Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 20, 2025

Blue jeans with copper rivets were patented by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis on May 20, 1873.

On May 20, 1916, more than 20,000 visited Stone Mountain for the dedication ceremony to mark the beginning of a Confederate memorial on the north face.

On May 20, 1995, the section of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was closed to automotive traffic.

The 400th episode of The Simpsons aired on May 20, 2007.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed a fourth measles case, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.

A fourth measles case has been discovered in Georgia, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The department said the person was unvaccinated. It is believed they contracted the virus while traveling internationally.

Measles is very contagious, but people who have received both doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine are typically protected in 98% of cases.

The department said the person was infectious between May 10 and May 18, and they are working to identify anyone who came into contact with them during that time.

House Bill 399 by State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) regulates some corporate property owners, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.

Corporate landlords have been consolidating ownership in Georgia’s single-family housing market, drawing increasing criticism and political attention, including from U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.

The Georgia Democrat said Monday that it’s too soon to know how a new state law requiring local managers might change things. Meanwhile, he said he wanted “to expose the mistreatment of renters by large out-of-state corporate landlords” in Georgia by conducting his own investigation.

Ossoff invited a lawyer and two renters to speak with reporters at his Atlanta office Monday about their experiences with such landlords. Attorney Esther Graff-Radford of Atlanta said renters waste many hours of personal and work time trying to correct billing errors or to coordinate maintenance.

Patrick Colson-Price of Smyrna said he found large quantities of glass, razor blades and other dangerous debris in his backyard, leading to the injury of one of his dogs. He said it took significant badgering and personal time to get his landlord to remediate the yard. He said he sent at least 30 emails with photographs and showed up at the company’s Atlanta office with a bucket of glass shards.

Shana Brooks-Wilhite, a renter in Stockbridge, said a carbon monoxide alarm went off in early December, leading to the discovery the stove and fireplace were leaking gas. She said that when she called the company, she was told it would take three weeks to send a repair person.

She said she had to spend more than she could afford on takeout food for herself and her son, while her gas bill doubled that month. And they had no heat in the depths of winter.

“We’re not humans to them. We’re dollar signs,” she said. “I felt completely worthless and small.”

Both renters said their landlord is Invitation Homes. A recent report by Georgia State University found that more than 19,000 metro Atlanta homes are owned by that company and two others, accounting for 11% of the single-family rental homes in Atlanta’s core counties.

An Invitation Homes spokesperson said in a statement that the company has over 200 associates in Georgia who “dedicate themselves to providing our local residents a positive experience throughout their stay with us.” When the company does “miss the mark, we acknowledge the mistake and work hard to make it right,” the statement added.

Other reports have found different numbers than Georgia State yet have revealed a similar story of consolidated ownership. It’s an investment strategy that became viable when new digital capabilities combined with the Great Recession to lower the opportunity cost.

Seven corporations own more than 51,000 single-family homes in the 21-county metro-Atlanta region, according to a blog by the Atlanta Regional Commission late last year. And the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported last year that Metro Atlanta was the top U.S. region for such consolidation, with 25% of the single-family home rentals — 71,832 homes — owned by large investors in 2022.

Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp signed House Bill 399 into law. The bipartisan legislation requires out-of-state investors who own and rent houses or duplexes to have a local broker and a local property manager.

Ossoff said he has launched an investigation to build a factual foundation for potential further intervention by local, state or federal government. He said such companies had harmed renters by failing to do timely repairs, by withholding security deposits and by imposing “junk” fees and higher rents.

He offered no timeline for completing his investigation. He asked renters who are experiencing problems with large corporate landlords to contact his office and make a complaint at ossoff.senate.gov/homestory. He promised anonymity for anyone who shares their story.

From Atlanta News First via WTOC:

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff is calling for transparency after launching a probe into corporations he alleges are purchasing thousands of homes across the state and driving up rent prices.

The investigation follows a report by a Georgia State University professor that found more than 30% of single-family homes in metro Atlanta are owned by out-of-state companies, nearly 10 times the national average. It’s also up 5% from last year.

Ossoff said in some counties, the number is closer to 90%.

During a news conference on Monday, the senator said he wants to expose abusive practices that lead to the mistreatment of tenants and force homeowners out.

“Georgians have reported to my office being charged undisclosed junk fees, being charged for maintenance and repairs, which common decency and common sense should be covered by the property owner, being charged arbitrarily higher rents and having their security deposits withheld without justification,” said Ossoff.

The issues reach beyond monetary, he said. At Monday’s press conference, several homeowners told stories of waiting months or even years for repairs that in some cases were extremely dangerous.

Shana Brooks-Wilhite, a mother and retired U.S. Navy veteran, rents a home from Invitation in Stockbridge. Late last year, around Christmas, her stove and fireplace sprang simultaneous carbon monoxide leaks. She and her son left the home and immediately called Invitation, worried about the harm the deadly gas could cause.

“The representative politely scheduled me for the next available appointment, three weeks out,” she said.

Brooks-Wilhite said other customer service representatives suggested she open a window to air the noxious gas out of the house.

“We’re not humans to them, we’re dollar signs,” she added.

Ossoff’s inquiry includes more than a dozen questions to four out-of-state firms, each of which owns thousands of homes in Georgia. The companies are expected to respond by July 1.

Following inquiries to the companies, the National Rental Home Council — a lobbying group representing corporate landlords — issued a statement defending their role in the housing market.

“We need to stop pointing fingers and start expanding housing options,” the group said in a statement. “Companies invest significantly in these communities — renovating properties to high standards, employing local contractors, and maintaining quality housing options.”

Invitation Homes sent Atlanta News First a response to their tenants’ complaints on Monday, saying they had 200 employees working in Georgia who “dedicate themselves to providing our local residents a positive experience throughout their stay with us.”

“In those instances where we miss the mark, we acknowledge the mistake and work hard to make it right,” the statement continued. “We stand by our work and the important role we play in the housing market for the growing number of Georgians who count on the flexibility and savings of leasing a home.”

Attorney Esther Graff-Radford, a lawyer who works on tenant rights cases, said many large corporate landowners will outsource their customer service and maintenance request systems to other states, sometimes other countries.

“So the person responsible for making sure that the hot water heater was safely repaired may have never set foot in the U.S., much less in that rental house,” she said Monday.

Graff-Radford also said tenants who speak up about persistent issues are often threatened – or served – with eviction. She’s seen plenty of cases where property managers stick tenants with maintenance bills or even HOA fees when they don’t even belong to an HOA.

“These are automatically generated in bulk and dropped into families lives like tiny bombs,” said Graff-Radford. “As landlords, these companies prioritize profit over my client’s safety.”

The senator asked tenants who believe they’ve been mistreated by corporate landlords to contact his office.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms launched her campaign for Governor, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Bottoms, who most recently served as an advisor to former President Joe Biden, said she is running to fight for Georgians amid what she described as “chaos and uncertainty” coming out of Washington, D.C.

“People are looking for someone to fight for them, to make sure that they are able to put food on their tables, that they are able to provide a quality education for their children, that they are able to live in thriving communities, that your businesses are able to prosper,” Bottoms said in a phone interview. “I am a fighter, and I want to be a fighter on behalf of people across Georgia.”

Bottoms acknowledged the importance of Georgia’s coast during the interview, saying she intends to “lean in” to policies that promote economic prosperity particularly on the coast. She pointed to the thriving Port of Savannah as a critical element of the economy.

Top policy priorities for Bottoms include expanding Medicaid and ending state income taxes for teachers to address teacher shortages. Such shortages are no stranger to Chatham County, where the local school system has reported roughly 150 vacancies this year, according to reporting by the Savannah Morning News.

“We not only have a problem recruiting teachers, but we’ve had an issue retaining teachers, and I believe that will help address that issue,” Bottoms said.

The campaign released a video for Tuesday’s announcement, which criticizes President Donald Trump while touting other priorities such as cracking down on corporate landlords to make housing more affordable. Bottoms said during the interview her experience as Atlanta’s mayor during Trump’s first presidency means she knows how to “stand up and fight even when it’s difficult and challenging.”

The former Atlanta mayor said she intends to visit Georgia’s coast during the campaign and hear from coastal Georgians about the issues important to them. Chatham County is typically a Democratic stronghold that delivers the largest number of Democratic votes outside of metro Atlanta.

“This election is going to be about meeting voters wherever they are, so Chatham County is extremely important,” Bottoms said.

From Atlanta News First via WTOC:

Weeks after hinting at a run for Georgia’s wide-open governorship in 2026, Bottoms made it official Tuesday morning. If successful, Bottoms would achieve what fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams tried and failed to do in Georgia’s last two gubernatorial elections.

In her launch video, she compares how a governor should be with how her grandmother would make phone calls to family, saying that Georgia residents should receive the same “simple acts of love.”

“This is a defining moment for Georgia and for our country,” Bottoms said in her campaign announcement. “With chaos in Washington, Georgians need a leader who will stand up for them. I’m running for governor to fight for Georgia families and deliver the leadership they deserve.”

“The state is looking for a fighter right now. Someone who will fight against the chaos that’s coming out of Washington. Someone who will provide strong leadership, and that person, I believe, is me,” Bottom said.

Bottoms is launching her campaign on several policy points, including expanding Medicaid, supporting Georgia teachers and keeping housing affordable.

So far, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is the only announced GOP candidate in the race. Bottoms now joins state Sen. Jason Esteves from Atlanta as the only two announced Democratic candidates in a state that has not elected a Democrat as governor this century.

From WSAV:

Bottoms was the Mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 before deciding against running for re-election. She was then joined the Biden administration as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

The Democrat and early supporter of former President Joe Biden spoke with WSAV News 3’s Andrew Davis via Zoom Monday.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and chaos that’s coming out of Washington, D.C.,” Bottoms told Davis. “And people are looking for a leader who’s willing to fight and deliver for them. And after the November election, I made the decision that I wanted to present myself for service and work to earn the trust and support of people across the state.”

Bottoms says expanding and improving Medicaid coverage in Georgia is her highest campaign priority.

“We fight tooth and nail to beat Alabama and LSU in football, but we’re losing to Alabama and Louisiana when it comes to health care coverage. They’ve both expanded Medicaid, where only one of nine states in the country that’s not expanded Medicaid. That means that 300,000 Georgians don’t have coverage. Nine rural hospitals have closed across the state because we’ve not expanded Medicaid. It’s cost our state $710 million because we’ve not expanded Medicaid. That transcends party lines. It’s about having access to quality health care in our communities.”

From the AJC:

In an extensive interview that we published this morning, Bottoms discussed her decision to forgo a second term as Atlanta mayor, her bitter feud with Gov. Brian Kemp and lessons learned from her time in Biden’s inner circle as a senior White House adviser.

Her close ties with Biden, who this week disclosed he had late-stage prostate cancer, once made her one of the most powerful Democrats in the state and still carries weight among many party loyalists.

But now the former president is confronting fresh scrutiny about his age and mental fitness during his term in the White House, as former aides and allies criticize him for not ceding the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris sooner.

Bottoms told us she “never saw anything in terms of cognitive decline that gave me cause for concern” about Biden, who at 82 left office as the oldest-serving president in U.S. history.

From another AJC story:

The Democrat told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she would work to find consensus even with longtime Republican foes while also insisting that anxious Georgia voters want leaders willing to aggressively combat Trump and his closest allies.

“Right now, people want somebody who’s fighting for them,” she said in an interview. “People have seen me fight. They know that I’m not afraid of Donald Trump. They know that I know how to deliver in uncertain times.”

Her platform includes expanding Medicaid and slashing the state income tax for Georgia teachers. But Bottoms also showed a willingness to brawl, taking a swipe during the interview at Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a likely GOP contender and Trump ally.

Still, she must reconcile a record as mayor that deeply divided the state’s largest city. She struggled to contain a surge in violent crime and feuded openly with Kemp over pandemic restrictions, a rift her successor, Andre Dickens, quickly mended.

“My record as mayor is one that I’m very proud of. My decision not to seek reelection was a decision based on that season in my life,” she said. “I’ve continued my public service and, prayerfully, will be able to continue it as governor of Georgia.”

Soon after Trump took office in January, he “fired” Bottoms and three other Biden appointees, even though she resigned days earlier. She expects Trump to loom over the 2026 contest.

“Who knows what Donald Trump is going to do? We don’t know what. I don’t know that Donald Trump knows what he’s necessarily going to do,” she said. “But what I do know is he’s creating chaos in this state right now, that he’s creating anxiety and uncertainty.”

The Libertarian Party is seeking to place candidates on the ballot again, according to WABE.

Libertarians lost automatic ballot access in Georgia because of the 2024 election results in Georgia.

Chase Oliver, a member of the Libertarian Party of Georgia’s Executive Committee and the national party’s nominee for U.S. president in 2024, says one of the issues for the state party was not having Georgia Public Service Commission races on the 2024 ballot, leaving president as the only statewide race.

“We did lose ballot access because we didn’t have that other statewide race that typically garners a higher vote total for us,” Oliver said. “And so now we are engaged in petitioning across the state to make sure that Georgians have more than two choices on their statewide ballot.”

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office says that based on the state law of reaching 1% of active 2024 general election voters, Georgia Libertarians would need to collect 72,679 in-person signatures by July 14, 2026. By Georgia law, this cannot be done online.

“Our goal is to make sure we have 100,000 verified signatures, which takes us well above the threshold we need because we know sometimes signatures do get tossed out,” Oliver said.

Libertarians appearing on the ballot have played an important role in Georgia politics because candidates need to get at least 50% of the vote, otherwise the top two candidates go to a runoff.

For example, in November 2020, then-U.S. Sen. David Perdue received more votes than then-Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, but both went to a runoff because neither broke 50%, as Libertarian Shane Hazel received 2%. Ossoff would go on to defeat the Republican Perdue in the January 2021 runoff.

The Gwinnett County Board of Education adopted a $3.4 billion dollar budget for FY 2026, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Board member Steve Knudsen cast the lone dissenting vote against Gwinnett County Public Schools’ $3.43 billion fiscal year 2026 budget on Thursday night. He explained he has not seen numbers he requested on what a 3% growth from the 2024 tax digest looks like.
“I really haven’t seen the heartfelt (effort) for what I feel could have been more approximated so that we could, given everything that’s going on within our community, provide a more revenue neutral or limited growth budget,” Knudsen said.

The new budget is 7.9%, or $251 million, larger than the current budget and includes pay raises for teachers, cost of living increases for other employees, one-time retention supplements, school safety improvements, construction projects and teaching and learning improvements.

Some highlights include funding for:

♦ $1,000 pay increases for teachers
♦ Cost of living increases for all other GCPS employees who are not paid on the teachers salary scale
♦ Retention supplements ranging from $500 to $2,000 depending on how much a person is paid.
♦ Adding more school resource officers
♦ Installing weapons detection devices at all middle and high schools in Gwinnett
♦ Hiring 25 new literacy specialist positions and more special education staff

Some residents who addressed the board about the budget at a hearing Thursday night raised concerns about the ballooning size of the district’s budget. GCPS’ annual spending has increased by more than $1 billion since fiscal year 2021, when the budget was $2.35 billion.

“In 2022, the budget was $2.4 billion, now it’s $3.43 billion,” frequent school board watcher Cathy Loew told board members. “That is almost a 50% increase. This is simply not sustainable …”

While the budget is now in place, the school board is now going through the process of setting the GCPS millage rate that will appear on property tax bills this fall. The board tentatively adopted the 20.35-mill rate, which includes 18.9 mills to pay for operations and 1.45 mills for debt service.

GCPS’ millage rate determines how much property owners will owe in property taxes in the fall. Public hearings will be held on the millage rate with final adoption expected later in the summer.

United States Representative Andrew Clyde (R-Athens) discussed the budget bill, according to AccessWDUN.

Georgia’s 9th District U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde is on the budget committee and originally voted “no” on Friday before changing to a “present” vote to allow its passage as talks continue.

“Friday was a vote where we said ‘hey, there needs to be more work on this before we can move this bill out of budget committee,’” Clyde said on WDUN’s “The Martha Zoller Show.”

Clyde said they worked “very diligently” through Friday night, all day Saturday, and through Sunday.

In a statement to AccessWDUN on Saturday, Clyde said he was staying in Washington through the weekend to “continue negotiating in good faith.”

The bill includes more than $5-trillion in tax cuts according to the Associated Press with costs partially offset by spending cuts.

The individual income tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term were included as well as no tax on tips, overtime, and interest on auto loans.

The breaks were offset by rolling back the clean energy tax credits during Joe Biden’s presidency, less spending on Medicaid, and requiring states to shoulder more of the cost for the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Five Republicans joined Democrats Friday in voting “no,” but one flipped to “yes” with Clyde and three other Republicans voting “present” to pass the bill out of the Budget Committee 17-16 by Sunday.

“There’s still some significant concerns with this bill, and we’re going to continue working to make sure that those concerns are addressed as much as possible,” Clyde said.

Clyde said he wants to protect Medicaid for the most vulnerable, but wanted work requirements to the government-funded health care which were ultimately included. He did add the requirements would not take effect until 2029.

“We are not cutting Medicare or Medicaid,” Clyde said. “We want to strengthen Medicaid by saying to those who can work ‘all right, you need to work,’” Clyde said.

The bill will go to the House Committee on Rules, with Clyde saying he believes it will get to the floor by Memorial Day where Republicans have a slim majority. If passed, it would then go to the Senate.

Glynn County Commissioners are considering banning e-bikes from bike paths, according to The Brunswick News.

The proposed ordinance would make it illegal to operate an e-bike or a motorized vehicle on any sidewalk, bicycle path, or bicycle route in the unincorporated areas of Glynn County outside Jekyll Island, with some exceptions.

It would be allowed to operate a mobility device designed to transport a person with a disability, provided it is operated at speeds no greater than 5 miles per hour.

Another exception is when a bicycle or motorized vehicle is at a driveway or other legally authorized crossing of a sidewalk, bicycle path, or bicycle route.

Bicycles and e-bikes in particular have generated many complaints and safety concerns by pedestrians and motorists who have had close calls with speeding bikes on multi-use paths on St. Simons Island.

The proposed ordinance amendment would not include Jekyll Island.

Savannah District 2 Alderman Detric Leggett sent a love cease-and-desist letter to fellow Board member Bernetta Lanier, according to WSAV.

A Savannah alderman has fired back at allegations of corruption made publicly by fellow alderwoman, issuing her a cease-and-desist order Monday.

“Ms. Lanier’s allegations lack any sort of truth or candor to the community of the people that she serves,” Detric Leggett’s (District 2) Attorney Boone Phillips said. “Her allegations, frankly, are reckless disregard of the truth. She did no due diligence. She did no research, and the problem is, it’s completely contrary to the character of Mr. Leggett.”

In a May 6 press conference Alderwoman Bernetta Lanier (District 1) held and called “Check Your Savannah,” she called Leggett a “Rogue Alderman,” and alleged he interfered in police affairs, paying off Pooler Police officers from arresting his relatives during a drug trafficking case.

Phillips called those allegations “reckless” and “baseless.”

“Mr. Leggett didn’t pay off anybody. It’s absolutely ridiculous to insinuate Mr. Leggett has paid someone off, especially a member of the Pooler Police Department,” said Phillips. “It’s reckless for her to say something like that without any proof whatsoever. It did not happen, and we can absolutely show that it did not happen.”

WSAV has obtained a copy of police report of alleged incident that occurred Aug. 8, 2024, in the parking lot of the Pooler Walmart.

The report said Leggett Jr. left the scene. No records have indicated he is facing charges.

The Pooler Police Department (PPD) denies the allegations officers were paid off, and sent WSAV the following statement:

“I searched our reports for the name Detric Legget and found one report from August 2024 in which that name was involved. This case is, in fact, still open and pending prosecution within Chatham County Superior Court. The fact that the case is still open and ongoing goes against the allegations of the Pooler Police Department being paid off to stop the case from moving forward; therefore, we deny said allegations.”

Lanier has also made allegations Leggett weaponized city and county police to “harass his best friend’s child’s mother and her gentlemen friend.”

Wrens City Council heard a financial update, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Wrens City Manager Arty Thrift recently led Mayor David Hannah and council members through a very detailed discussion on the city’s financial future and the city budget.

“Regarding our bank statements and balances I am pleased with where we are, I think we are in good shape moving towards the end of the fiscal year on June 30,” Thrift said.

One if the city’s bigger expenses is its yearly insurance premiums. To illustrate how much the GIRMA Property, Casualty, and Liability Insurance was $58,396 in 2019. Six years later the premium is $140,472.

“We are required by law to provide this coverage, and it has benefited us, but the premium increased 12% in one year and 139% since 2019,” Thrift said. “If you had premiums that kept going up on your personal policies, you may have to look at coverages, deductibles, etc.”

Sylvester Municipal Court has moved to the Train Depot on South Main Street, according to WALB.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Department is receiving 36 new patrol vehicles, according to WJBF.

Glynn County Assistant County Manager John Gentry has resigned to take the job of Hall County Manager, according to The Brunswick News.

The Tybee Island Marine Science Center is warning drivers about sea turtle migration, according to the Savannah Morning News.

It’s nesting season for the pregnant female terrapins, and the Tybee Island Marine Science Center is asking drivers to slow down on Highway 80 to give the reptiles greater chances at survival. The diamondback terrapins are looking for places to lay their eggs, often trying to venture across the two busy lanes of traffic. Many are struck in the process.

The three-month terrapin nesting season coincides with Tybee’s busiest season, leading to an average of 200-250 deceased, according to a press release.

“We try to get out as much information as we can, especially before a holiday weekend like Memorial Day coming up,” said Sarah Alley, TIMSC curator and marine biologist with the Diamondback Research, Rescue and Release program. “Because, it’s hard to say how many we get in a day, but that weekend you can see 80 hit and killed in one to two days. So, the numbers increase when the weather gets really nice.”