Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for November 18, 2024

Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on November 18, 1863.

Carl Vinson was born on November 18, 1883 in Baldwin County, Georgia. At noon on that day, U.S. and Canadian railroads implemented four time zones for the first time.

Efficient rail transportation demanded a more uniform time-keeping system. Rather than turning to the federal governments of the United States and Canada to create a North American system of time zones, the powerful railroad companies took it upon themselves to create a new time code system. The companies agreed to divide the continent into four time zones; the dividing lines adopted were very close to the ones we still use today.

Most Americans and Canadians quickly embraced their new time zones, since railroads were often their lifeblood and main link with the rest of the world. However, it was not until 1918 that Congress officially adopted the railroad time zones and put them under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Mickey Mouse debuted in a black-and-white film called “Steamboat Willie” on November 18, 1928.

On November 18, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled from Washington, DC to Savannah, Georgia by train for Georgia’s Bicentennial and delivered a speech at Municipal Stadium.

Carl Vinson was honored on his 81st birthday in Milledgeville, Georgia on November 18, 1964; Vinson did not run for reelection in 1964 and retired after 50 years in office.

President Richard M. Nixon flew into Robins Air Force Base for Carl Vinson’s 90th birthday on November 18, 1973; on the trip he announced the next American nuclear supercarrier would be named USS Carl Vinson.

President Richard Nixon, Secretary of the Navy John Warner, Carl Vinson, Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird on November 18, 1973. John Warner would later be the namesake of USS John Warner, a Virginia-class nuclear submarine.

On November 18, 1989, Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey signed the Abortion Control Act, the first abortion restrictions enacted after Roe v. Wade.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The City of Camilla election story gets more bizarre now with allegations of missing ballots. From WALB:

The city of Camilla held a special called meeting to not only address the appointment of a new city manager but to also address what happened on Election Day.

Mayor Kelvin Owens showed up at Friday’s council meeting, the second since the election, where he still supported outgoing Councilman Venterra Pollard. Pollard is now gone, but mistrust in the council remains.

“You were asked to call a meeting while half or the entire delegation of District 1 is nearly four hours away and intending for the mayor to be gone,” Owens said. “36 hours or roughly less than that, after the appointed new council members are sitting at this desk, somebody walked around with a piece of paper for them to sign and called this meeting to vote on the city attorney and the chief administrative officer of this city.”

Council members said the mayor was wrong about the intentions of the meeting and also addressed the Election Day drama saying there are missing ballots.

“None of this would’ve happened if the city had followed the court order issued by the superior court judge and the of courts,” said Azalee Vereen, councilwoman for District 2. “The failure to follow that order resulted in the missing 200 ballots who should have never been missing.”

Owens voted against the current agenda, adjourning the meeting, leaving the city of Camilla without a city manager, and leaving the current city attorney in her seat.

The city remains divided.

The city now remains without an acting city manager and the current city attorney remains in her seat.

Representatives of Georgia Boaters discussed the “right to passage” on Georgia rivers, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.

Boating enthusiasts and representatives of the recreational boating industry are asking Georgia lawmakers to separate the right to float along the state’s rivers and streams from hunting and fishing.

That was a major theme of the final meeting Nov. 13 of a legislative study committee that has been grappling with how to guarantee Georgians access to the state’s navigable rivers and streams without violating private property rights.

“The right of passage is independent of laws relating to navigability,” Joe Cook, paddle coordinator for Georgia Rivers, a member of the Freedom to Float Coalition, told members of the study committee. “Common law guarantees the right to float.”

The right to float down Georgia waterways has been caught up in a debate over fishing rights that began early last year when a property owner on the Yellow Jacket Shoals portion of the Flint River banned fishing there and sued the state to enforce it.

The General Assembly responded with legislation codifying public fishing rights into state law. But that didn’t clear up confusion over which rivers and streams across the state are navigable and, thus, open to fishing and paddling, and which are off limits.

The House Study Committee on Navigable Streams has held several hearings this summer and fall to try to come to grips with that issue.

Front and center in the debate has been legislation House Majority Whip James Burchett, R-Waycross, introduced this year naming 64 rivers and creeks “presumed to be navigable.”

Burchett’s “list” bill has run into strong opposition. Representatives of the Freedom to Float Coalition argue the bill, if adopted, would ensure the public’s right to boat, fish, and hunt on just 5% of the state’s 70,000 miles of waterways.

“List bills do not work when it comes to capturing the breadth of recreational boating in Georgia,” said Suzanne Welander, author of “Canoeing and Kayaking in Georgia.” “List bills barely scratch the surface of where people are boating today without conflict.”

Burchett has suggested that boaters wishing to float down streams that are not on the list of navigable waterways seek permission from landowners along the banks of those streams.

But Janina Edwards, a kayaking instructor in DeKalb County, dismissed seeking out every property owner along a stream as unrealistic and even potentially dangerous.

“This idea could get me killed for trespassing or having to get permission from dozens of property owners,” she said. “If a person has a vessel and it will float on a Georgia waterway, we have a right to recreate on it.”

Opponents of limiting access to the state’s rivers and streams also are putting forth an economic argument. Boating and fishing generated $1.1 billion in economic activity in 2022, and 70 small businesses offering canoe, kayak, tube, raft and paddleboard rentals as well as hundreds of independent fishing guides depend on access to Georgia waterways.

“Let’s not curtail an entire river recreation sector,” Andrea White, community programs coordinator for Georgia Rivers, told the study committee. “It’s a major draw for our state.”

The study committee has until Dec. 1 to make recommendations for the full House to consider during the 2025 General Assembly session starting in January. While Burchett’s bill died with the end of the 2023-24 legislative term, it could resurface next year.

“It won’t be an easy debate,” Rep. Lynn Smith, R-Newnan, the study committee’s chairperson, said at the end of the Nov. 13 hearing. “But it’s one worth having.”

The “right to passage” existed under English Common Law at the time of Georgia’s formation as an English colony, and the state formally adopted it as the law of the state in 1784, according to a student article in the University of Georgia Law Review.

Georgia had won the right to govern itself, but now it actually had to do so. When the state legislature convened in 1784, they faced the same question as every other newly independent state: when there is no state law, what law should apply?[7] The answer came in the form of a reception statute.

When a jurisdiction enacts a reception statute, it adopts the law of another jurisdiction as its own.[8] This practice has a long history in the United States extending to the initial colonization of North America by England.[9] As England colonized the New World, it brought with it English laws.

These laws then became the law of the newly “discovered” territory. As William Blackstone explained: “if an uninhabited country be discovered and planted by English subjects, all the English laws then in being, which are the birthright of every subject, are immediately there in force.”

At the same time, England recognized that its new colonies must be given some leeway to respond to the unpredictable conditions existing in a foreign land. With this in mind, colonial governments were empowered to enact laws consistent with those of England. In Georgia’s Charter of 1732, for example, the Crown granted the colonial government the power to “form and prepare, laws, statutes and ordinances, fit and necessary for and concerning the government of the said colony, and not repugnant to the laws and statutes of England.”

English law thus formed the backbone of Georgia’s legal system from its founding in 1732 until independence.

Once independence finally came and this backbone disappeared, Georgia followed other states and enacted a reception statute in 1784 to adopt the old English statutory and common law as Georgia’s law.

In the 1784 reception statute, Georgia’s General Assembly acknowledged that “during the late convulsions in this state, several salutary laws were lost and destroyed” that “were adjudged necessary to be in force in this state.”

The statute also stated that “it is absolutely necessary for the well governing [of] every state, that laws properly adapted to the circumstances of the inhabitants be at all times in force.”

Given this, it appears the legislature intended to establish a bedrock foundation of law that could govern the state no matter the circumstances.

The Supreme Court of Georgia held that 1776 English law, “as it was usually of force before the Revolution, is made obligatory upon this Court by our adopting statute.”

In the view of the court, two sources of law existed in Georgia: enacted law and adopted law. Enacted law included those laws created by the General Assembly, while adopted law would be the English statutes and common law in force on May 14, 1776. Where enacted Georgia law fell silent, adopted English law answered.

Governor Brian Kemp announced three judicial appointments and a district attorney. Not quite a small flush. From the Press Release:

Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced the following judicial appointments: Ralph W. Powell to the Superior Court of the Tifton Judicial Circuit to fill a vacancy created by HB 906; Amy E. Smith to the Superior Court of the Houston Judicial Circuit to fill a vacancy created by HB 992; Sarah Stimac Japour as the District Attorney for the newly created West Georgia Judicial Circuit established by SB 424; and Vasco “Terry” McRae to the Rockdale State Court, filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Clarence Cuthpert.

Ralph W. Powell currently serves as the State Court Judge of Worth County, the Municipal Court Judge of the cities of Poulan and Warwick, the County Attorney for Worth County, and is a managing member of Wilmot & Powell, LLC. As a member of his firm, Powell maintains a general practice of law with a focus on real estate, estate planning, and the probating of wills and estates.

A native of Georgia, Powell has been practicing law for over 30 years. He spent the first 15 years of his practice in Athens, Georgia, where he served as the Solicitor General of Clarke County from 2000 – 2005. In 2005, Ralph and his family relocated to south Georgia and live on the Powell family farm in Worth County, which has been in the family name for over 150 years. During the first 10 years of his practice there, he focused on insurance defense work, mainly litigating medical malpractice cases.

Powell earned an Associate of Arts degree from Oxford College of Emory University, a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Georgia State University, and a law degree from the University of Georgia. He and his wife, Heather, have one daughter.

Amy E. Smith currently serves as the Solicitor General of Houston County. Prior to her appointment by Governor Nathan Deal in 2011, she served as Chief Assistant District Attorney at the Houston County District Attorney’s Office. During her 14 years with that office, she handled felonies, appeals, and child support enforcement cases. Throughout her career as a prosecutor, Smith has handled all manner of cases, from murders to traffic violations.

Smith is active in her community, serving as the secretary of the Georgia Parent’s Club for the United States Air Force Academy and as a merit badge counselor for the Scouts. Smith has served as president of the Georgia Association of Solicitors General and of the Houston County Bar Association. She was also named Faculty of the Year by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council for their Basic Litigation Course in 2023.

Smith earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Illinois State University and her law degree from the University of Georgia. She lives in Bonaire with husband, Brian, and their three children: She lives in Bonaire with husband, Brian, and their three children: Audrey, a student at the University of Georgia, Joshua, a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy, and Elizabeth, a student at Veterans High School.

Sarah Stimac Japour is a career prosecutor and the current Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney of the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit. Before working in the Tallapoosa Circuit, she served as a Senior Assistant District Attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, specifically in both Heard County and Carroll County, for a total of 20 years. She has extensive experience prosecuting complex cases including murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping, and child molestation charges. For two decades, Japour has consistently advocated for the victims of crime and public safety.

Japour received her bachelor’s degree in communications studies for law from Florida State University and her law degree from Samford University. She and her husband, Justin, live in Carrollton and have two children.

Vasco “Terry” McRae currently serves as an assistant solicitor general in Gwinnett County, where he prosecutes misdemeanor crimes. He retired as a Major from the U.S. Army after 20 years of honorable service and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his combat deployment to Iraq. McRae also earned the coveted Master Parachutist Badge. Following his retirement from the Army, he served in corporate leadership roles with Hibbett Sports and Walmart. McRae also served as a Magistrate Court Judge in Rockdale County in 2021 and 2022 to assist with the backlog of cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

McRae has been a volunteer youth sports coach for over 25 years and is passionate about mentoring young athletes and fostering teamwork. He served as the boys’ varsity basketball coach at Peachtree Academy in Covington, Georgia, and also coached his sons’ nationally ranked travel basketball team, Worldwide Hustle.

McRae received his undergraduate degree from Hampton University and his law degree from Michigan State University. He is a Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. McRae is married to Dr. Sha’Ronda McRae and they have 3 sons.

Governor Brian Kemp asked state agencies to budget conservatively for the next fiscal year, according to State Affairs.

Gov. Brian Kemp asked the state’s 51 government agencies for continued fiscal restraint when drafting their amended fiscal year 2025 and 2026 budgets.

Most agencies adhered to his request even as the state’s general fund surplus hit a record $16.5 billion last month.

Forty-five agencies, excluding state courts, followed the governor’s instructions to keep budgets flat, meaning no extraordinary requests or spending, according to Danny Kanso, senior fiscal analyst at Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. Thirty-one agencies maintained the same budget for the amended fiscal year 2025 and 24 agencies did so in their fiscal year 2026 budgets, Kanso said.

Georgia is in the midst of its yearly multistep process of preparing the governor’s overall budget, which is a compilation of state needs and the governor’s thoughts. Now that state agencies have submitted their budgets with the governor’s instructions in mind, the real work begins.

The state agencies’ proposed budgets cover operational expenses, payroll and capital projects, with the state having a debt management plan.

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget reviews the agencies’ budgets and works with the governor to craft recommendations for the General Assembly in January. The governor also works with the state economist to determine revenue estimates for the upcoming budget cycle.

In addition to receiving state money, many agencies get federal funding.

Kanso noted several highlights in the budgetary requests:

• All told, state agencies have asked for $35.9 billion in the fiscal year 2026 budget. By comparison, the agencies asked for $36.5 billion in the amended fiscal year 2025 budget. The change reflects an increase of $340 million from the fiscal year 2025 budget the governor signed into law earlier this year.

• The Department of Education’s fiscal year 2026 budget will decrease by $466 million — or 4% — to $12.8 billion. The decrease is due to declining enrollment and the state’s funding formula for education, which requires local districts to contribute more as property values increase. For example, due to increases in local property tax valuation, school districts will receive $726 million less from the state. The Department of Education has made “several requests specifically related to school safety,” K-12 department spokeswoman Meghan Fricke told State Affairs. The Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder prompted officials across the state to redouble their safety efforts. State Superintendent Richards Woods said he wants to add a school resource officer and crisis alert system in every school and expand Georgia’s APEX mental health program in schools to “enact policies that support more timely and effective sharing of reports, records and alerts among law enforcement, school districts and across agencies.”

• The Board of Regents, which oversees state colleges and universities, is requesting a 7% year-over-year increase for fiscal year 2026.

• Medicaid is projected to see a 7% increase in spending for fiscal year 2026, bringing the total budget to $5.3 billion. Georgia is currently spending $4.9 billion.

• The Department of Transportation is seeking an 11% increase for the amended 2025 budget and a 13% increase for the fiscal year 2026 budget.

Adjusting for inflation, Georgia spends about $3,223 for every resident, up from $3,080 during fiscal year 2006, according to the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute.

“That’s a very, very conservative spending trajectory,” Kanso said. “Spending has actually changed very little in the state” in the past two decades, he added.

Meanwhile, the state last month released its end-of-year report on reserves and revenue, which shows Georgia has an all-time-high balance of cash on hand. The state’s general fund surplus stands at a record $16.5 billion. About $5.5 billion of that is in the state’s revenue shortfall reserve, which essentially is the state’s savings account. The remaining surplus is undesignated, meaning those funds can be spent at the discretion of the governor and General Assembly.

Additionally, the state’s most recent lottery reserves, which fund higher education and pre-K, have reached a record $2.4 billion, up from $2.2 billion last year.

The governor will release his budget recommendations in January, including updated revenue estimates. Gov. Kemp’s revenue estimate is important in setting the budget level.

Legislative review of the budgets will then begin around mid-January with state agencies making their case for their budgets.

It’s a very comprehensive article, worth reading in its entirety if you’re a budget nerd or aspire to be one.

Federal tax credits for electric vehicles could take a hit under the Trump administration, according to the AJC.

The Republican’s presidential transition team is reportedly planning to kill the $7,500 consumer EV tax credit program President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters reported that killing the credit is part of a broader tax overhaul, citing two unnamed people with direct knowledge of the plan.

The tax credit and other federal incentives targeting domestic EV production have played a role in Georgia’s rise as a national leader in the electrification of auto travel. The state’s two largest economic development projects are both EV factories, and Georgia has also landed numerous auto suppliers, battery factories and other corporate investments across the battery supply chain.

Though both Georgia EV factories were announced before Biden signed the new credits into law, Biden campaigned on electrifying America’s automotive industry and many companies began plans to re-shore EV manufacturing and supply chains in anticipation of new incentives.

A spokesman for Gov. Brian Kemp, who has heavily recruited electric vehicle and battery plants, cheered the move and took aim at the Biden administration for policies he said resulted in government picking “winners and losers.”

“Ending the federal incentives would seriously damage the American auto industry, risk hundreds of thousands of American jobs and benefit our adversaries,” the Electrification Coalition, an environmental nonprofit, said in a statement.

If axed by the Trump administration, it could be a blow to manufacturers that have poured billions into transitioning their fleets to electric propulsion. EV sales are growing but not as quickly as many automakers and experts anticipated.

The IRA subsidy, which effectively lowered the sticker price of new EVs by up to $7,500 for qualifying customers, was also intended to push automakers to source their battery components from U.S. allies and establish manufacturing in North America.

Most Rivian models currently don’t qualify for the tax credits. The IRA provides a $7,500 per vehicle tax credit for pickups, SUVs and vans priced less than $80,000. The ceiling is $55,000 for other vehicles. There’s also an income cap of $150,000 for individual purchasers to qualify.

“Given the price point of our vehicles and the overall income levels (to qualify for the tax credits), most of our customers don’t qualify on a finance or cash purchase,” Claire McDonough, Rivian’s chief financial officer, said last week during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.

But Rivian’s next vehicle, the lower priced R2 crossover, is expected to qualify, and would broaden Rivian’s customer base to more price-conscious consumers.

The California-based automaker indefinitely paused its construction timeline for the Georgia factory to shore up its finances. But its leaders say the Georgia factory is a vital part of the company’s plan to scale.

On Tuesday, Rivian and German auto giant Volkswagen finalized a $5.8 billion software partnership, which both companies said will accelerate their EV efforts. Rivian also recently applied for a federal loan to kickstart factory construction in 2026.

Hat tip to whomever wrote the headline and subhed for this story by USA Today via the Savannah Morning News: Marijuana community has high hopes in Trump’s controversial Gaetz Pick …. the marijuana community has been blazing with excitement.

“Rep. Matt Gaetz is one of the most pro-cannabis Republicans on Capitol Hill,” said David Culver, senior vice president of public affairs at U.S. Cannabis Council, in a statement.

“By tapping him to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, President-elect Trump is signaling his commitment to make good on his campaign promises around cannabis reform.”

Culver added that he “anticipated” Gaetz would issue updated guidance on how federal prosecutors can enforce drug laws without interfering with states’ marijuana markets.

Since the announcement, Boris Jordan, chairman and CEO of marijuana giant Curaleaf, has posted two videos of Gaetz talking about weed regulations: “Maybe I should serve as attorney general of the United States. I’d be easy on marijuana and tough on big tech,” Gaetz said in the first one.

In the second video, Gaetz questioned why the Biden administration hadn’t already removed marijuana as a Schedule I drug.

The Georgia Opioid Settlement Advisory Commission approved the first tranche of spending from a $638 million dollar lawsuit settlement fund, according to Georgia Recorder via the Albany Herald.

The Georgia Opioid Settlement Advisory Commission approved a total of $44.4 million for 130 projects as part of the first year of a two-decade-long program. Many of the projects are focused on treatment, prevention, supporting people in recovery, increasing the availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, and boosting research.

The grants are being awarded at a time when opioid overdose deaths are on the decline nationally for the first time since 2018. In Georgia, there was a significant decline in reported opioid overdose deaths from last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I think this infusion of services can really make a difference and continue to see that trend move downward; so, really excited,” said Cassandra Price, who is a commission member and the director of the office of addictive diseases within the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

Demand for the funding was high, with more than 300 applications submitted that would have required $248 million to cover.
The settlement distribution process is a multistep one that started with six regional boards before moving onto the commission. The recommended projects now go to Kevin Tanner, who is the governor-appointed trustee of the state’s opioid crisis abatement trust.

Tanner, who is the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, said he hopes to finalize the grants by the end of the year.

The goal is to kick off the next round of grant applications in the spring, Tanner said. He pointed to a state-led review of the current gaps in service as a guidepost for service providers and organizations hoping to win a slice of the funding.

“Don’t get discouraged,” Tanner said of the many applicants that are not funded this year. “Go back and take a look at what did get funded at the end and reapply. Because this is going to be coming back out on an annual basis, and there’s going to be a lot of opportunities over the next 18 years.”

The CDC’s foundation could see $5.8 million over two years to help expand its overdose response strategy model to rural areas of Georgia.

The University of Georgia Research Foundation could also get about $1.2 million for research and evaluation focused on harm reduction services, and CMG Media Group is in line to receive $1.3 million for a multimedia project focused on reducing opioid misuse and addiction, including a 30-minute primetime special.

The State Road & Tollway Authority (SRTA) announced they are accepting applications for grants, according to The Saporta Report.

The State Road & Tollway Authority (SRTA) announced on Tuesday that applications are open for up to $16 million in transportation loans and grants for local, regional and state governments and community improvement districts. The goal of the funding is to fast-track transportation infrastructure improvements and enhance mobility and economic development across the state.

The money will be distributed through the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (GTIB). Applications close on Jan. 14, 2025, and awards announcements are expected in June 2025.

SRTA handles financing and toll collection for transportation projects like the proposed express lanes along the northern portion of I-285. This $16 million program is focused on infrastructure needs in smaller communities.

Up to $2 million of the GTIB dollars can be allocated to help rural communities meet matching requirements for Federal Transportation Alternatives (TA) funding. For the first time in the program’s history, areas with a population of less than 5,000 are able to use GTIB awards along with TA funds to support bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

State Legislative Caucuses elected new leadership, according to USA Today via the Savannah Morning News.

Senate Republicans

As in the House, Senate Republicans reelected the same slate of leaders they had during the 2023-2024 session, meeting on Nov. 7 to hold elections for the upcoming legislative session. Republicans maintained their 33-23 majority in the chamber following the Nov. 5 general election.

Sen. John F. Kennedy (R-Macon) was nominated to return for his second term as president pro tempore, a position he has held since 2023. He will need to be formally elected by the Senate when the 2025 session begins in January.

Sen. Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega) will serve as Senate majority leader, Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula) was reelected to Senate majority whip, Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas) will serve as majority caucus chair, Sen. Matt Brass (R-Newnan) will be majority caucus vice chair, and Sen. Larry Walker III (R-Perry) will return as majority caucus secretary.

Senate Democrats

Senate Democrats met in Savannah on Nov. 8 to select their leaders for the upcoming session, electing Sen. Harold Jones II (D-Augusta) to replace outcoming Minority Leader Sen. Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain), who retired at the end of the 2024 session.

Jones formerly served as Senate minority whip, a position that will be filled by Sen. Kim Jackson (D-Stone Mountain) in the upcoming term. Sen. Jason Esteves (D-Atlanta) will also take on a new position as minority caucus vice chair of fundraising.

Returning to their Senate leadership positions are Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta), who will serve as minority caucus chair, Sen. Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta), who will continue as minority caucus vice chair and Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), who will continue serving as minority caucus treasurer.

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

Georgia House Democrats Thursday elected longtime Rep. Carolyn Hugley of Columbus to serve as House minority leader during the two-year term starting in January.

Hugley, who was elected to the House in 1992 and served as the Democratic whip from 2003 until 2018, will succeed Rep. James Beverly as minority leader. Beverly didn’t seek reelection this year to his Macon-based House seat.

House Democrats also voted Thursday to retain Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, as minority whip.

Rep. Tanya Miller, D-Atlanta, was chosen to succeed Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, as chairman of the House Minority Caucus.

In other leadership elections, Democrats picked Rep. Spencer Frye, D-Athens, to serve as minority caucus vice chairman. Rep. Park Cannon, D-Atlanta, will return as minority caucus secretary.

The 2025 session of the General Assembly will convene at the state Capitol on Jan. 13.

The next Democratic Party of Georgia Chair may receive full-time pay, according to the AJC.

[U.S. Rep. and DPG Chair Nikema] Williams, first elected to the volunteer role in 2019, said Friday that she endorsed a new policy that makes the party chair a paid full-time job. If those changes are adopted by party activists, as expected, it would likely mean Williams would bow out as chair early next year rather than heed the more immediate requests to quit.

She called for an executive committee meeting on Nov. 23 and a full state committee meeting on Dec. 14 to hash out a proposal to make the job a paid, full-time position to ensure that “independently wealthy folks” aren’t the only ones who can fill the role.

“We are the party of working families,” Williams said in an email to Democratic activists, “and I know that we agree that leading our party should be open to all.”

The criticism of Williams’ tenure escalated after former President Donald Trump recaptured Georgia in November, part of a sweep of battleground states that left Democrats demoralized and party leaders struggling for an explanation.

The typically internal fight over the party’s direction became a painfully public battle as prominent officials traded open letters vouching for Williams, the party’s first Black woman elected to the post, or urging that she step down long before her second four-year term ends in 2027.

It grew in the hours after the election, when a dozen or so Democratic leaders told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Williams should step aside. Some panned the party’s strategy or accused Williams of wasting resources.

“I will proudly declare that I rebuilt the Democratic Party of Georgia to be considered a national battleground state when most folks walked away,” she wrote, “with more Democratic gains than any other chair before me trying to rebuild our Party.”

She holds one of the safest Democratic seats in the U.S. House, an Atlanta-based district that she won last week with 87% of the vote. The fraught internal tensions between Williams and the Democrats who pushed for her ouster may not be quickly smoothed over.

The Georgia State Election Board meets today, according to Georgia Recorder.

The State Election Board meeting is scheduled to begin Monday morning with a public comment period where people can discuss the board’s wish list sketched out on a significantly condensed agenda, at least in contrast to marathon-length meetings recently held in a rush to enforce several new electoral rules by the Nov. 5 election.

On Monday’s Georgia election board agenda are two rule amendment petitions filed by Lucia Frazier of Roswell, which would require each county to make public a list of all eligible voters during and after every election. Frazier wants the state board to mandate that counties post a numbered list of voters no later than five days after every primary, election, or run-off.

The file would include the name of every voter along with their voter ID, precinct, and check-in time and must be available for two years after the election.

“The intent of this petition is to have the State Election Board adopt a rule change to affirm existing Georgia law in that citizens of Georgia have access to all data generated in the process of elections,” Frazier wrote.

Georgia’s board, which has no direct role in determining election results, writes rules to ensure that elections run smoothly and hears complaints about alleged violations. The state Legislature creates laws that govern elections, a principle upheld as King, Johnston and Jeffares tried to advance their agenda since this summer.

The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to review the legality of several rules passed this year by Georgia election officials.

Gwinnett County plans to open a business incubator, according to AccessWDUN.

The county has partnered with Georgia Gwinnett College to build a venue that supports entrepreneurs and encourages small business startups in the county.

“The entrepreneur center will serve as a safe space to exchange ideas, collaborate, receive mentoring and build a foundation to become the best business leaders possible,” said Gwinnett County Chairwoman Nicole Hendrickson at Wednesday’s ceremony. “This is an equitable opportunity for small business owners to thrive in a low-cost, central location.”

The goal was to find business hopefuls who show promise for starting or growing a business but need help along the way.

“The Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center takes an innovative approach to helping our small businesses by enhancing what they learn and how they grow,” said Vice-Chair and District 4 Commissioner Marlene Fosque. “This inaugural class of entrepreneurs are [sic] blazing a trail that others will follow for years to come.”

The Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center, located at 405 North Perry Street in Lawrenceville, officially opens January 2022.

McIntosh County Sheriff-elect, Thornell ‘TK’ King is preparing to take office, according to WTOC.

You may remember Thornell King, the once trooper in Darien, Georgia giving away free toys for Christmas during the holidays.

“When I didn’t have, the community supported me and I just love giving back,” said King.

“I started from the bottom. I was what they call a Cadet; I made it all the way to a trooper first class, and I made it all the way up to the major. I was the number four man of the Georgia State Patrol,” said King.

Now, you’ll see him around town as the McIntosh County Sheriff. King said, he’s ready to serve and has big plans as Sheriff.

“I’m going to take a look at the court system, the jail and the patrol division and see what improvements I can do to it. I’m not saying that anything was bad but there’s got to be some improvement somewhere. And I want to hear from the people,” said King.

King was the democratic candidate in the 2024 McIntosh County Sheriff race. It’s a county that typically votes red. King said, he’s in it for the community.

“I want to bring a cohesiveness to the whole county. Some 3510 people didn’t vote for me so I’ve got to convince those people that I am the best man for the job and I’ve got to prove myself to community that I’m going to be tough on crime, I’m going to save them the money, you know with the taxpayers money,” said King. “I can’t do it by myself. I’ve got to go into a Sherriff’s department that I’ve never been a part of and I’ve got to put my footprint, I’ve got to show that I’m the leader and it starts from me on down.”

King said he’s thankful for the community’s support thus far and is ready to hit the ground running.

Decatur County District Attorney Joe Mulholland is joining the fight against the planned Bainbridge monkey farm, according to WTOC.

The Decatur County District Attorney has officially declared that he will bring his fight against a monkey facility to the Georgia Supreme Court.

This follows the Georgia Court of Appeals’ decision to rule in favor of the company over the facility, Safer Human Medicine (SHM).

Bainbridge neighbors said the district attorney’s intent to bring the matter to the Georgia Supreme Court motivates them to continue the fight they started almost a year ago.

News of escaped monkeys in South Carolina has made opponents more impassioned in their fight against the facility.

District Attorney Joe Mulholland said it’s up to the Georgia Supreme Court to decide whether they want to hear his appeal or agree with the Court of Appeals ruling.

Ultimately, he said he would continue to explore every avenue to stop the project from happening.

Terrell County County Administrator Michael McCoy resigned, according to WALB.

United States Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) co-sponsored bipartisan legislation aiming to reduce human smuggling at the southern border, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., have introduced a bipartisan bill, the Border Smuggling Crackdown Act, to crack down on human smuggling at the southern border. The bill would strengthen federal prosecution of human smugglers and protect innocent victims.

In recent years, federal authorities have publicly reported a rise in kidnapping and extortion of migrants in U.S. border cities, as human smuggling across the border has evolved from a largely individually-led enterprise to one controlled by large transnational criminal organizations.

The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for those convicted of human smuggling crimes fail to address the scope of these tragedies, and that their shortcomings make it harder to prosecute smugglers caught at the border.

Ossoff’s and Blackburn’s Border Smuggling Crackdown Act would update sentencing guidelines to ensure penalties reflect the number of humans smuggled. Current federal guidelines do not adequately account for the precise number of persons smuggled, instead allotting sentencing enhancements based on broad ranges of persons smuggled.

In addition, the new bill would update sentencing guidelines to reflect the number of persons injured or murdered, as current guidelines do not account for each person who is injured or dies in a smuggling operation.

“Criminals and human traffickers who exploit and smuggle human beings across our southern border must pay a heavy price. They threaten our national security and exploit victims of trafficking,” Ossoff said. “I’m introducing the Border Smuggling Crackdown Act with Sen. Blackburn to empower federal law enforcement in their fight against human trafficking at our southern border.”