Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 6, 2026

On April 6, 1776, the Continental Congress announced that all ports in America would be open to trade with other countries not ruled by the British. The action was taken several months after Britain passed the American Prohibitory Act which forbade trade with the colonies and was intended to punish colonists for the growing rebellion.

John Tyler was sworn in as the tenth President of the United States on April 6, 1841.

Tyler was elected as William Harrison’s vice president earlier in 1841 and was suddenly thrust into the role of president when Harrison died one month into office. He was the first vice president to immediately assume the role of president after a sitting president’s untimely exit and set the precedent for succession thereafter.

The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece on April 6, 1896.

The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, when the US House of Representatives voted 373-50 on a declaration of war that passed the Senate two days earlier.

2001: A Space Odyssey was released on April 6, 1968.

The Savannah Morning News has an interesting story on the mystery of Button Gwinnett.

As the United States celebrates its 250^th anniversary this year, a passage of time that has allowed its founding fathers to reach venerated status, one of Georgia’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence remains a man of obscurity. Perhaps no fact about what little historians know of his journey from England’s middle class to an independence advocate exemplifies that obscurity more than the mystery of where he now lays.

Gwinnett died from wounds sustained during a duel with another Coastal Georgia colonial figure, Lachlan McIntosh (more on that later). A local newspaper reported after Gwinnett’s death in May 1777 he would be buried in what is now Colonial Park Cemetery, said Stan Deaton, senior historian at the Georgia Historical Society.

When a group of Georgians some 70 years later decided to exhume the bodies of all three signers, to lay them at a signer’s monument in Augusta, they found Georgie Walton and Lyman Hall. But then came the mystery.

“They could not find Button Gwinnett’s grave for the simple reason that in the intervening 70 years, his gravestone in what is now Colonial Park Cemetery had disappeared, and nobody thought he was important enough to replace it,” Deaton said.

Sharp said it’s even possible that Gwinnett’s wife was too poor to purchase a headstone. To this day there is no consensus on his resting place, although historians believe it is located somewhere in Colonial Park.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Voters in Extreme Northwest Georgia go to the polls tomorrow in two legislative Runoff Elections, according to Local 3 News.

Early voting for the Georgia District 14 runoff election and State Senate District 53 runoff election end[ed] Thursday, April 2, 2026.

If you cannot make it to early voting, Election Day for the runoffs is Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

Voters will need to be sure to bring a valid government-issued photo ID to the polls.

For the House seat, Democrat Shawn Harris and Republican Clay Fuller will be on the ballot. These two candidates received the most votes in the Special Election that took place on March 10 to fill former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat. Fuller received President Trump’s endorsement.

For the State Senate seat, Democrat John Bentley “Jack” Zibluk and Republican Lanny Thomas will be on the ballot. These two candidates received the most votes in the Special Election to fill former Senator Colton Moore’s seat.

From WABE:

House District 94

One thing we do know heading into the HD 94 race is that the district will stay blue.

Education consultant Venola Mason and attorney and former Snellville Mayor Kelly Kautz face off Tuesday in the all-Democrat runoff. This district runs from the Lithonia area in DeKalb up to Mountain Park in Gwinnett and then toward the Brookwood area.

The race is to replace former state Rep. Karin Bennett, who resigned in January, then was indicted on federal charges for alleged COVID-19 pandemic unemployment fraud. She pleaded guilty and her sentencing is scheduled for this month.

Mason had 44% of the vote to Kautz’s 23% in last month’s election, which also featured two other Democrats.

House District 130

It was almost an all-Democrat special election runoff in HD 130 too, but Republican minister Thomas McAdams outlasted community development consultant Karen Gordon by just seven votes last month.

McAdams will face Democratic former state Rep. Sheila Clark Nelson in this solid blue Augusta-area district on Tuesday. The last time a Republican ran for the seat, in 2022, they lost by 35 points.

The race is to replace former state Rep. Lynn Heffner, who resigned in January.

Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature, and these three special elections do not threaten their majorities.

State legislators failed to address issues involving how ballots will be cast in upcoming elections, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

Georgia lawmakers set up the possibility of a swift conversion to hand-marked paper ballots this year when they failed to pass a bill early Friday morning that would have gradually replaced the state’s touchscreen voting system.

The Senate’s refusal to vote on the bipartisan elections bill leaves Georgia with computer-generated ballots that will soon be illegal, just months before the midterm elections.

The legislation, Senate Bill 214, would have delayed a state law passed two years ago that set a July 1, 2026, deadline to stop using the kind of ballots produced by Georgia’s touchscreen voting machines, which print computer QR codes on ballots to count votes.

Opponents of the current voting system say humans can’t read QR codes — which contain voters’ choices — to verify that their ballots are accurate.

Without a new law, the July 1 deadline to eliminate QR codes remains in effect.

Instead of those QR-coded ballots, voters would need to use Georgia’s backup voting system: pre-printed ballots with ovals that voters fill in with a pen. Existing ballot scanning machines can read hand-marked ballots.

County election directors have warned that an election-year transition to a new voting method, without a plan or funding, could lead to voter confusion and disruptions in polling places.

It’s unclear how they will handle the hurdles of pre-printing millions of ballots, training election workers, and educating voters if QR codes are banned two months from now.

“I think we’ve got a problem,” said Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain. “By not acting, we’ve actually chosen chaos.”

The House voted 132-39 hours earlier SB 214, which would have moved the deadline to eliminate QR codes to 2028.

But Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, let the House’s competing solution die without a vote as the legislative session ended early Friday morning. The Senate passed a bill last week to require hand-marked paper ballots in this year’s elections, but the House didn’t consider it.

Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, said he didn’t know what would happen next.

House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said needed to talk with Gov. Brian Kemp about what, if anything, lawmakers should do next.

Burns said the House bill was a “reasonable plan” to update Georgia’s voting technology gradually rather than immediately during a high-stakes election year.

“You can’t change horses in the middle of the stream,” Burns said. “Part of what we want to do is what’s tried and true, working with our locals with a good plan that we knew could work.”

Kemp could call a special session to bring legislators back to the Capitol to resolve the issue.

“There’s still some options. We’ve got to look. We’ve got to investigate. I’m hopeful we’ll get there,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania. “Give us 24 to 48 hours to get a nap, and then we can talk about it.”

Under the bill approved by the House, Georgia would have bought a new election system that would count ballots without using QR codes before the 2028 presidential election year, recording votes directly from bubbled-in ovals or the text printed on ballots.

House Governmental Affairs Chair Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, said county election officials need time to buy and test a new voting system before it’s rolled out to Georgia’s 8 million registered voters.

Georgia’s election equipment, purchased from Dominion Voting Systems for over $100 million in 2019, came under fire from Republicans after President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Election security experts have also criticized it, saying the technology is vulnerable to tampering.

County election directors from across Georgia supported the bill that passed the House, SB 214, over the Senate’s proposals that would have forced a rapid switch to hand-marked paper ballots before the November midterm elections.

They said such a quick transition would disrupt elections because there wouldn’t have been much time for training, testing, and implementation.

Without a new law, election directors will have to begin preparing for that possibility.

From Georgia Recorder:

In an unexpected twist, members of the House and Senate concluded the 2026 legislative session without ending their longstanding stalemate over election policy, as Georgia hurtles toward the deadline for removing QR codes from voters’ ballots without a clear solution in sight.

The lack of a solution has some lawmakers calling on Gov. Brian Kemp to convene a special session to give them another shot at passing an elections bill this year.

On the final legislative day, House lawmakers passed Senate Bill 214, a measure that would postpone lawmakers’ self-imposed deadline for removing QR codes from ballots until 2028 and direct the state to begin the process of procuring a new election system this upcoming February.

But the bill never made it across the finish line in the Senate, which adjourned shortly after 1 a.m. without taking up the measure. Since the 2026 session was also the end of the biennium, all bills must be refiled next year and start the legislative process over.

Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns, who had previously voiced his support for the bill, said he was hopeful that lawmakers would be able to find a solution.

“We’ll have to work through the process now,” he said after the Legislature adjourned. “We’ve got to figure out what the next options are, and there’s still some options.”

But Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, a Dallas Republican, did not offer much insight into what lawmakers’ next steps on the matter could be.

“We’ll see after tonight,” he told reporters shortly after the Senate adjourned. “We’ll see over the next hours and days.”

The bill was needed, advocates said, to ensure the state was in compliance with a 2024 law banning QR codes from being used to tally ballots starting this July. Since the law was passed, legislators have failed to appropriate the funds necessary to make the switch, and election officials have repeatedly cautioned that removing QR codes from Georgians’ ballots this year would likely be impossible to implement.

Senate Minority Whip Kim Jackson, a Stone Mountain Democrat, said that she was expecting lawsuits over the Legislature’s failure to act on the issue of QR codes.

“I think it’s a disservice to taxpayers, because we’re gonna have to pay for all those lawsuits,” she said. “I really think it’s a disservice to our counties, because I got a feeling our county governments are going to foot the bill for those lawsuits.”

Rep. Saira Draper, an Atlanta Democrat who advocated for the passage of SB 214, expressed disappointment with the Senate for failing to take up the measure.

“We all knew what we had to do this term to make sure that we were not out of compliance with the law,” she said. “The House did what it had to do and the Senate failed to do so. It’s very disappointing.”

Draper also said that the governor will likely need to call a special session on elections policy in order to avoid lawsuits later this year.

House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, also left the possibility of a special session open.

“It’s been a long day, and so I’m going to contemplate a lot of things,” Burns told reporters shortly after the House adjourned. “I think we left a couple things out there that are a little troubling, but we’re going to deal with that. I think we’ll continue to have a good plan moving forward, working to ensure that we do what’s best for the people of our state.”

Other election bills, such as a controversial proposal from the Senate to institute hand-marked paper ballots statewide ahead of the general election in November and a measure that would ban ranked-choice voting and withdraw Georgia from a multistate voter accuracy partnership, never made it to the House floor for a vote.

The Georgia General Assembly passed an FY 2027 budget, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.

The youngest and oldest people in Georgia to whom the state owes a financial responsibility got something extra in the 2027 fiscal year budget that lawmakers sent to Gov. Brian Kemp Thursday night.

State retirees could get a bump in their pensions after the state House and Senate agreed to add at least $65 million in state money to their pension fund.

And children in grades kindergarten through third grade could learn how to read with the help of literacy experts hired with $70 million in state funds.

That is more money than the House had initially budgeted as a downpayment on hiring more than 1,300 literacy coaches.

The compromise budget also puts the money into a recurring fund whereas the Senate had proposed a one-time grant.

Grants must be renewed annually, so the House wanted the money engraved in the school funding formula.

The compromise puts the money into the Quality Basic Education funding formula, so it will be there year after year.

“I think QBE is usually a more consistent formula for our schools,” said Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. That should give schools more confidence in hiring employees, an ongoing expense, he said.

“I think there’s a lot more acceptance by the local school systems that it will be consistent whereas our non-QBE grants sometimes are one of the first to go in recessionary times,” he said.

Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, called it “a conservative and fiscally sound budget.” And he said it would help state pensioners who “put in years of hard work only to see inflation decimate” their income, with the first cost of living increase in recent history of over 2%.

The approvals by the House and Senate to House Bill 974 sends the $38.5 billion budget to Kemp who has line-item veto authority.

Limited tax relief legislation passed the General Assembly, according to Georgia Recorder via the Valdosta Daily Times.

Lawmakers signed off on a plan to forego more of the state’s income tax revenue, passing a tax cut bill late Thursday night over the concerns of Democrats who questioned the math used to support the cuts.

But a high-profile proposal focused on reining in rising property taxes only passed late Thursday night after being dramatically scaled back. Thursday was sine die, the final day for bills to pass the Legislature.

Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican who chairs the Senate’s budget-writing committee, said the income tax bill that will make it to the governor’s desk does not go as far as Senate Republicans had wanted. An early Senate GOP proposal called for completely eliminating the state’s income tax by 2032.

“It is not exactly what we wanted, but it moves this ball forward,” said Tillery, who is also a candidate for lieutenant governor. “Friends, we are not to stand here and allow perfect to be the enemy of good. We are here to move the ball forward for Georgians, to give them income tax relief during this time of high inflation, when gas, groceries and child care are costing them the most.”

Lawmakers have agreed to accelerate a planned income tax cut that would bring the rate from 5.19% to 4.99%. The measure passed Thursday night also calls for more incremental cuts until the rate drops to 3.99%.

It also gradually raises the standard deduction, so long as certain economic conditions are met, and makes the first $1,750 of tips and overtime tax-free.

The bill also repeals several tax credits, though Tillery acknowledged that alone would not be enough to cover the billions of dollars of lost revenue from the tax cuts. The state’s income tax funds about half the state budget, which pays for health care, education, law enforcement and other services.

Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat, argued that eliminating the tax credits would only cover a portion of the lost revenue created by the tax cuts. He called it a “completely fiscally irresponsible bill.”

McLaurin, who is also a candidate for lieutenant governor, said Republicans in both chambers overpromised when it came to telling voters what kind of tax relief they were going to deliver this year. While Senate Republicans were pushing to eliminate the income tax, House Republicans were vowing to end local property taxes, which they equated to paying rent to the government.

“Why is it that at 10 p.m. on sine die, we are doing this final got-to-go quick, slick maneuver? It’s because of the lies that were told by both the House and Senate on the types of tax cuts they were going to do. It was never possible,” he said.

HB 463 passed the Senate with a 33-to-20 vote that fell mostly along party lines.

Democrats who opposed the income tax cuts also argued it would disproportionately benefit wealthier Georgians. The bill cleared the House Thursday with a 104-to-71 vote, with some Democrats crossing over to vote with Republicans.

“It would be the top earners in the state of Georgia that overwhelmingly benefit,” said Rep. Sam Park, a Lawrenceville Democrat who serves as the House minority whip.

Republicans dismissed those concerns.

“I think everybody gets a reduction commensurate with what they put in to fund government,” said Rep. Shaw Blackmon, a Bonaire Republican who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee and who sponsored the bill.

Property taxes

House Republicans had originally floated a complicated plan that would eventually eliminate property taxes for homeowners, arguing that the intervention was needed because of the unsustainable trajectory of rising property taxes.

House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, called the proposal “historic” at a press conference in January.

But such a sweeping change required a constitutional amendment, which needed a two-thirds vote – and support from enough Democrats.

House Democrats opposed the more dramatic overhaul of property taxes over concerns that the changes would shift the tax burden to sales taxes and eat away at an important source of revenue for local governments and schools, and the original proposal failed in early March.

A month later, a dialed-back version cleared the House but was still met with concerns. It passed the House earlier this week with a 98-to-68 vote.

“Everybody shares in a sales tax, whether you’re from another country, another state or whatever,” Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, a Rome Republican who carried the bill in the Senate, told reporters earlier this week. “And I think it’s a much fairer way to do it. And our homeowners, again, I say when somebody’s had their property taxes increase 107% in one case in five years – who’s looking out for them?”

But when the bill landed in the Senate late Thursday night, it failed with a 24-to-28 vote. Eight Republican senators voted against the bill.

The proposal was revived through a legislative maneuver with some provisions dropped from the bill, shrinking the bill from 32 to 20 pages. House lawmakers agreed with the changes shortly before 1 a.m. Friday in what would be one of the chamber’s final votes of the year.

Burns told reporters after lawmakers adjourned that he didn’t think the version the Senate sent back was “strong enough.”

“That’s something we’re going to continue to work on, because we’re not giving up,” Burns said. “We believe that Georgia taxpayers, Georgia homeowners, need and deserve some relief in their property taxes, and that’s something we’re committed to do.”

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

Georgia House and Senate Republicans with competing agendas managed to push through income and property tax cuts as the curtain closed on the 2026 Georgia legislative session after midnight Friday.

The Senate did not get its elimination of income taxes. The House did not get its elimination of property taxes.

But both taxes would become smaller if Gov. Brian Kemp signs the two bills into law.

Owing to the late hour, Senate Republicans had to repurpose a hemp farming bill to send a property tax cut to the House.

The measure would basically shift money from homeowners’ right pocket to their left: the property taxes on their homes could be reduced by the income from a new penny sales tax.

It also would suppress the increase in valuations of owner-occupied homes, limiting the rise of those “homesteaded” properties for tax purposes to the rate of inflation.

Commercial properties — and renters — would not benefit from either provision.

The state House had had a similar idea, but it ran afoul of the state Constitution. A two-thirds vote was required for adoption, and Democrats opposed it, denying passage of House Bill 1116 in early March.

So the Senate came up with a legal workaround that would allow local legislative delegations to call for such changes, making it politically easier to get the necessary two-thirds vote for each of Georgia’s 159 counties. The new sales tax would then go to voters in a referendum.

That income tax revenue would bypass government and go straight to homeowners.

“We think there are about 110 counties and all the cities within those 110 counties that could pretty much eliminate their homestead property taxes for county and city with that one-time sales tax,” said Clint Mueller, deputy director of ACCG, the association for Georgia’s county commissioners.

Local governments would see revenue growth constrained by the inflation cap on home values. But when a property changes hands, or when there is new construction, the value would reset to the current market.

So fast-growing jurisdictions and those with a higher proportion of their tax base comprising properties that are not occupied by homeowners would be less affected.

Cities and counties could also raise their property tax rates. So could school districts, although, unlike cities and counties, nearly all of them are limited by law to a maximum rate of 20 mills, Mueller said. (A mill equals a dollar for every thousand dollars of assessed value.)

Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, presented Senate Bill 33, formerly the hemp bill and now containing a mutation of HB 1116, on the Senate floor less than half an hour before midnight Thursday.

It passed despite firm opposition from Democrats, the minority party.

In the House, as the clock ticked toward 1 a.m., Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, who’d been leading the charge on the House’s primary agenda of property tax reduction, acknowledged that the cut would pass by hitchhiking, allowing senators to take the credit.

He recounted a line from a favorite Marvel movie, involving the character Dr. Strange: “it’s not about you,” Blackmon said. “And we’re going to do what’s best for the taxpayer.”

House Republicans sent the bill to Kemp, overriding opposition from Democrats, also in the minority in that chamber.

Later, House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, expressed mixed emotions about the outcome.

“The bill that came back to us was not strong enough,” he said. “There were several different initiatives we had in our property tax bill that would have been more meaningful for our property taxpayers.” But it was still a “robust” tax cut, he said, vowing to push further next year.

If Kemp signs House Bill 463 into law, Georgians will also pay less for income taxes.

The measure approved by lawmakers would drop the rate to 4.99% from the current 5.19%. It would continue falling over eight years to 3.99% if state revenues remain strong. Income tax deductions would rise, as well, over eight years, from the current $12,000 for single filers, to $18,000. The amounts would double for married couples. Dependent deductions also would rise by $1,000 over eight years from the current $4,000.

And the state income tax on overtime pay and cash tips would be waived on the first $1,750.

HB 463 would offset the cuts by eliminating a handful of tax breaks for items like electrical vehicle chargers and the manufacture of cigarettes for export.

Democrats complained that Georgia’s top earners would get the most back, and Blackmon responded that they put the most in.

He called it “real, meaningful tax relief.”

But Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, said the tax credits being eliminated to pay for the income tax cut would not come close to making up for the lost revenue.

“It’s a completely fiscally irresponsible bill,” he said, adding that the tax exemption for overtime pay and tips was “a handful of peanuts that we’re throwing back” at Georgians.

Sen. Harold Jones, II, D-Augusta, the Senate minority leader, called the income tax legislation, which passed the Senate around 10 p.m., a “cynical attempt at electoral politics,” in a year when affordability had become a central talking point.

Tillery, who, like McLaurin, is a candidate for lieutenant governor, admitted the income tax cut was not as big as what Senate Republicans had wanted. They had previously pushed a measure to eliminate state income taxes altogether.

“But it moves the ball forward,” he said.

Georgians will continue dancing the Daylight Savings Time shuffle, after legislators did not pass legislation to change it, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

Some Georgians were excited for the prospect of no longer having to change their clocks twice a year for Daylight Saving Time. But that prospect will have to wait.

House Bill 154, also known as the Georgia Sunshine Protection Act, was recently passed by the Georgia Senate after being passed by the Georgia House of Representatives. But it needed a follow-up vote from the house which adjourned for the year Thursday without calling the bill.

If fully passed into law, the governor would have been required to request the U.S. Secretary of Transportation move Georgia from Eastern Standard Time to Atlantic Standard Time. This would have made Daylight Saving permanent in Georgia.

Hatchett and fellow supporters argue that making this change would end needless disruptions, helping people maintain their sleep patterns and keep a standard routine. Sen. Ed Setzler expressed concern over the gaps in time between Georgia and neighboring states. This could create its own issues with scheduling, especially for those traveling across multiple states.

In an opinion piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, radio host and former Macon City Councilman Erick Erickson also highlighted potential flight confusions: A plane that leaves New Orleans would arrive in Atlanta at 2:30 p.m. despite only flying for 1.5 hours. He also highlighted how watching sporting events in other states would stretch way too late into the night.

Sen. Nikki Merritt argues that other states might follow Georgia’s lead if these changes are approved. According to Axios Atlanta, Delaware signed a similar bill into law in 2019, but under theirs, the shift would only happen if Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania did the same.

House Bill 1138 by State Rep. Beth Camp (R-Concord), the “Increasing Access to Contraceptives Act” passed and heads to Governor Kemp for signature or veto, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.

Birth control medications will be provided at pharmacies across Georgia without needing a prescription, according to a bill that won final approval from the General Assembly on Thursday.

Lawmakers said the bill makes contraceptives more available to women, especially in the 82 of Georgia’s 159 counties without an obstetrician.

“We talk a lot about prevention and improving outcomes for women’s health, and this is a way to do this without a mandate,” said Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta.

The legislation, House Bill 1138, authorizes licensed pharmacists to dispense a three-month supply of birth control medication the first time a patient obtains the drug, and up to a 12-month supply afterward. Pharmacists aren’t required to dispense birth control if they choose not to.

Georgia bans abortions once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, which typically occurs around six weeks after conception and before many women know they’re pregnant.

The Senate voted 49-1 to pass HB 1138, and the House voted 158-11. The measure now advances to Gov. Brian Kemp for his approval or veto.

Rick Jackson and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones (R-Jackson) will meet in a televised debate on GPB, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.

The two biggest heavyweights in Georgia’s nationally watched governor’s race are finally going to meet head-to-head.

On Thursday, Rick Jackson — the billionaire health care CEO whose entry into Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial primary has shaken the race to its core — agreed to a debate with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, once thought to be a shoo-in for the nomination and even a favorite to be the governor’s mansion’s next occupant.

Jones himself challenged Jackson to a debate last week. Jones’ challenge did not include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger or Attorney General Chris Carr, who are also running for Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial nomination this spring.

The Jackson campaign said the candidate will only participate in the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series, broadcast statewide by Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The primary election debates for the U.S. senate, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, Public Service Commission and congressional district one, 10, 11 and 13 are set for April 26-28 at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

A Carr spokesperson said the attorney general is committed to attend the debate.

Earlier this year, Jones, with a sizable war chest and President Donald Trump’s endorsement, seemed like the inevitable Republican nominee for governor.

But that certainty crumbled after Jackson announced his candidacy in February, dumping more than $30 million of his money into television ads. That’s already more than any candidate has ever spent in a primary race for Georgia governor, with just over two months before the May 19 election.

Jackson has filed several lawsuits against Jones, one of which accuses Jones of “acting intentionally and maliciously” by accusing Jackson and his company, Jackson Healthcare, of receiving funding from Planned Parenthood and “helping doctors perform transgender procedures on minors.”

The first lawsuit filed by Jackson against Jones was in federal court, aiming to prevent Jones from using funds in his leadership committee for his gubernatorial campaign. A judge had placed a temporary restraining order limiting his ability to raise unlimited funds, but that ability has been temporarily restored.

Earlier this week, the Georgia State Ethics Commission found probable cause that an organization behind millions of dollars in attack ads on Jones has violated state law.

On Monday, the commission voted 4-1 to find probable cause of lobbying violations, then voted 3-2 to find probable cause for three campaign finance violations.

The ethics commission said it would bring 10 disclosure and campaign violations against Georgians For Integrity. The commission will also launch an administrative trial against the group.

The attack ads have been airing for months on Georgia’s airwaves from the Delaware-based group. However, Jones claims Jackson is behind the ads.

Gina Pilcher is running for Hall County Commission District 3 as an independent, according to AccessWDUN.

Pilcher, who served on the county planning commission from 2018 to 2025, is a lifelong resident of the county, graduating from Johnson High School and currently living in Clermont. She said is choosing to run as an independent rather than a Republican, even though she said she identified as a Republican.

“I truly believe the biggest issues facing our county aren’t partisan,” Pilcher said in a statement on Thursday, April 1. “I know that no matter where you fall politically, we all want to protect District 3 and keep it the place we know and love – even as new folks continue to move into our great community.”

District 3 covers northern and eastern Hall County. There are currently three Republican candidates qualified for the May 19 primary election, Tyler Crawford, Shannon Davidson and Steve Gailey. The election will be to replace current District 3 Commissioner Gregg Poole, who is leaving the post to run for 9th District U.S. Congress.

In her statement, Pilcher said she believes managing growth is the biggest issue facing the county.