On March 30, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally adopted after sufficient number of the states ratified it.
With the adoption of the 15th Amendment in 1870, a politically mobilized African-American community joined with white allies in the Southern states to elect the Republican Party to power, which brought about radical changes across the South. By late 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican Party, thanks to the support of African-American voters.
In the same year, Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, became the first African American ever to sit in Congress. Although African-American Republicans never obtained political office in proportion to their overwhelming electoral majority, Revels and a dozen other African-American men served in Congress during Reconstruction, more than 600 served in state legislatures, and many more held local offices. However, in the late 1870s, the Southern Republican Party vanished with the end of Reconstruction, and Southern state governments effectively nullified the 14th and 15th Amendments, stripping Southern African Americans of the right to vote. It would be nearly a century before the nation would again attempt to establish equal rights for African Americans in the South.
Robert E. Lee arrived in Augusta on March 30, 1870.
On March 30, 1937, Georgia Governor E.D. Rivers signed legislation authorizing non-profit Electric Membership Corporations to electrify rural Georgia.
On March 30, 1945, President F.D. Roosevelt arrived for his final visit to Warm Spring, Georgia.
On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot.
The president had just finished addressing a labor meeting at the Washington Hilton Hotel and was walking with his entourage to his limousine when Hinckley, standing among a group of reporters, fired six shots at the president, hitting Reagan and three of his attendants. White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head and critically wounded, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy was shot in the side, and District of Columbia policeman Thomas Delahanty was shot in the neck. After firing the shots, Hinckley was overpowered and pinned against a wall, and President Reagan, apparently unaware that he’d been shot, was shoved into his limousine by a Secret Service agent and rushed to the hospital.
The president was shot in the left lung, and the .22 caliber bullet just missed his heart. In an impressive feat for a 70-year-old man with a collapsed lung, he walked into George Washington University Hospital under his own power. As he was treated and prepared for surgery, he was in good spirits and quipped to his wife, Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” and to his surgeons, “Please tell me you’re Republicans.” Reagan’s surgery lasted two hours, and he was listed in stable and good condition afterward.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Voters in the 14th Congressional District (Extreme NW GA) begin going to the polls today in Early Voting for the Runoff Election, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.
From Atlanta News First via WALB:
Early voting begins Monday, March 30, 2026, in northwest Georgia’s 14th congressional district in a race that will decide who will fill out the remainder of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s unexpired term in the nation’s capital.
Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris are in the runoff that resulted from the March 10, 2026, special election. In-person voting is set for Tuesday, April 7, 2026.
In a race that initially drew more than 20 candidates, Harris and Fuller finished as the top two contenders in the March 10, 2026, special election, with Harris beating out Fuller in the heavily Republican district.
Fuller, the former district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, was endorsed by President Donald Trump in the race. Fuller was a White House fellow in the first Trump administration and is a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia Air National Guard. He finished fourth in the 2020 Republican primary that Greene won before becoming a district attorney.
Harris, a cattle farmer and retired brigadier general, is likely to face an uphill battle to win a majority in the district. Nevertheless, Democrats are likely to boast of his first-round showing as a further success in a period when they have focused on strong performances in special elections.
With so many candidates in the race, the April 7 runoff was virtually assured. Whoever wins the runoff will officially fill out the remainder of Greene’s congressional term through next January.
However, if the winner wants to run for reelection in Georgia’s nationally watched 2026 midterms, he will have to run in the May 19 statewide primary. If a runoff is needed, it will be held on June 16.
Then, it’s on to the Nov. 3 general election, whose winner will serve in Congress for a full, two-year term. A Dec. 1 runoff will happen if needed.
Early voting is underway in the special election runoff for Congress.
Voting will take place through Thursday, April 2 at the Floyd County Election Center only.
To ensure voter access during the limited four-day early voting period, early voting will remain open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Election Day is Tuesday, April 7.
Please note that April 3 is a state holiday and early voting cannot legally be conducted on that day.
Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris are squaring off in the runoff.
The winner will head to Washington to fill the unexpired term of former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in the U.S. House of Representatives.
However, the campaign for the 14th District seat will not end as both candidates have qualified to run in their party’s primaries in May.
The General Election in November will decide who will serve a full two-year term.
There is also a runoff for State Senate in the 53rd District between Republican Lanny Thomas and Democrat Jack Zibluk to fill the unexpired term of Colton Moore, who stepped down to run for Congress.
The 53rd District includes the extreme northern portion of Floyd County, primarily the Armuchee area.
On the 53d Senate District race, from the AJC:
Republican state Senate candidate Lanny Thomas said he is recovering after suffering a life-threatening aortic dissection a few weeks ago.
He posted an update on his health with Republican state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, the Rome anesthetist who is part of his medical team.
“I won’t pretend there isn’t more rehab ahead,” Thomas said. “But I feel better every day, and we’re confident in the path forward. My plan is to complete rehab next week and return home by the end of the week.”
Under the Gold Dome Today
Tuesday, March 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 39
Thursday, April 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Sine Die) convene for legislative day 40
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
10:30 AM Senate Rules 450 CAP
1 PM HOUSE WAYS & MEANS 406 CLOB
Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones (R-GA) is under fire for allegations of strong-arming state legislators for endorsements, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.
Tensions are escalating at the state capitol as lawmakers scramble to move bills with just days left in the legislative session.
Some Republicans are pointing fingers at Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Jones is is also running for governor, and some legislators claim their bills are being slowed or blocked unless they take sides in the race for governor.
Jones met this week with lawmakers who have not endorsed a candidate in the governor’s race.
Republican sources told Atlanta News First that Jones is seeking endorsements and Atlanta News First documented bills being reassigned late in the session — a move lawmakers say can determine whether a proposal advances quickly or runs out of time.
The unusual moves sparked pushback on the Senate floor. State Sen. Josh McLaurin questioned the decision to reassign bills, asking, “Why, Mr. President, would you be reassigning bills—did you make a mistake the first time?”
Rep. Steven Sainz, a Republican, said his bipartisan bill related to injured or retired law-enforcement K-9s passed the House unanimously but stalled without an explanation. Sainz told Atlanta News First he suspects the timing is tied to his endorsement of Jones’ rival, gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson.
“I would say that the timing is conspicuous to lead someone to that conclusion if they wanted to,” Sainz said.
Another Republican, Rep. Brent Cox, who also backs Jackson, said his name, image, and likeness (NIL) bill was sent to a committee without a chairman, effectively freezing the legislation.
At a press event in LaGrange, Jackson said more than a dozen lawmakers told him they are afraid to be seen speaking with him because they worry it could jeopardize their bills.
“There are people in the House that are afraid to endorse me because they’re afraid for their bills,” Jackson said.
Jones’ campaign rejected Jackson’s allegations in a statement, mocking Jackson’s endorsement count and citing Jones’ statewide support.
“Oh, bless Rick Jackson’s heart, what a precious way to explain not having many endorsements. Burt Jones has earned support in every corner of the state, including the endorsement of our Commander in Chief, President Donald J. Trump. Rick Jackson’s endorsements? Bought and paid for, or non-existent — take your pick,” Jones’s campaign said.
Lawmakers told Atlanta News First the political fight is creating real-world consequences at the Capitol, where stalled legislation can mean delayed action on issues affecting constituents across the state.
With the session’s deadline approaching, some lawmakers are also warning that the conflict could spill into budget negotiations. There are growing concerns that the House and Senate could struggle to reach an agreement, raising the prospect of a special session if the budget or other must-pass items are not finalized on time.
Here’s my question: Newt Gingrich, the most prominent Georgia Republican in history, endorsed Rick Jackson – is the claim that his endorsement is “bought and paid for”?
There’s always end-of-session political blood sport at the Capitol. But this year, the governor’s race is bleeding into the legislative process in unusually public ways.
Two House Republicans backing billionaire Rick Jackson are now openly accusing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones of bottling up their bills in retaliation for endorsing his GOP rival in the race for governor — amplifying Jackson’s claim that lawmakers fear political blowback if they’re seen crossing the lieutenant governor.
Jackson said last week in Winder that he has intentionally avoided pressing lawmakers for endorsements because he’s been told there have been reprisals for those who support him. Days later, Abby Kousouris of Atlanta News First reported he went further, telling a LaGrange crowd that more than a dozen lawmakers said they’re afraid to even be seen talking to him.
The charge lands amid an already tense session, with the House and Senate sparring over House Speaker Jon Burns’ literacy bill and a push by Jones’ allies to force Jackson’s business to give up roughly $1 billion in state contracts to stay in the race. It all comes to a head Thursday, when the 40-day session ends.
What makes this moment stand out is how openly some Republicans are willing to say it. In 2018, plenty of GOP House members quietly lined up behind Brian Kemp, but few publicly assailed then-Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle during the session for fear of retaliation. Not this time.
State Rep. Steven Sainz said his bipartisan measure to create a grant program that helps cover veterinary costs for retired law-enforcement K-9s, which passed the House unanimously, has mysteriously stalled in the Senate since he endorsed Jackson.
He also said a separate sex offender measure he sponsored, which passed the House unanimously last year, is in Senate purgatory. He urged Jones to move forward.
“There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing,” Sainz said. “If he wants to put politics over policy, that’s up to him.”
State Rep. Brent Cox made a similar complaint. The Dawsonville Republican says his proposal to protect high school athletes from predatory name, image and likeness contracts was effectively frozen after he backed Jackson.
He said lawmakers are being “pressured to surrender their honor at the feet of one’s ambition.”
“For what gain? There is a better way, Georgia — service before power — and I am thankful Rick Jackson is running for governor,” Cox added.
Jones’ allies dismissed the claims as political theater, noting that bills sponsored by Sainz and Cox have continued to move through the Senate. So have bills from GOP legislators who are allies with Attorney General Chris Carr, another candidate for governor.
Jones’ spokeswoman, Kayla Lott, said the lieutenant governor remains focused on legislating, not campaign shenanigans.
“While these representatives are busy chasing headlines, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is focused on what actually matters — getting things done for Georgians and respecting the office he serves,” she said.
The General Assembly may look like chaos now. From the AJC:
House Speaker Jon Burns’ sweeping literacy proposal is still in limbo as Senate Republicans push their own version. And Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ efforts to eliminate the state income tax are on a collision course with a House plan to limit property taxes.
On Friday, Senate Republicans advanced their own plan to transition the state to hand-marked paper ballots this year, a major election year change that faces an unclear path forward in the House.
Chants of “send it back” rang out Friday afternoon when the Senate’s version of the state budget arrived in the House. The scene signaled that the dueling chambers intend to stretch spending negotiations into the last two days of the session.
Lawmakers are still split over what long-term tax relief should look like. The House passed an income-tax cut bill earlier this month and advanced a measure to cap property tax increases at 3% a year. A more sweeping bid to eliminate the homestead tax failed.
The Georgia Senate is pushing a broader effort to eliminate the state income tax by 2032, financed partly by eliminating tax credits. That leaves Georgia Republicans arguing over the mix of one-time rebates, lower income tax rates and property tax relief.
The Georgia Senate is pushing to require preprinted, hand-marked paper ballots by the midterms, racing to meet a self-imposed deadline and setting up a clash with House lawmakers who want to delay the switch.
The bill is now on a collision course with a House-backed proposal that would keep touchscreen machines through the midterms and delay any switch until 2028, giving the next secretary of state time to refine the system.
The Georgia State Senate passed their version of the FY 2027 State Budget, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.
The Georgia Senate approved its version of the $38.5 billion fiscal year 2027 budget Friday, sending it to the state House for negotiations over the disagreements.
The House started the budget process, passing its version earlier this month.
Among the big differences: the Senate reduced the House’s increase in funding for the state’s public colleges and universities by just over $110 million, increased the amount for private K-12 school vouchers by $31 million, and added $100 million to the state employee pension system.
“I think this is one of the most important lines in the budget,” Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told senators before Friday’s unanimous vote for passage. Pensions have been eroded by decades of inflation as increases have failed to keep pace, he said. The extra money is intended to trigger regular annual cost-of-living increases.
The Senate agreed with the importance of the House’s focus on literacy but amended the way that the new program would be funded. Instead of building money to hire 1,313 literacy coaches for K-3 classrooms into the public school funding formula, the Senate chose a $70 million grant.
The Senate made myriad smaller changes. It cut the $11 million the House had allocated to hire staff to confirm all food stamp enrollees are eligible.
Georgia has one of the highest “error” rates in the country, which can mean loss of federal funding. Lawmakers in both chambers want to reduce that rate, but the Senate chose to accept an offer from the company Equifax to do the work for free.
The House disagreed with the Senate’s changes, and the Senate held fast, sending the budget to a conference committee to iron out the wrinkles.
Higher education funding could be a sticking point. Tillery said he had heard complaints about the Senate cutting the University System of Georgia’s budget. But he pointed out that the system budget would still rise under the Senate’s proposal, from $3.6 billion in state funding this year to $3.76 billion next year. It just would not rise as much as the House proposed.
“Only in government,” he said in an interview, “can you give an agency more money next year than this year and it be a cut.”
House Bill 960, originally by State Rep. Jasmine Clark (D-Lilburn) received transplant surgery in the Senate Ethics Committee and emerged as an election procedure rewrite returning the state to the 1990s hand-marked paper ballots. From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times:
A proposal for a quick switch to hand-marked paper ballots cleared the Georgia Senate on Friday, an idea that election officials say would disrupt this year’s elections.
The Senate’s 32-21 party-line vote sets up a showdown over competing bills that would change Georgia’s voting system. The Senate bill would take effect this summer, while a House proposal would delay the transition until the 2028 election year.
The measure that advanced Friday would require voters to fill out ballots by bubbling in ovals instead of making their choices on touchscreens. Millions of ballots would need to be preprinted and stored until voters fill them out.
Immediately replacing Georgia’s statewide voting system would be “irresponsible and unrealistic,” said Joseph Kirk, president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials.
“It’s just not enough time” for training, testing, and implementation, Kirk said. “You don’t want to do it for the first time in a Georgia 2026 gubernatorial election, when we’re going to have lines and have a bunch of folks there. That’s a really heavy lift.”
The bill follows a state law legislators passed two years ago that set a deadline to remove computer QR codes from ballots by July 1 of this year. Critics of Georgia’s election system say voters can’t read QR codes to verify that their ballots accurately reflect their choices.
The House’s proposal would move that deadline until 2028, before voters decide on the next U.S. president.
Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, said now is the time to change to hand-marked paper ballots.
Hand-marked ballots are the main election day voting method in two-thirds of the United States, according to the election technology organization Verified Voting.
“Democrats tell you on one hand we should move to paper ballots. But now that we’re trying to do it, it’s a threat to democracy: Bloody Sunday, voter suppression, Donald Trump,” Dolezal said. “All that we’re asking is for Georgians … to vote the way that the vast majority of people in America vote.”
Critics of Georgia’s elections, including election security advocates and Republicans disillusioned by Trump’s loss in 2020, say Georgia’s touchscreen voting system is untrustworthy and insecure.
But election officials and Democrats say Georgia’s elections are accurate, and allegations of widespread fraud have never been proved.
Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain, said the bill’s requirement to print so many ballots before elections introduces new problems.
“We have built in all kinds of opportunities for human error, let alone the major security risks and concerns that I have when you have thousands and thousands of preprinted ballots sitting in someone’s fellowship hall,” Jackson said. “Georgia is moving in a direction of changing our system because there has been so much doubt seeded into our system, even though we’ve proven that they are safe and secure.”
Under the competing bill in the House, the state would purchase new ballot-on-demand printers that would create ballots when voters arrive rather than require blank ballots in advance.
The Senate bill also includes new provisions that would fine county governments $100 for each voter registration they fail to cancel after receiving information those voters might have moved away, require election officials to post the names of all voters by midnight on election day, and mandate recounts by hand.
Senators previously voted down a similar version of their elections bill earlier this year, but Republicans mustered enough votes Friday to override Democratic opposition.
With just two business days left before this year’s legislative session ends, Georgia lawmakers will need to decide how to resolve their difference.
The House could consider the bill that passed the Senate on Friday, House Bill 960. Or the House could move forward with its legislation, Senate Bill 214, that would replace Georgia’s voting system before the 2028 election.
House Bill 369, originally by now-former State Rep. Dexter Sharper (D-Valdosta) also received a transplant in the Senate Ethics Committee’s operating room, according to Georgia Recorder.
House lawmakers finalized a controversial bill that will make the office of district attorneys nonpartisan – but only for five metro Atlanta counties.
The bill had failed in the Senate earlier this year, only to reemerge through a legislative maneuver this week in that chamber when the content of another bill was stripped out and replaced with a version of the previously rejected proposal. That allowed the measure to go straight to the House chamber, bypassing the normal committee process.
The bill only applies to Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton counties, which are all currently served by Democratic district attorneys.
The measure narrowly passed the House with a 93-to-64 vote Friday, with a couple Republicans joining Democrats in voting against it. It’s now sitting on the governor’s desk.
Critics also argue the bill is unlikely to pass muster in court since it is attempting to change how constitutional officers are elected.
“Sounds like that could be settled in the judiciary,” House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, said when that concern was raised Friday.
Supporters argued the change would minimize partisan politics in the role and treat it more like judicial seats. But critics pushed back hard against that, criticizing Republicans for not applying the change statewide.
“If it’s good for the five counties here, it should be good for the whole 159 counties in Georgia,” said Gabe Okoye, a Lawrenceville Democrat.
Senate Bill 423 by State Sen. Tim Bearden (R-Carrollton) would limit out-of-state contributions to Georgia campaigns, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.
A Republican measure to limit out-of-state support of Georgia political campaigns passed a state House committee and is nearing final passage in the final days of this year’s legislative session.
Senate Bill 423 would make it a felony punishable by up to a decade in prison for an intermediary to launder money from out-of-state donors and give it to a local campaign.
The campaigns would have to return whatever portion of non-Georgia donations exceed their total local dollars raised, or the state would take the money.
It would be the responsibility of candidate’s campaigns to source the dollars and ensure they came from people who — or companies that — pay taxes in Georgia.
“What we’re saying is you can run the ads. We just want to know who you are,” said Sen. Tim Bearden, R-Carrollton, the sponsor of the bill.
The measure passed the Senate with opposition from Democrats in early March.
Rep. Martin Momtahan, R-Dallas, member of the House committee that passed the bill out of the House committee on a party-line vote Thursday, said it was a necessary measure to protect Georgians from out-of-state interests that want access to the state’s natural resources, such as water.
Rep. Solomon Adesanya, D-Marietta, countered that wealthy candidates who can self-fund their campaigns could escape the limitations by simply giving enough of their own money to match whatever they collected from outside Georgia.
“So this is going to be unfair,” he said. “This is actually not going to be protecting Georgia. It’s going to give a certain candidate who can self-fund an … advantage.”
He didn’t name names, but two GOP candidates for Georgia governor — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson — have reservoirs of personal money that they can tap for their campaigns.
When Rep. Rhonda Burnough, D-Riverdale, asked what would happen if her friends from other states wanted to give her money, Bearden responded that she’d have to raise more money locally to match the amount.
The committee made a small change that Bearden approved.
So if the House were to pass the measure, it would have to return to the Senate for agreement. If the Senate agrees and the bill becomes law, it would take effect next January, after this election cycle.
Clayton County Assistant District Attorney Deborah Leslie admitted to using Artificial Intelligence in drafting a court document, according to the AJC.
A Clayton County prosecutor has apologized for using artificial intelligence to cite several nonexistent cases that prompted tough questioning at Georgia’s Supreme Court.
In her court-ordered explanation submitted Friday, Assistant District Attorney Deborah Leslie admitted she used AI to help argue against a new trial for a woman convicted of chasing down and killing a motorist after an alleged hit-and-run.
Leslie was called out by Chief Justice Nels Peterson during oral arguments before Georgia’s highest court March 18. She was given 10 days to explain why she’d filed a proposed order filled with phony case law and nonexistent quotations.
In a signed affidavit, Leslie acknowledged using AI to conduct what she called “expanded legal research.”
Those AI-generated case references appeared to be legitimate citations, she said, but they “were not independently verified before inclusion.”
“These errors were not intentional,” Leslie said. “The State takes full responsibility for ensuring the accuracy of its filings and regrets any confusion caused to the Court.”
In his first State of the Judiciary address last month, Peterson said AI “poses both risk and opportunity for the judicial system.”
Among the downsides of AI is the fact that lawyers increasingly submit erroneous or nonexistent case citations, he said. But Peterson said the harm posed by attorneys who do so is “relatively minimal so long as judges read the cases that are cited to them.”
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R-Cobb County) said his office will prosecute anyone price gouging on gasoline, according to WSAV.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is reminding businesses that failing to follow Georgia’s temporary tax suspension at the pump could result in consequences.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed HB 1199 on March 20, granting Georgians a few cents off at the pump, an initiative that not all gas stations have adopted statewide. Carr is now reminding them that this gas tax suspension is not optional.
“Any business that purposefully fails to comply with the law will be investigated immediately, and we will not hesitate to prosecute if warranted,” he said. “Now is not the time to play games at the expense of Georgia consumers.”
Georgia’s tax on gas rose to approximately 33.3 cents per gallon and 37.3 cents per gallon of diesel. The tax suspension on motor fuel is set to last a total of 60 days.
Carr said businesses that fail to pass on these savings to customers could be investigated, and in some cases, prosecuted. You can report violations by [] calling the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 404-651-8600.
Attorney General Carr campaigned in Albany, according to the Albany Herald.
With the seat for the top position in the state government open for the first time in eight years, a number of candidates are vying to be the Republican candidate, including businessman Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, whose feud has caught the attention of other candidates.
“I think they’ve really gone nuclear on each other, for lack of a better term,” Carr, who recently made a campaign stop in Albany.
While Jones and Jackson are generating a lot of heat through their negative back-and-forth, Carr said he is focusing on the issues that are important to Georgians, like jobs, public safety and affordability.
“This has to be about who can win in November,” he said during an interview with an Albany Herald reporter prior to addressing the audience gathered at the newly opened St. Nicholas Hotel in downtown Albany. “The candidate who can win in November is not the one who can raise his hand and say, ‘I have the most money.’”
Carr was appointed to his current position in 2016 by former Gov. Nathan Deal and won re-election in 2018 and 2022. He is also looking to past campaigns when a candidate was able to beat the odds, including current Gov. Brian Kemp.
“I think Gov. Kemp was third in May 2018,” Carr said. “He made the runoff, and today we call him governor.”
“Bringing jobs and keeping people safe … I know how to do that,” he said. “That’s what people are looking for in the next governor. I have the record and the experience to deliver for the people of Georgia.”
On the topic of decline in Dougherty County in terms of lost jobs due to a slew of plant closings over the past couple of decades, from Cooper Tire to Merck Chemical to Bobs Candies, Carr said that as governor he would work with the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and local officials to seek opportunities for the region.
“We’ve just got to think outside the box,” the candidate said. “Southwest Georgia is just a great opportunity for the state. I don’t think we always do a great job of telling that story.
“I will go the extra mile to make sure we get good economic opportunities in Albany/Dougherty County and all over the state just like Gov. Kemp has.”
Savannah businessman Joe Welch announced he is running for Chatham County Commission District 4, according to WTOC.
Joe Welch said he wants to help fight crime, keep costs down for taxpayers and be a voice for those who feel their voices are no longer being heard.
“I’m running for Chatham County Commission because I believe people of the 4th district deserve strong common sense leadership that will stand up for them,” Welch said. “And a leader who will not only listen but will definitely respond.”
Welch is running for the seat recently vacated by Chatham County Commissioner Pat Farrell, who is running for Congress. A special election will be held on May 19.
Brian M. Hussey also announced for the Commission District 4 seat, according to WTOC.
A fourth generation Savannahian, Hussey is running with the theme “Leadership That Listens, Representation That Speaks Up!” Some of the key focuses for his campaign include law enforcement accountability, expanding mental health resources and storm water improvements.
“My main issues are crime, homelessness,” Hussey said. “I’m very proud of the community that we live in. You can see the beauty of District 4 right here where we’re standing, but we still need to create creative ways and practical ways to address the problems in our community and to maintain the beauty that we have, but also to create opportunities for growth in our community.”
The election will be held on Tuesday, May 19, and early voting begins Monday, April 27.
More than 2500 protestors marched in Savannah for “No Kings Day,” according to the Savannah Morning News.
Beneath the Spanish moss in Emmet Park on Saturday afternoon, more than 2,500 people gathered for the third “No Kings” protest, listening to speakers encourage civic engagement and expound on the importance of voting before marching through downtown Savannah.
“No Kings” demonstrations have generally been organized by grassroots activists and civic groups nationwide who say they are concerned about state of democratic institutions, voting rights and the concentration of executive power. Many participants frame the protests as a reminder that elected officials are accountable to voters.
“I want everyone to see that people aren’t happy with the situation and that there are people upset about things even in their own town,” protestor Andre Nesterento said while donning a red baseball cap with white lettering that read “Trump was wrong about everything.”
These are specifically protests against President Trump, right?
From the Valdosta Daily Times:
Well over 100 people — possibly as many as 200 — congregated Saturday for a No Kings rally at the Historic Lowndes County Courthouse.
Most of the protesters held signs opposing President Trump and his actions. Some signs referenced his war in Iran, while others accused him of leading the country toward fascism.
Of four elected officials slated to talk at Saturday’s “No Kings” protest in downtown Macon’s Rosa Parks Square, three were welcomed by the roughly 300 protestors gathered in the months-old park for about an hour and a half as the crowd chanted, held hand-written signs and sang an impromptu rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”
Georgia State Sen. Josh McLaurin spoke briefly to the crowd about the national-level immigration issues that, since President Donald Trump returned to office, has been the focal point of many similar No Kings and “ICE out” protests.
The issue has come to Georgia recently, McLaurin said, referring to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin and a proposed detention center in Social Circle that would house up to 10,000 detainees, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.
“This isn’t just Democrats, this isn’t just independents, this isn’t just Republicans,” the Democratic state senator said. “These are people who have never participated in politics before watching what’s happening in our country and saying, ‘You know, remember this from social studies. I remember studying when King George wanted to keep the colonies.’”
The final speaker, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis, was deterred by about a dozen protestors who called out the agency’s memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency before most of the crowd filed out of the park.
The group was populated by members of the Middle Georgia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, many of whom appeared to be in their 20s and 30s. Tyler Collins, a vocal member of the DSA and disabled veteran, said the organization pulled out of co-hosting the protest when it was told Davis would speak.
The Tybee Island Ethics Commission tabled a proposal to revise the city’s ethics ordinance, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The Tybee Island ethics commission, with five members freshly appointed that day, voted unanimously to table reviewing an ordinance to update the city’s ethics ordinance. Since 2007, when the City of Tybee Island first introduced efforts to create a comprehensive ethics ordinance, the city’s attempts to address the provisions have resulted in splintered regulations.
“Can we step back for a second?” [Board member Colleen] Bozard said. “This is the first time we’ve really had a chance to look at it when we’ve got five new commissioners, and they have not received the ethics training that we got last year. There has to be some basic foundational knowledge of ethics before we can tackle this.”
The other board members agreed that they thought they needed more time, especially since they had received a new version of the ordinance on Friday, and the new one had not been redlined for them to see the differences in each version. Other than the perceived rush, a few of the members briefly touched on the idea of consolidation and the topic of recusal.
Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Robert Busbee asked for additional funding from the Bulloch County Commission, according to the Statesboro Herald.
District Attorney Robert Busbee, in his second year as elected chief prosecutor of the four-county Ogeechee Judicial Circuit, has again asked the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners for a sizeable increase in the county’s funding to the D.A.’s Office.
This time, he presented a two-level request. The first-level request for additional funding “to maintain fiscal year 2026” staffing of his agency in fiscal year 2027, in other words to maintain the status quo, would require about $188,539 from Bulloch County. That would be about a 22% increase over Bulloch County’s $825,670 contribution this year to the D.A.’s Office state-county funding mix, possibly less if the county takes over the provision of “utilities” to his Statesboro office building as he has suggested.
Busbee’s second-level request, for money to hire two more assistant district attorneys, one more investigator and three more legal assistants he says are really needed for a circuit with this population and caseload, would add another $302,185 to Bulloch’s share, making the total increase $490,724, or a 59% rise from the current-year funding.
The Ogeechee Judicial Circuit serves Bulloch, Effingham, Jenkins, and Screven Counties.
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