Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 7, 2026

On April 7, 1776, the United States warship Lexington captured a British warship, HMS Edward, for the first time.

On April 7, 1798, President John Adams signed legislation authorizing negotiations between three representatives of Georgia and three Presidential appointees over Georgia’s claim to land west of what is now the Georgia-Alabama state lines. Georgia would continue to claim most of what is currently Alabama and Mississippi until 1802.

Map by Carl Vinson Institute of Government at UGA

On April 7, 1995, Governor Zell Miller signed legislation recognizing the peach as the official state fruit of Georgia.

The National Park Service will commemorate the April 10-11, 1862 bombardment of Fort Pulaski, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Commemorate the 1862 bombardment of Fort Pulaski with live cannon demonstrations and ranger-led talks explaining how the attack changed military history. Standard park admission applies; demonstrations are subject to weather and staffing conditions. This event lasts until April 11, and each demonstration lasts for 30 minutes.

11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., April 10, April, 11, 101 Fort Pulaski Road

The Savannah Morning News also has a great photo essay on the historic Colonial Park Cemetery.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Former Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) speaks in Savannah on April 17, 2026, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Join former Vice President Kamala Harris for a night of insights inspired by her book 107 DAYS.

7 p.m., April 17, 301 W. Oglethorpe Ave., https://www.savannahcivic.com/events/a-conversation-with-kamala-harris

Today is Election Day in the 14th Congressional District, 53d State Senate District, and House Districts 94 and 130. From the Savannah Morning News:

The parking lot outside Floyd County Elections and Voter Registration was bustling on April 1 as early voting continued in the runoff race to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress.

It was the second time Floyd County residents have come to vote in recent weeks. The first round of the special election was held on March 10, with early voting the weeks prior, and 17 candidates were on the ballot.

Democrat Shawn Harris took home about 37% of the vote, while a hoard of Republican candidates fought one another for the MAGA base, ultimately leading to Clay Fuller taking home about 34% of the vote and the second-place spot.

On Tuesday, Harris and Fuller will face off in the runoff election, the winner stepping into the seat left behind by Greene and immediately becoming an active member of Congress.

If the same voters from March 10 vote again along party lines, Fuller is expected to take home the House seat by a significant majority. He largely outcompeted the other Republicans in the race, and largely credited his success to Trump’s endorsement.

“Besides all the people in this room that have made this possible this evening, there’s one person in particular that I really have to stay thankful to,” Fuller said during election night remarks in Rome. “For those of you that were questioning how important President Donald J. Trump is to this country, to Georgia 14th and the state of Georgia, you look at that screen behind me and you see what this man means to the people here in this community, what he means to the people in this country and what he means to the MAGA movement.”

Fuller has offered his support of the war in Iran, immigration practices and more from the president, and he has said repeatedly he would fight for Trump in Washington.

From the Dalton Daily Citizen:

Some of those voters [in Extreme NW GA] will also choose the winner of a legislative runoff to replace former Trenton Republican Sen. Colton Moore, who stepped down in January for an unsuccessful bid to replace Greene.

There are also two other legislative runoffs on the ballot Tuesday as voters in Richmond, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties new state representatives.

“Because this runoff is happening at an unusual time with less media attention, turnout is likely to be low — and that creates more room for unexpected outcomes,” said Zachary F. Peskowitz, a political science professor at Emory University.

“I would be very cautious about reading too much into the results of a low-turnout runoff when trying to predict what will happen in November 2026,” Peskowitz also said.

From Georgia Recorder:

Voters in northwest Georgia will head to the polls Tuesday to settle a nationally watched congressional runoff between a Trump-backed Republican and a Democrat who has pitched himself as a moderate alternative in the deep-red district.

The winner will finish former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s term.

Some of those voters will also choose the winner of a legislative runoff to replace former Trenton Republican Sen. Colton Moore, who stepped down in January for an unsuccessful bid to replace Greene.

There are also two other legislative runoffs on the ballot Tuesday as voters in Richmond, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties new state representatives.

Harris, Fuller compete to fill Greene’s seat

Shawn Harris, who is a farmer and retired brigadier general, was the top vote-getter in last month’s election featuring a crowded field of candidates. Harris walked away with about 37% of the vote.

But now Harris is in a head-to-head match up with the top Republican in the race, Clay Fuller, the former district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit and a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. Fuller received 35% of the vote last month.

The race is being closely watched for clues about voter sentiment going into the high-stakes midterms this fall. Political experts say the election will all come down to voter turnout, and they caution against drawing sweeping conclusions from the results of a low-turnout runoff.

“Because this runoff is happening at an unusual time with less media attention, turnout is likely to be low — and that creates more room for unexpected outcomes,” said Zachary F. Peskowitz, a political science professor at Emory University.

“I would be very cautious about reading too much into the results of a low-turnout runoff when trying to predict what will happen in November 2026,” Peskowitz also said.

Greene, once among President Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress, announced her resignation late last year after publicly feuding with the president over issues including his handling of the files of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Three legislative runoffs

Three special elections to decide who will fill vacancies in the Georgia Legislature will also be decided Tuesday.

The winners will likely not cast a vote on legislation this year, although there is now talk of a potential special session after lawmakers failed during the just-ended session to address a looming deadline to remove QR codes from Georgia’s ballots. But either way, the victors will have an advantage going into this year’s regularly scheduled elections, when all lawmakers will be on the ballot.

Here are the matchups:

Republican Lanny Thomas and Democrat Jack Zibluk will face each other for Senate District 53, which spans Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties and part of Floyd County.

Thomas, a former mayor of Trion, faced a health crisis shortly after advancing to the runoff but said in an update on social media this weekend that he’s back home and working to get out the vote.

“This election cycle has been a little different, but the work doesn’t stop,” he wrote.

Thomas clinched nearly 39% of the vote last month in a four-way race. Zibluk, a professor of communication, came in second with 27%.

In House District 94, which includes portions of Gwinnett and DeKalb counties, two Democrats are in Tuesday’s runoff.

Venola Mason, a DeKalb County education consultant, came in first last month with about 44% of the vote. She is facing former Snellville Mayor Kelly Kautz in the runoff.

The election is being held to replace former Stone Mountain Democratic state Rep. Karen Bennett, who resigned in early January shortly before pleading guilty to pandemic-era unemployment fraud.

And in House District 130, a former state lawmaker is hoping to return to the Gold Dome after taking a hiatus to care for her mother, but she will first have to fend off a GOP candidate in the Richmond County-based district.

Former state Rep. Sheila Clark Nelson, who is a Democrat, won 33% of the vote in last month’s six-way race and now faces Thomas D. McAdams, a minister and a Republican who made it to the runoff with 20% of the vote. The winner will replace former Augusta Democratic Rep. Rep. Lynn Heffner, who stepped down in early January.

Senate Bill 33, originally by State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta) received a transplant of property tax reform legislation and passed, and now may impact local Boards of Education, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Augusta Chronicle.

Homeowners will get relief from their fast-rising property tax bills and may even see tax cuts if Gov. Brian Kemp signs Senate Bill 33 into law.

But many other constituencies stand to lose, including one that cannot vote: children in public schools.

Local governments and schools collect the money they need to pay for operations using a simple formula: property values established by county assessors multiplied by tax rates set by each city council, county commission or school board.

SB 33 would arrest half of that formula by limiting increases in taxable home values to the rate of inflation.

Cities, counties and schools could simply bump the other variable in the formula, bringing in more revenue by raising the tax rate, also known as the millage rate.

That might not be politically popular, but it would keep the lights on.

There is a catch for schools, though: nearly all of Georgia’s 180 school districts are limited to a maximum rate of 20 mills under the state constitution.

So, the most that they can collect is $20 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Some districts would begin to see cost increases outpacing revenue increases in just a few years, said Justin Pauly, spokesman for the Georgia School Boards Association.

“It’s definitely going to squeeze things,” he said.

School districts are powerless to contain two big drivers of rising costs, he said. Teachers get two benefits that the locals must pay into at rates set by the state: a pension and health insurance.

Health insurance costs have risen 20% to 30% in the past half decade, said John Zauner, executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.

If Kemp signs SB 33 into law, Zauner expects pockets of school districts around the state to begin laying off teachers in a few years.

Personnel costs account for 90% of a typical school budget, Zauner said. “How do you save money when 90% of your budget is personnel cost? You go to the personnel to reduce your costs.”

That, in turn, would mean more students per teacher, affecting teaching quality, he said.

SB 33 arrests costs for owner-occupied homes, so rural and primarily residential areas that lack industry would get hit first.

Also, most school systems are already near the maximum tax rate, with the state average at 15 mills.

At least five school districts already had tax rates set between 19 and 20 mills by 2024, including Clayton, Fayette and Gwinnett counties in metro Atlanta, according to Zauner’s count. Two others were Dublin City and Wilkinson County, both near Macon.

A handful of others had already reached or exceeded the 20-mill cap, but they are exempt owing to peculiarities in the constitution, Zauner said. Many of those are also in metro Atlanta, including the systems for DeKalb and Rockdale counties and for the cities of Atlanta and Decatur. Muscogee County, where Columbus is the county seat, is in that group, as well.

Many constituencies besides students would lose if SB 33 were to become law. The taxable value of properties that are not owner-occupied would be allowed to continue outpacing inflation, so apartments, factories, restaurants, stores and offices would see no benefit.

Also, SB 33 would allow a new penny sales tax to further offset the property tax burden for homeowners in counties that approve such a tax by referendum.

So, the burden of paying for parks, police, roads — and schools — could shift further from homeowners, while the overall economy carried the cost.

 More on the legislative cluster on ballot counting, from Atlanta News First via WTVM:

Georgia is approaching a July 1 deadline to stop counting ballots with QR codes, but lawmakers ended this year’s legislative session without approving a replacement system or providing money to change course.

The deadline stems from a law passed two years ago that bans the machine-readable codes that are currently used to tally votes on ballots printed by Georgia’s Dominion ballot-marking devices. Critics, including some conservative activists, argue voters cannot read the QR codes and therefore cannot personally verify what the scanning equipment is counting.

In the final days of the session, House leaders backed a bipartisan proposal to delay the QR-code ban, arguing the state should not overhaul election administration close to a major election. The Senate did not take up the measure.

House Speaker Jon Burns said lawmakers would consult with Gov. Brian Kemp about next steps.

“We’ll sit down with the governor, but certainly, election reform is something we were committed to,” Burns said.

County election officials, who are required to use the current equipment, say the lack of direction complicates planning for November.

“We’re in limbo. We have no direction. We can’t prepare for elections overnight,” said Deirdre Holden, the elections administrator in Paulding County, west of Atlanta.

Voting rights advocates say the timeline for major changes is tight.

Rachel Glover, associate director of the ACLU of Georgia’s Voter Access Project, said ordering equipment, updating procedures, and training staff and poll workers can take six months to a year.

“The General Assembly created this problem by passing SB 189 in 2024, and it’s their responsibility to find the solution,” Glover said.

If Georgia reaches July 1 without changing how ballots are counted, outside groups could file lawsuits arguing the state is out of compliance with its own election law, potentially putting election rules on a judge’s timetable.

“It’s going to have to be addressed one way or the other. A special legislative session is the most likely way to get this resolved,” said Zachary Peskowitz, a political science professor at Emory University.

Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper warned in a video statement that court intervention could add uncertainty.

“That’s a scary proposition. What happens next with our election system goes to a judge. iit’s unpredictable,” Draper said.

The political calendar adds pressure. Early voting for Georgia’s May 19 primary is approaching, and a special session would pull lawmakers — many of them candidates — back to Atlanta during a key stretch of campaigning.

Kemp’s office said it would begin reviewing bills and the budget Monday, including “the consequences of bills that did not pass.” Kemp has not said whether he will call lawmakers back into session.

For now, counties say they are waiting for guidance as the July 1 deadline nears.

From GPB News:

Georgia lawmakers wrapped up the 2026 legislative session last week. But they could be back again for a second session this year.

Existing voting machines print ballots with a QR code that scanners use to tally votes. A 2024 law requires removal of those QR codes by July 2026.

But the Legislature has failed to pass any bills to fund an alternative for QR codes on ballots or to push back the July 1 removal deadline ahead of the November election.

There is no plan in place for an alternative. Lawmakers say the legislature could go to a special session to find a solution, or the conflict between the 2024 law and the current system could result in a lawsuit or hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots in November.

Rep. Victor Anderson sponsored a bill during the past session that would’ve extended the removal deadline, but it did not reach a final vote.

“We’ll have an irreconcilable statutory conflict come July 1 if we don’t resolve it,” he said.

Gov. Brian [K]emp would need to call the special session. A spokesperson for Kemp said that the governor is still reviewing bills that passed, and the consequences of those that did not.

From the AJC:

Most years, Gov. Brian Kemp ends the legislative session weighing whether to sign a handful of controversial bills among the hundreds on his desk.

This year, the bigger question is whether he calls lawmakers back for a special session to remake Georgia’s elections process.

Now, lawmakers must come back for a special session to fix it or risk a possible court fight that could plunge election law into deeper limbo ahead of the midterms.

Complicating Kemp’s decision is the calendar itself. A special session would likely last at least five days, and the May 19 primary is fast approaching with early voting starting in weeks. Calling lawmakers back soon would pull candidates off the campaign trail at a pivotal stretch.

Wait until after the primary, though, and the window narrows again: top races are likely headed to a four-week runoff campaign culminating in a June 16 vote. By then, Atlanta will be consumed by World Cup matches that will bring tens of thousands of fans to downtown through June and July.

Kemp is also under pressure to call lawmakers back for a separate situation: the property tax overhaul approved in the session’s closing minutes.

Democrats say it could be unconstitutional because it started as a Senate bill on hemp regulation, despite Georgia law requiring revenue-raising measures to originate in the House.

Others see little way around a special session, lest a judge step in.

“This is a legislative problem,” said state Rep. Victor Anderson, the House committee chairman who sponsored the bipartisan effort to resolve the election mess by pushing back the deadline. “It’s a legislative solution that has to happen.”

Senate Bill 406 by State Sen. Matt Brass (R-Newnan) regulates the relationship between Homeowners Associations and their members, and passed both chambers, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.

The most comprehensive homeowners association (HOA) oversight bill in Georgia history is on its way to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk.

On Tuesday, both the state Senate and House of Representatives and Senate approved Senate Bill 406.

Atlanta News First Investigates’ series HOA Nightmares uncovered the lack of oversight for HOAs across the state, leaving families tens of thousands of dollars in debt, with liens on their homes and the possibility of foreclosure, often over fines for faded shutters or trash bins left out too long.

As of March 2026, there were no universal laws governing associations and no office that oversees actions or takes complaints. Many homeowners haven take their associations to court, paying both their attorney fees and the HOA’s.

State Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, sponsored the bipartisan bill with co-sponsor Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, who’s worked for HOA oversight for several years.

State Rep. Rey Martinez, R-Loganville, presented the bill on the House floor on the next-to-last legislative voting day, thanking “homeowners and associations for their involvement and inputs, along with Atlanta News First’s Anastassia Olmos for reporting on this very important issue regarding homeowners.”

The bill received several changes in the House, and will now head back to the Senate for another vote.

SB 406 (House substitute) would:

• Require HOAs to register with the Georgia Secretary of State. Unregistered associations would not be able to collect fines/fees, record liens, or initiate foreclosures.

• Require associations to keep records for 10 years, providing three years to the state along with governing documents.

• Give the Secretary of State the power to deny/suspend/revoke registrations; limit an association’s ability to impose fines/fees/liens/foreclosures; and conduct investigations and hearings.

• Allow homeowners to file complaints with the Secretary of State, with disputes handled through a hearing officer process and the possibility of court review.

• Create a list of owner rights (notices, access to records and insurance info, ability to attend meetings, due-process expectations, etc.)

• Establish rules for how associations must apply payments: first to regular dues, then special assessments, then specific assessments, then other fees/fines—and it bars associations from refusing partial payments.

• Lengthens the pre-foreclosure notice period to 90 days, requires the notice to state that paying within that window eliminates the right to foreclose, and limits foreclosure eligibility to cases where arrears meet a threshold (generally the lesser of $4,000 or 12 months of regular assessments, but not less than $2,000), excluding fines/fees from the threshold calculation. It also provides a limited stay of foreclosure while certain appeals are pending.

• Adds new limits on attorney’s fees in collection cases: associations must give specific written notice, a 30-day chance to pay, and an itemized fee list, and a judge must make a reasonableness finding before fees can be awarded.

The bill would take effect Jan. 1, 2027, with the attorney-fee section effective July 1, 2026 for actions filed on or after that date.

After passing the House in Amended form, the changes were accepted by the Senate.

Fuel prices could threaten the Georgia shrimp harvest, according to WRDW.

Shrimping season in Georgia is almost underway, but with fuel prices spiking amid the conflict in Iran, crews may face higher costs and tougher conditions on the water.

“The price was jumping up real quick,” said Captain Wynn Gale, a Georgia shrimper.

Diesel prices across the U.S. have surged in recent months. According to AAA, the average price in Georgia is now $5.27 per gallon, a sharp increase from the last time Gale filled up.

“The last I bought was $2.62,” Gale said.

Fuel is one of the biggest expenses shrimpers face. Now many are rethinking how they’ll operate this season.

“It’s going to affect the way I fish, it’s going to affect the way he’s fish, and everybody else fishes,” Gale said.

Gale says he and others may need to make fewer trips, and only head out when conditions are best, trying to maximize each run to cover costs.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance warns that if domestic fleets can’t keep up, consumers may turn to imported shrimp instead.

“There’s a fine line from, you know, how much you can charge to your customers compared to how much you can pay the boats. And, you know, if you get too high on your customers, your customers are going to go away,” said John Wallace, board member of the Southern Shrimp Alliance.

For now, boats remain docked. The uncertainty surrounding fuel prices may be just as challenging as the wait for the season to begin.

Billionaire Rick Jackson campaigned for the Republican nomination for Governor in Tifton, according to the Tifton Gazette.

Jackson, who jumped into the Republican race in February, relocated to the Syd Blackmarr Center for the Arts, where he spoke to 135 people.

His staff said his campaign stops routinely draw that many people or more.

Jackson, 71, translated a difficult childhood into business success, and he told the crowd Friday that he wants to use his business background to improve state government.

As a specific example, he cited then-Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, who personally called the CEOs and presidents of companies to try to lure those companies to Florida. Jackson said if he’s elected Georgia governor, he’d do the same to bring businesses to the Peach State.

“There was always the feeling God was taking care of me as a child,” he said, as he talked about finding a refuge in churches.

Because of his background, Jackson has long been an advocate for foster care.

He said he testified on the subject before a state committee, and the committee chairman said in his 17 years in the legislature, he’d never heard the phrase “foster care.”

“It just stabbed me in the heart,” Jackson said. He said the experience highlighted how people with money and lobbyists could get legislators’ attention, but foster kids didn’t have money or lobbyists.

“These kids did not have representation at the highest levels of government,” he said. He said every year since then, he’s been involved in getting a bill to improve foster care in front of legislators.

Between his speech and wide-ranging questions afterwards, Jackson laid out several other goals if he’s elected:

— Freeze property tax increases. He said while prices overall have increased 21% in recent years, property taxes have increased 44% in the same period. He said he’d “stop the bleeding,” then work to find a more permanent solution because cities, counties and school systems that depend on property taxes are all different and “I don’t believe one suit fits all.”

— Slash income taxes in half. He acknowledged that the legislature has already made a start.

— Keep Georgians safe. “No more Laken Rileys,” he said, a reference to a college student whose murder in Athens made national news when an illegal immigrant was arrested and later convicted of killing her.

— Jackson said he has talked with farmers, who are getting squeezed both from the cost of their inputs and the low revenue they make on their products. He said he thinks he could help, both with cost issues and with unfair trade that keeps prices low.

Macon-Bibb County Commissioners will consider whether to renew a $45,000 contract for outreach to homeless people, according to 13WMAZ.

Macon-Bibb County commissioners are set to vote Tuesday on a $45,000 extension of a contract with Root Analytics LLC. That’s a Macon data firm that provides outreach to people experiencing homelessness and collects information on the city’s unhoused population.

If approved, the extension would bring the total contract value to $120,000 and keep Root Analytics working through June 30, even though the state’s annual Point-in-Time Count (PIT) data has not yet been completed.

Root Analytics, founded by Jake Hall, has worked with Macon-Bibb to provide outreach, support shelters, and assist residents in crisis. In a statement to 13WMAZ, Hall said the extension would continue their ongoing service efforts, not just data collection for the PIT Count.

“The contract extension is to continue the ongoing work we began several years ago to conduct ongoing service outreach for people experiencing homelessness, not just the annual PIT count,” Hall said. “It also includes working with the Mayor’s Justice Initiative to help people experiencing homelessness that are getting out of the LEC to access services. As for the PIT Count, no more work is currently needed on our part. We are waiting on the Department of Community Affairs to provide us our finalized dataset for Bibb.”

United States Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Atlanta) had a special guest at his church’s Easter service, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Were you watching the Easter service from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta?

Five-time Grammy award winning artist Mariah Carey was in attendance Sunday with her children as the Atlanta congregation celebrated the Easter holiday.

The church is the home parish of Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and an iconic Black institution in Atlanta. The church was founded in 1886 and was the spiritual home of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his father. Warnock became the fifth senior pastor of the church at age 35, the youngest ever.

“Today in worship, and she came to worship, so y’all let her worship and praise God, it just so happens that the best selling female artist of all time, of all time, with more than 200 million albums sold to date, 19 Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, 18 of them penned by herself, more than any solo artist in history and inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, I could go on and on and on, her Christmas album is so bad folks listen to it at Easter time,” Warnock said in remarks during the service, hinting at Carey’s presence in the pews.

“And, her music director is Ebenezer’s music director. In fact, I think he was our musical director before he was your music director,” Warnock said. “So when you feel the Spirit, know where that’s coming from. Welcome, Mariah Carey is in the house.”

“Good to see you in church,” Warnock continues. “Welcome.”

Warnock told the congregation Carey had said she was there to worship, and not to sing, and while everyone would have loved a performance, he asked everyone to allow her the space to pray.

Carey was just one famous name in the crowd. Former mayor and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, Judge Penny Brown Reynolds, attorney general candidate Tanya Miller and superior court candidate Nikia Smith Cellars were also in attendance.

Warnock also gave a shoutout to grammy-winner Jermaine Dupri, an Atlanta native. Dupri and Carey have shared a long professional career, and Dupri produced hits like “We Belong Together” and “Always Be My Baby.”

The Rev. Justin Lucas is running against U.S. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton), according to the Tifton Gazette.

Georgia’s 8th Congressional district stretches from Echols County in the southeast to Monroe County in central Georgia, a total of 29 counties.

A pastor with Colquitt County ties is working to visit them all as he seeks to unseat incumbent Rep. Austin Scott.

The Rev. Justin Lucas met with voters Saturday at the Groveland Building on West Central Avenue in Moultrie.

“As your next congressman, I want to focus on matters that matter,” he said.

His immediate goals are to learn the district’s needs and to make himself approachable to all of his constituents — Democrats, Republicans, Independents and people of every color.