Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for December 22, 2025

James Edward Oglethorpe was born in London, England, on December 22, 1696. He was elected to Parliament, where he worked on prison reform and had the idea of a new colony where “worthy poor” Brits could be sent. In 1732, Oglethorpe was granted a charter to create a colony of Georgia in the new world.

On December 22, 1775, the Continental Congress created the Continental Navy.

On December 25, 1776, Continental forces under General George Washington began crossing the Delaware River and the next day launched a surprise attack on Hessian soldiers at Trenton, New Jersey.

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony premiered on December 22, 1808 in Vienna, Austria.

The War of 1812 ended on December 24, 1814 with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, Belgium by British and American representatives.

Happy Birthday to Columbus, Georgia, founded on December 24, 1827 when Gov. John Forsyth signed legislation incorporating the new town.

Governor George Gilmer signed legislation that prohibited teaching slaves or free African-Americans to read or write on December 22, 1829.

Wesleyan College in Macon was chartered on December 23, 1836, becoming the first college chartered specifically to grant degrees to women.

Martha Bulloch and Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. were married at Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Georgia on December 22, 1853. Their son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. would later be elected President of the United States.

On December 22, 1864, General William T. Sherman wired to President Abraham Lincoln from Savannah, Georgia,

His Excellency President LINCOLN:

I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.

W.T. Sherman,
Major General.

On December 23, 1864, the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution specifying that the Senate chamber should be lit by electricity for the next Session. That is the last time the legislature sought enlightenment before passing laws.

On December 25, 1868, President Andrew Johnson issued an unconditional pardon of all Confederates.

President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree on the White House grounds on December 24, 1923.

U.S.S. Atlanta was commissioned on December 24, 1941 at the New York Navy Yard as the lead ship of a new class of Light Cruisers. USS Atlanta (CL-51) was sponsored by Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind.

Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the USSR on December 25, 1991, signalling the end of the Godless Communist regime.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for December 22, 2021

Governor Brian Kemp issued Executive Order #12.18.25.01, appointing Susan S. Camp to fill a vacancy on the State Court of Douglas County that resulted from legislation passed in the 2025 Session. Governor Kemp had previously announced he would appoint Judge Camp.

Judge Susan Sarratt Camp has served as a Magistrate Judge for Douglas County since 1995 and was first elected to the Chief Magistrate Judge position in 1998. She was honored to be the first elected female judge in Douglas County and has spent nearly three decades serving the community from the bench. Prior to her judicial service, Judge Camp worked as an assistant district attorney in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit in North Georgia and later entered private practice in Douglasville. Judge Camp earned both her Bachelor of Business Administration and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Georgia. She is the proud mother of two sons and resides in Douglas County.

Georgia Public Service Commissioners approved an expansion of Georgia Power’s generation fleet, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Statesboro Herald.

State regulators granted Georgia Power the authority for an historic expansion of its capacity to generate electricity in a unanimous vote Friday.

The decision by the five elected members of the Public Service Commission, all Republicans, allows the privately-owned monopoly to build five gas-powered plants and supporting infrastructure while contracting for additional power from other suppliers.

Critics said the expansion, equivalent to five times the power output of the Hoover Dam, could cost up to $60 billion, saddling generations of Georgians with the bill.

The company asked for and got permission to add nearly 10 gigawatts of generating capacity, close to a 50% increase of its capacity. It said its forecasts showed voracious future demand from tech companies that will be building server warehouses to power the internet and artificial intelligence.

In a statement after the vote, Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power, called the demand “projected unprecedented growth,” noting that the company had filed customer contracts with the commission this year for three gigawatts in new demand.

Critics contended that the forecast revenue, based on “trade secret” information that the public cannot see, was overly optimistic. If the demand does not materialize, they said, Georgia Power’s other customers would be left with the bill for the construction of that unneeded capacity.

To offset those concerns, the company pledged to shield existing customers from the cost of the expansion but only through 2031. Thereafter, the agreement allows for amendments to hit the brakes if demand does not materialize.

“Large load” customers, such as data centers, will pay for the expansion through the rates they are charged, the company said, but there remains a risk that the data centers do not come.

So Georgia Power addressed that by signing a “stipulated agreement” to allocate costs based on the current revenue forecasts that assume the demand will be there.

This “downward pressure” on rates will equal $8.50 a month for the typical residential customer, the company said.

Lawyers for opponents, including environmental organizations and renewable energy advocates, said there were undisclosed assumptions in Georgia Power’s calculations that they contended could create a countervailing “upward pressure” on residential bills.

They wanted the company to enter its calculations into the public record, so the commission could more easily hold it to account for its pledge in the future.

Lawyers for the Southern Environmental Law Center filed motions calling for the disclosure and for a 30-day delay on the vote.

“The point of this motion is not about whether it’s a good deal or a bad deal,” said Jennifer Whitfield, one of the lawyers. “It’s about … Georgia Power showing its work for the conclusions that are in the agreement so that we can enforce that agreement down the road.”

Her colleague, Bob Sherrier, added later: “We have a problem with the stipulation putting a number on the downward pressure but not a number on the upward pressure.”

Jason Shaw, chairman of the commission, denied the request, saying his agency already had all the necessary information from Georgia Power.

Then the commissioners voted for the expansion, with audience members shouting “shame,” “disgusting” and “sell out!”

Before the vote, members of the public got time to speak.

Some extolled the benefits of reliable power, saying big companies will not bring jobs to Georgia if the state cannot stay ahead of demand.

“It’s about being proactive rather than reacting too late,” said Susanne Reynolds, director of the Development Authority of Early County in southwest Georgia.

But most were furious about the expansion because of the potential cost for customers and the impact on the environment of burning more fossil fuel.

They also were unhappy with the timing of the vote, less than two weeks before January.

That is when two new commissioners, both Democrats, will take over the seats of the two Republicans they beat decisively in an election last month

Julie Jabaley said she would work hard to unseat the remaining three Republicans.

She was among the protesters escorted out of a similar hearing last week after they were told they had violated the commission’s rules on “decorum,” a word that Jabaley mocked.

“If you vote on this proposal today as is you demonstrate an utter lack of respect for thousands of petitioners who have tried to decorously convince you that there’s a better way to fulfill your mission that consumers receive safe and reasonably priced services,” she said.

Jabaley said she wanted “clean, smart energy for the future” and was concerned about the cost of the expansion.

“If you proceed,” she said, “you will absolutely not be decent to the tens of thousands of Georgia Power customers on fixed or low incomes.”

Democratic Commissioner-elect Peter Hubbard criticized the Commission’s action, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.

The five Republicans on Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC) unanimously approved a massive $16 billion energy boost for Georgia Power to accommodate data centers across the state.

The plan calls for nearly a 10-gigawatt increase to the electrical grid, which is enough power to supply roughly nine million homes.

Commissioner-elect Peter Hubbard, a Democrat, said the process leading up to this approval lacked adequate transparency and deliberation.

“This is far larger than anything we’ve ever done in the state’s history in terms of power and it’s an incredibly important decision that was rushed and not fully considered,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard starts his term on Jan. 1, joining the commission responsible for regulating utilities like Georgia Power.

“We had two lame-duck commissioners who were handed the defeat. The voters spoke and they need to be heard,” Hubbard said. “By pushing this through just days before myself and Dr. (Alicia) Johnson are to take our seats on the commission, it’s really a slap in the face to the ratepayers.”

The PSC said they’re freezing power bill rate increases until 2028, and Georgia Power said customers and small businesses will not bear the financial brunt of new data center developments.

“I think this is a great thing for Georgia,” Georgia Power spokesperson Matthew Kent said. ”Georgia is growing, and now Georgia Power is approved to go meet the demand of Georgia.”

Hubbard, however, says the current grid could have been used more efficiently. He believes costs will rise to 50 or 60 billion dollars once factoring in future construction, fuel and operational expenses.

“This was an attempt, in my view, to lock in a long-term solution for Georgia that is going to be more costly and more polluting than we otherwise could have,” he said.

Georgia Power says the plan will save customers an average of $8.50 per month between 2029 and 2031.

“Georgia is a great state to do business in, and that’s why they’re coming here. We’re just doing our job to make sure that we can serve them,” PSC Chairman Jason Shaw, a Republican, said.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney kept the paper moving, declining to quash subpoenas in an election case, according to the AJC.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on Friday ruled that the election board is well within its authority to request the information it has sought for more than a year. He ordered the county to provide an itemized estimate of the cost of complying with the subpoenas.

The ruling is a victory for the election board’s right-wing majority, which last year reopened an investigation into Fulton County’s conduct of the 2020 election. President Donald Trump and his supporters have long contended the election was rife with fraud.

The board ordered an independent monitor to observe the county’s 2024 election performance to settle the case. But a new right-wing majority later reopened its investigation and subpoenaed ballots and troves of other documents on Election Day last year.

Fulton County sought to quash the subpoenas, arguing they were unreasonably broad and related to an investigation that had already been closed.

Friday, McBurney wrote it wasn’t clear the board’s original investigation was concluded. And he wrote the board has the authority to open new investigations anyway.

“As stale and ill-timed as these requests might seem to the casual observer, they were nonetheless inquiries that fell squarely within the SEB’s (State Election Board’s) authority,” McBurney wrote.

Columbus City Council members are considering disbanding the Columbus Airport Commission, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

Members of the Columbus Council are considering repealing the Columbus Airport Commission after the two groups clashed during Tuesday’s council meeting. Airport director Amber Clark, along with members of the airport commission and staff, attended the meeting to update the council on the airport.

The delegation representing the airport ended up walking out of the meeting as councilors questioned them about the airport’s expenditures and pushed for the local business community to be represented on the commission, now that a seat is open.

The conversation grew tense when Columbus Councilor Glenn Davis of District 2 appeared to imply that, if the airport could not pay its expenditures, then there would be an impact on the city council’s budget.

“We’ve had a wonderful partnership with council in Columbus, GA, over many, many years, since its formation,” Alston Auten, an attorney representing the airport told the council. “However, we are separately held, owned and operated.”

Columbus enplanements, which is the measurement used for commercial travel by representing the number of passengers getting on a plane to travel somewhere, peaked in 2022 and started declining in 2023, Clark said. This decline is because of American Airlines leaving the market, she said.

The airport is funded through it’s operating revenues. It also receives grants from the Airport Improvement Program, which receives 90% of its funding from the federal government, 5% from the state and 5% from the local government.

Funding also comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Georgia Department of Transportation, with about 25% of grants from GDOT being funded locally.

Port Wentworth adopted an ordinance to regulate data centers, according to the Savannah Morning News.

With standing room only on the third floor of city hall, the council voted 4-1 to add data centers as an allowable use with guidelines and restrictions to its zoning ordinance, to a room full of irate Port Wentworth residents Thursday night.

Immediately after the vote, the room cleared, including Councilmember At-Large Artlise Alston-Cone, who gave an impassioned speech before the vote and was the lone “no.” Mayor Pro Tem Gabrielle Nelson recused herself, but did not disclose why.

After the Planning Commission recommended denial of the ordinance as written and presented on Dec. 15, City Attorney Scott Robichaux and staff updated the ordinance from resident and council feedback by adding three more sections right before the meeting. They passed out copies of this new ordinance at the meeting.

Much of residents’ concerns at the Dec. 15 Planning Commission meeting included data center impacts to water usage, power rates, and property values, which Davis addressed, saying that, if anything, all of those things should see improvements rather than major impacts.

“There will be no groundwater resources used on data centers,” Davis said. “If they choose to use the reuse, they would have to build the pump station, because we won’t have a line from the wastewater treatment plant where any of these facilities could go, and then turn that station over to the city. Then, the city would have that as a revenue source where we could sell the water, so that could be a benefit.”

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources may lengthen the shrimp season, according to the Savannah Morning News.

On a gray early December morning, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) set off on its last shrimp trawl of the year, which also turned out to be its roughest.

Under these conditions, the DNR team might have postponed the survey.

But they needed to enter the last bit of this year’s data to inform the DNR commissioner’s decision whether to extend the shrimp season closing Dec. 15. Nearly every season for the past 15 years has been extended through January, said CRD Marine Biologist Eddie Leonard. The population looks strong enough again this year for that story to remain true.

Data and anecdotal insights from shrimpers help guide seasonal openings and closures, but officials say management decisions rely on judgment as much as hard numbers.

“We use it as an index and not an actual estimate of abundance,” Leonard said.

Georgia law does set one firm threshold: shrimp must average at least 45 or fewer per pound for the fishery to open. Beyond that, management also considers the population’s reproductive status to determine when to officially open the fishery, which has historically been in mid-June.

Since 1975, DNR-issued shrimping licenses have decreased by 90%, from nearly 1,500 to just over 140, according to CRD data. The recorded number of pounds of landings, or caught shrimp, remains relatively stagnant.

“The biggest problem with native local shrimp is imports,” Leonard said. “They’re farm-raised usually and imported at really, really, really low prices, and they undercut the market.”

The Port of Brunswick will set a new record for auto imports, according to The Brunswick News.

The 500,000th vehicle will arrive at the port Monday, setting a new benchmark.

Six new Right Whale calves have been identified, according to The Brunswick News.

A North Atlantic right whale that a team of state, regional and federal scientists worked for two days to disentangle is still alive and still dragging what the team could not cut free.

The news came on Tuesday, the same day the sixth new calf was spotted off the coast of Ossabaw Island, adding to what has been a busy first few weeks of right whale calving season for the Department of Natural Resources team and others who monitor and track the annual visitors to Georgia’s coast.