considered adding conditional language to the policies that would comply with Trump’s order should the injunctions be lifted. However, they ultimately decided to restore the policies as they are.

Board Chair Carmen Sulton expressed concern that reinstating the policies could cause problems with state officials.

“The state has some thoughts about using language like ‘bias training’, and some of that language may be present in (our) equity policy,” she said. “There are some policies that are passing through the state legislature about gender equity and sports. So if we bring these policies back … then there are directives from the state … does that mean that we would have to be on a fast track to then subsequently amend them?”

A state bill that mirrored Trump’s order failed to pass the General Assembly this year, but on Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Riley Gaines Act, which bars transgender girls and women from competing in girls’ sports.

Savannah City Council adopted an affordable housing zoning overlay, according to the Savannah Morning News.

The new overlay maps the boundaries for an accompanying program, known as a density bonus for affordable housing, that allows developers to add units on previously too-small lots so long as half the units are offered at an affordable rate, meaning housing where rent or mortgage payments do not exceed 30% of a household’s gross income. The overlay and bonus program include Metropolitan, Thomas Square, Victorian and a portion of Live Oak neighborhoods.

The policy is touted as a new avenue to tackle Savannah’s housing affordability crunch by making it easier to add supply of “missing middle” housing types in light of the city’s steep housing shortage. A recent needs assessment by the Georgia Institute of Technology found the city needs to add roughly 4,000 new housing units by 2030 to meet demand brought by population growth.

The overlay was passed on a 7-2 vote with District 1 Alderwoman Bernetta Lanier and Post 2 At-Large Alderwoman Alicia Miller Blakely opposing the item. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson touted the policy’s importance at Thursday’s meeting.

“Every single one of us have heard that Savannah is becoming too expensive in which to live. We’ve received complaints about it. We know people who have faced challenges due to issues of affordability, and we are limited by what we could do to address it,” Johnson said.

Columbus City Council will consider Mayor Skip Henderson’s $391 million dollar budget proposal, according to WTVM.

The budget is not final, it’s now in the hands of the city council to request any changes or adjustments.

$391.9 million is the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. Mayor Skip Henderson says it’s about a 6.5-7 percent increase over last year.

“Yeah, it’s a big number, but it’s a big government, (the) second largest city in Georgia,” the mayor said. “In order to provide what we need to provide for our citizens and what they expect, it means your budget grows.”

“Contract with the jail for what the sheriff has for medical care — that’s gone up 4 million dollars. Remember Paws (Humane Society), when we bumped the budget to move it over to them for animal control, that’s a little under $2 million. And then the people in this community deserve and need to have access to the services they want,” Mayor Henderson said.

“There will be regular meetings, budget meetings on Tuesdays so watch for the times as they are posted. I think the first one starts next week and I would urge you to come listen or tune in to see how the budget is being worked on,” the mayor advised.

An attorney for Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley sent another love letter to Columbus City Council, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

City manager Isaiah Hugley’s attorney, Scott Grubman, accused Columbus Councilor Byron Hickey of hypocrisy, saying he improperly pushed for his wife, a corporal with the Columbus Police Department, to receive a pay raise.

This accusation comes after Atlanta-based attorney Leslie Hartnett wrote a letter on behalf of Councilors Hickey of District 1, Charmaine Crabb of District 5, Joanne Cogle of District 7, Glenn Davis of District 2, John Anker of District 9 and Toyia Tucker of District 4, saying that they would not apologize or retract public statements in response to an April 18 cease-and-desist letter.

During an April 8 council meeting, Hickey questioned whether Hugley violated the city’s code of ethics by not disclosing to the Columbus Council that his wife, state Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus), received a small-business grant of approximately $29,000 for her State Farm Insurance agency.

In an April 28 response, Grubman said councilors had been “engaged in a pattern of harassment and retaliation.”

“This campaign intensified in February of this year, after Councilman Hickey began to harass my client, as well as the City’s human resources director (Reather Hollowell), and attempted to improperly influence the City’s decision of whether to award a pay raise to his wife Sandra Hickey, a corporal with the Columbus Police Department, while that matter was pending appeal.”

Hickey “verbally accosted” Hugley and Hollowell about the issue before following up with an email, Grubman wrote.

He attached a copy of the email Hickey forwarded to Hugley and Hollowell on Feb. 12, showing that members of CPD were instructed in August 2022 to speak to then-Police Chief Freddie Blackmon about the appeal.

These actions appear to violate the same code of ethics Hickey accused Hugley of violating, Grubman said in the letter.

Grubman also noted in the letter that he has other documents and information related to Hickey’s “improper behavior,” but he wasn’t including it because some of it occurred while the council was in executive session and at least one document is potentially covered by attorney-client privilege.

A Committee of the Augusta Commission recommended a “Operation City Clean Up” program, according to WJBF.

“All of us are with it. We got to clean up our city. I mean, that’s what everyone expects and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Commissioner Don Clark.

A commission committee is recommending a plan called Operation City Clean Up. This will focus litter cleanup in high traffic areas using those sentenced to community service.

“Many charged who have been charged with maybe shoplifting, for example, in state court and you have probably heard I say from the bench, ‘if you can pick up something that doesn’t belong to you, you can pick up trash off the street’,” said Kellie McIntyre State Court Chief Judge.

Overgrown grass is another issue, which has the mayor pushing consolidating all grass city cutting under a new Public Works department.

“We hear so many people complain about the Garden City not looking like the Garden City. Let’s put the money where it needs to go, I’m with the mayor,” said Commissioner Catherine Smith Rice.

But some commissioners point out the Central Services Department was created to handle city maintenance.

“So if we open up this Public Works, we need to do away with Central Services instead of creating another department which actually creates a bigger government,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Wayne Guilfoyle.

A commission committee is recommending the litter program, but putting off the discussion on a new public works department until next month.

Former State Rep. Erick Allen (D) won the Special Runoff Election for Cobb County Commission District 2 and Monique Sheffield (D) retained her Commission District 4 seat, according to Atlanta News First.

Allen defeated Republican Alicia Adams with over 58% of the vote to win the District 2 seat, and District 4 Commissioner Sheffield beat Republican challenger Matthew Hardwick with over 64% of the vote. Allen garnered 5,403 votes and Adams got 3,820 votes. Sheffield got 4,651 votes and Hardwick garnered 2,564 votes.

The victories of Allen and Sheffield mean the board will have a 3-2 Democratic majority. The other two commissioners currently serving, Keli Gambrill and JoAnn K. Birrell, are Republicans, and Chairwoman Lisa Cupid is a Democrat.

A Cobb County Superior Court judge ordered the special election for District 2 and District 4 after ruling the county’s use of home rule powers to draw its commission maps was unconstitutional.

District 2 was last represented by Jerica Richardson, who was drawn out of the district by state legislators in early 2022. Richardson’s seat was declared “vacant” by a judge last December after she lost an appeal in the long-running legal battle that followed the redistricting.

From the AJC:

Cobb County isn’t a bellwether, but its shifts from suburban GOP bastion to Democratic stronghold over the past decade have helped reshape Georgia’s political landscape. And Tuesday’s special election gave Democrats plenty of reason to cheer.

It’s tricky to read too deeply into low-turnout elections like the vote for two county commission seats last night. But Republican leaders entered the evening so confident they’d flip at least one that several sent laudatory quotes to use in case of victory.

Instead, Democrats swept both seats, maintaining control of the five-member commission. Former state Rep. Erick Allen captured an open seat, while Monique Sheffield fended off a strong GOP challenger.

The results deprived Republicans of a beachhead in a suburb they once dominated. Cobb was home base for a long list of big-time GOP figures, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.

But Cobb shifted decisively in 2016, when presidential contender Hillary Clinton became the first Democrat to win the county in decades. Four years later, Lisa Cupid’s election as chair formed Cobb’s first majority-Black, Democratic-controlled commission.