John Paul Jones, at the helm of US ship Bonhomme Richard, won a naval battle off the coast of England on September 23, 1779.
After inflicting considerable damage to the Bonhomme Richard, Richard Pearson, the captain of the Serapis, asked Jones if he had struck his colors, the naval sign indicating surrender. From his disabled ship, Jones replied, “I have not yet begun to fight,” and after three more hours of furious fighting the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough surrendered to him.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned to St. Louis Missouri from their exploratory trip to the Pacific coast on September 23, 1806.
On September 23, 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was speaking at a dinner with the Teamsters union and addressed attacks that had been made by Republicans, including the allegation that after leaving his dog, Fala, behind in the Aleutian Islands, he sent a Navy destroyer to fetch the dog. This would become known as the “Fala speech.”
These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me, or my wife, or on my sons. No, not content with that, they now include my little dog, Fala. Well, of course, I don’t resent attacks, and my family don’t resent attacks, but Fala does resent them. You know, Fala is Scotch, and being a Scottie, as soon as he learned that the Republican fiction writers in Congress and out had concocted a story that I’d left him behind on an Aleutian island and had sent a destroyer back to find him—at a cost to the taxpayers of two or three, or eight or twenty million dollars—his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same dog since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself … But I think I have a right to resent, to object, to libelous statements about my dog.
The idea for the joke was given to FDR by Orson Welles. The political lesson here is that any time you get an audience laughing at your opponent, you are winning.
A statue of former Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol was unveiled on September 23, 1949, the 65th anniversary of Talmadge’s birth near Forsyth, Georgia in 1884.
On September 23, 1952, Senator Richard M. Nixon was under fire for allegedly accepting $18,000 and using it for personal expenses. To salvage his place as the Vice Presidential candidate on Eisenhower’s Republican ticket, Nixon took to the airwaves in the first nationally-televised address and delivered what came to be known as the “Checkers Speech. From The Atlantic:”
[A] 1999 poll of leading communication scholars ranked the address as the sixth most important American speech of the 20th century — close behind the soaring addresses of Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The “Checkers” speech wins this high rank for one stand-out reason: It marked the beginning of the television age in American politics. It also salvaged Nixon’s career, plucking a last-second success from the jaws of abject humiliation, and profoundly shaped Nixon’s personal and professional outlook, convincing him that television was a way to do an end-run around the press and the political “establishment.”
Click here for the full text of the “Checkers Speech.”
The last game played in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium took place on September 23, 1996.
The pilot of The West Wing was first aired on September 22, 1999.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
The New York Times looks at Georgia’s place in the upcoming Presidential election.
Because of the demographic shifts in these rapidly diversifying suburbs, Georgia recently emerged as a battleground state, after years of Republican dominance. And even though President Biden won the state in 2020, his prospects this year in Georgia were dim.
Then Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up, and the energy shifted. Voters who struggled to feel enthusiastic about Mr. Biden were now excited and optimistic. The new dynamics may serve as the biggest test yet of Georgia’s status as a swing state.
The prevailing issues echoed those expressed by voters virtually everywhere: the cost of living. Security at the southern border. Access to abortion.
But voting rights, election integrity and the health of the country’s institutions mattered here, as well. That was a direct result of 2020.
Cruise through the suburbs and you’ll see plenty of Chick-fil-A’s and evangelical megachurches. But you’ll also see Hindu temples and mosques, and a single strip mall with restaurants offering Peruvian, Colombian, Mexican, Japanese and Vietnamese fare.
The changing landscape makes the national debate over immigration policy feel deeply personal.
Even with Georgia’s evolution — it has elected Democrats for president and the Senate — there are issues that reveal how conservative values are still deeply rooted in the state.
Abortion is one of them: The state has a ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.
While Republican elected officials in the state continue their opposition to abortion access, recent polling shows that many women are motivated to protect abortion rights. Ms. Harris returned to Georgia last week to give a speech highlighting the deaths of two women that she argued were the result of the state’s strict limits on abortion access.
Voters in Georgia could be forgiven for once again feeling as if Atlanta has become the center of the universe. It was the site of the disastrous debate performance that torpedoed Mr. Biden’s re-election bid, and it was where Ms. Harris, just over a week later, made her first major campaign stop.
Part of that is because Ms. Harris has emerged as a more effective spokeswoman for some voters, particularly on abortion. But there was a measure of skepticism over her unusual path to the nomination, because she had avoided the test of a primary season. Others worried that both racism and sexism could be weaponized against her.
Former President Donald Trump will campaign in Savannah on Tuesday, September 23, 2024, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Savannah will factor once again into the upcoming U.S. presidential race as former President Donald Trump plans to visit the Hostess City 1 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 24, at the Johnny Mercer Theater.
A notice about the event states that Trump will “deliver remarks outlining his plan to lower taxes for American business owners and highlight the importance of buying American made goods for our economy.”
The former president’s event follows recent political stops by both Vice President Kamala Harris’s and Trump’s campaigns that have put Georgia and Savannah, in particular, on the national stage ahead of November’s election.
Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz stopped in Savannah on Aug. 29 as part of their campaign tour. They capped off their trip with a rally at Savannah’s Enmarket Arena where a crowd of more than 5,000 attendees listened to her attack Project 2025 and champion reproductive rights. A few days later on Sept. 5 Harris’s “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” tour came back to the Hostess City on its way to other cities and towns throughout the country prior to November.
Click here to register for the Trump event.
To Trump supporter Ryan Purvis, a member of the Savannah Young Republicans, the former president’s campaign visit affirms his commitment to voters outside of large metros Democrats often overlook.
“Trump has definitely done this many times over the years. What other candidate can say they’ve held multiple rallies in Valdosta, Georgia? Trump can,” he said. “I seriously doubt that Vice President Harris can point out Valdosta on a map.”
Georgia’s standing as a battleground state and Savannah’s growth into an economic hub and population center has raised the city’s and region’s political profile. The area’s highest-profile politician, House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from neighboring Effingham County, said Trump’s visit is further evidence that “southeast Georgia has found its footing” in terms of political influence.
Burns and others expect Trump to receive a warm reception, even as he lost the popular vote in Savannah’s Chatham County in the last two elections. Trump has plenty of support in the area, as Republicans make up close to 45% of the Chatham electorate. Neighboring counties Bryan and Effingham are overwhelmingly conservative.
Savannah and coastal Georgia are represented in Congress by a GOP native son, Rep. Buddy Carter. Another Republican congressman, Rep. Rick Allen of Augusta, represents a swath of residents on metro Savannah’s northern edge as well.
GOP officials expect a similarly large and energetic crowd to welcome Trump, just as happened in August when each of the candidates held campaign rallies in the same Atlanta venue in a five-day span.
“President Donald Trump is always welcome in the Hostess City,” Carter said. “His message of restoring America’s strength and prosperity, securing our borders, and putting the American people first is resonating across our state and across the country.”
To Savannah-area Democrats, Trump’s visit is an indication of “just how much the coast matters,” said Aaron “Adot” Whitely, the chair of the Chatham County Democratic Party. From a political standpoint, he said the Trump event is meant to troll Harris following her campaign stop in Savannah and is a sign of desperation as Harris builds support with Georgia voters.
“Ultimately, it looks like he’s grasping at straws and trying to undo anything the Harris-Walz campaign does,” Whitely said. “He’s being more reactive than proactive. He’s trying to catch up.”
But Kemp won’t attend the Savannah event, due to a long-standing scheduling conflict, and Trump has a history of revisiting past grievances during his often-lengthy campaign speeches.
“As long as I’ve been involved in politics, I’ve always worried what a candidate will say. He is no different, but you have to let Trump be Trump. That’s his appeal,” Savannah’s Purvis said. “He says what’s on his mind and makes no excuses.”
Acting Vice President Kamala Harris will speak in Cobb County on Friday, September 27, 2024, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at an event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center Friday.
The Democratic nominee for president’s event is this afternoon, CEPAC confirmed.
Harris has raised more money in August from Georgia donors than Trump, according to the AJC.
Georgia supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris donated about $2.7 million during the month of August compared to roughly $1.3 million sent to former President Donald Trump’s campaign by his in-state supporters, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of the latest data from the Federal Election Commission.
These totals are similar to fundraising during July when Harris kickstarted her campaign. Harris raised nearly the same amount as during July, and Trump has raised about $400,000 more in August than the previous month.
Overall, Trump has now raised $8.5 million in the state this campaign cycle, starting at the beginning of 2023. Biden and Harris have accumulated $8.7 million. This is a notable change from two months prior, when Trump had raised almost twice as much as Biden and Harris, combined, at the end of June.
Much of the gap between the two campaigns closed in July, when Harris received a burst in fundraising following her announced presidential run. Harris’ sustained fundraising haul in August has brought the two campaigns to roughly equal donations from Georgians in total.
United States Senator and Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance (O-H-I-O) will campaign in Macon on Thursday, September 26, 2024, according to 13WMAZ.
On Friday, it was announced in a press release that Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance will travel Macon for the first time and speak at an event on Thursday, Sept. 26.
The release said that Vance will specifically speak on the economy and inflation. He’ll speak at the Edgar H. Wilson Convention Center on Coliseum Drive South. Doors will open at 10 a.m. and Vance will begin speaking around 1 p.m. Those interested can find tickets here.
Vance will visit Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday and and Traverse City, Michigan on Wednesday. His trip to Macon will, as of right now, complete his campaign plans that week.
This will be his fourth trip to Georgia since he was selected by former president Donald Trump. He recently travelled to Atlanta on Sept. 16.
“As a result of the disastrous policies of the Kamala Harris and Joe Biden administration, Georgians are struggling to support their families,” the Trump campaign said in an announcement about Vance’s visit. “With inflation over 21%, Georgia families are spending an average of over $1000 more a month on basic goods like gas and groceries and have lost $28,502 on average due to Kamala’s economic policies.”
During Walz’s visit, he stressed the campaigns’ differing stances on abortion and discussed reporting from ProPublica that indicated two Georgia women have died because they couldn’t legally access abortion care.
Vance will also headline a GOTV rally in Flowery Branch, according to Fox5Atlanta.
Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, is scheduled to host a Get Out the Vote Rally in Flowery Branch on Sept. 26. This will be his second visit to Georgia in less than 2 weeks.
The rally will take place at The Venue at Friendship Springs, located at 7340 Friendship Springs Blvd. Doors will open at 2 p.m., with Vance delivering his remarks at 5 p.m.
Sen. Vance and the campaign are expected to address key issues impacting Georgians, including the economy, inflation, and the rising cost of living, which the campaign attributes to the policies of Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden.
Governor Brian Kemp’s office released a statement on Georgia’s abortion law, according to WSAV.
“Every life is precious, including that of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller. They would likely both be alive today if partisan activists and so-called journalists had not spread such egregious misinformation and propaganda that fostered a culture of fear and confusion. Rather than use their tragic deaths for political gain or to reignite the same deadly misinformation campaign that puts patients’ lives at risk, these activists and journalists should honor Amber and Candi’s memory by ensuring that Georgians know the truth about the LIFE Act and their healthcare options in our state. Regardless, we will continue to fight for and protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us.”
The deaths of Thurman and Miller came to light in ProPublica reports released this week.
In the state of Georgia, HB 481 was passed in 2019 which bans abortions after approximately six weeks of pregnancy. The ban is considered a “Heartbeat” bill, meaning that if fetal cardiac activity can be detected, then an abortion is prohibited.
Thurman, 28, died in 2022 after waiting 20 hours for a hospital to treat complications that occurred after she took abortion pills. As reported by ProPublica, the case is the first publicly reported instance of a woman dying from delayed care tied to a state abortion law.
Thurman needed a dilation and curettage (D&C), a procedure in which tissue is removed from inside the uterus, ProPublica reported. However, Georgia’s ban considers a D&C a felony if performed outside of specific circumstances and could land doctors behind bars for up to 10 years.
Thurman’s death was “preventable,” according to Georgia’s maternal mortality review committee, which said the hospital’s delay in providing the D&C due to state law “had a large impact on her fatal outcome,” ProPublica reported.
Miller, a woman with lupus, diabetes and hypertension, took abortion pills she ordered online in November 2022 before she died. She did not expel all the fetal tissue and would need a D&C procedure to clear it from her uterus and stave off sepsis, a grave and painful infection, according to ProPublica.
The Georgia State Election Board passed a rule requiring hand-counting of ballots on election night, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
Lowndes County’s elections supervisor said a new state rule enacted Friday requiring hand-counting of paper ballots after voting is completed would be one more layer of difficulty for local elections staff but is “do-able.”
The Georgia State Election Board approved the rule, going against the advice of the state attorney general’s office, the secretary of state’s office and an association of county election officials. Three board members who were praised by former President Donald Trump during a rally last month in Atlanta voted to approve the measure, while the lone Democrat on the board and the nonpartisan chair voted to reject it.
In a memo sent to election board members Thursday, the office of state Attorney General Chris Carr said no provision in state law allows counting the number of ballots by hand at the precinct level before the ballots are brought to the county election superintendent for vote tallying. As a result, the memo says, the rule is “not tethered to any statute” and is “likely the precise kind of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do.”
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last month called the hand counting rule “misguided,” saying it would delay the reporting of election results and introduce risks to chain of custody procedures.
The new rule requires that the number of paper ballots — not the number of votes — be counted at each polling place by three separate poll workers until all three counts are the same. If a scanner has more than 750 ballots inside at the end of voting, the poll manager can decide to begin the count the following day.
Deb Cox, Lowndes County’s elections supervisor, said voters wouldn’t notice anything when they cast votes under the new hand-counting rule but poll workers certainly would.
“It would be a long night,” she said.
Cox also said more papers to hand-count leads to more room for error.
The state will provide guidance on how to carry out the hand-counting, she said.
“Anything’s do-able,” Cox said. “We just have to figure out how to do it, and hope the poll managers don’t quit.”
The proponents of the new rule said it is needed to make sure that the number of ballots in the scanners at the end of the day matches the number of voters recorded by check-in computers and the number of ballots recorded by the voting machines and the scanners. Memory cards that record the votes at the polling places are what is used to tally votes on election night.
Several county election officials who spoke out against the rule during a public comment period preceding the vote warned that having to count the ballots by hand at polling places could delay the reporting of election night results. They also worried about putting an additional burden on poll workers who have already worked a long day.
Even state leaders feel it is too close to the election to make drastic changes. State Representative Dexter Sharper said he believes the electronic voting system is the most accurate way to reassure voters and a new process should not be enacted before a huge turnout.
“I think they felt that was the best thing to make sure that people felt their vote will count and will matter and the process is fair for everyone,” Sharper said.
WALB did reach out to Republican state leaders to receive their feedback on this new rule by the Board of Elections.
“Unfortunately, a few bad apples, a few miscounts here or there, a few double counts, lead to an overshadowing of the great work that many of our election board offices are doing time and time again,” Georgia Elections Board Member Janelle King said.
On Friday, Raffensperger said:
“Attorney General Chris Carr has stated that these rules would not withstand a legal challenge, and I have worked every day to strengthen Georgia’s election law to ensure our elections remain safe, secure and free.”
Leaders of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials raised concerns similar to Raffensperger’s in a letter to the State Election Board last month, warning the rule would ultimately undermine confidence in the process. The nonprofit association’s members include over 500 election officials and workers statewide, according to the organization.
Janelle King, a board member who worked with the author of the rule on the wording, said she wasn’t concerned if election night reporting is slowed a bit in favor of making sure that the number of ballots is accurate.
“What I don’t want to do is set a precedent that we’re OK with speed over accuracy,” she said as the board was discussing the rule proposal. “I can guarantee you, as a voter, I would rather wait another hour to ensure that the count is accurate than to get a count given within that hour and then to find out at the close of an election after certification has already taken place that we have people suing because the count is not accurate.”
The new rule will now be filed with the secretary of state and will take effect 20 days later.
The board also tabled until 2025 a proposal for a similar count at early in-person voting locations.
The election officials association urged the State Election Board in a letter Tuesday not to consider any new rules when Election Day is less than 50 days away, ballots are already going out and poll worker training is well underway.
“We do not oppose rules because we are lazy or because a political operative or organization wants us to,” the letter says. “We oppose rules because they are poorly written, inefficient, would not accomplish their stated goals, or go directly against state law.”
Some legal experts say the doomsday scenario of Republican-dominated local election boards refusing to certify vote counts and preventing Georgia from certifying its totals by an early December deadline remains improbable. That’s because state law and court precedent firmly state that county officials can’t unilaterally discard votes and “shall certify” by deadlines written into state law, no matter how much local board members might distrust their results.
Metro Atlanta counties dismissed more than 45,000 voter eligibility challenges , according to the AJC.
The number of rejected challenges is stunning — nearly four times the margin of victory in the 2020 presidential race in Georgia. But it won’t increase any more, as boards enter a 45-day quiet period beginning this week and continuing through the election cycle during which no new challenges can be heard.
The AJC collected data from four metro Atlanta counties — Gwinnett, Fulton, Cobb and DeKalb. Despite the deluge of challenges, county boards have agreed to remove fewer than 50 of the challenged voters.
Peach County poll workers trained for the General Election, according to 13WMAZ.
25 people recently attended a training at the Peach County Government Center in Fort Valley.
They were tasked with learning the new rules that the Georgia State Elections Board put into place, including that votes must be hand counted to check against what the vote tallying machine had processed.
The other rules include the following:
An accompanying rule that was proposed alongside the hand-count rule
A rule, which requires the printing of emergency/provisional ballots and absentee ballots separately and distinctly.
A rule, which provides for the public publishing of precinct-level reconciliation reports and passed with a 4-0 vote.
A rule, which requires “a daily reporting system to publicly share the total number of voters who have participated, beginning from the start of advance voting.”
A rule that “designates additional areas within the tabulating centers in which poll watchers are permitted to view tabulation and reconciliation processes.”
The workers were trained on counting the ballots and how the ballot counting would be divided between each worker.
Early voting runs from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1. Absentee ballots will be mailed starting Oct. 7, which is also the last day of voter registration. Nov. 5 is election day.
Tifton Judicial Circuit Senior Judge Gary McCorvey presided over a hearing on the legality of a McIntosh County referendum to undo action by the McIntosh County Commission, according to The Brunswick News.
An attorney for McIntosh County told a judge Friday that a special election set for Oct. 1 to allow McIntosh County voters to determine the fate of a zoning ordinance that allows for larger homes to be built on Sapelo Island is illegal.
Attorneys representing the petitioners who collected more than 2,300 signatures to trigger the referendum argued, however, that the county has no standing to challenge the election and that McIntosh County Probate Court Judge Harold Webster must follow through with the election as state law dictates.
The county filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Webster, who state law says is to oversee the special election process, claiming that he should stop the election and called into question the legality of the petition itself. The county claims the home-rule provisions in state law that provide the people petition and referendum power cannot apply to zoning issues.
The petition filed in Probate Court in July seeks to repeal a zoning ordinance that was passed in September 2023 that allows for homes as large as 3,000 square feet of interior space to be built in the Hog Hammock district, also referred to as Hogg Hummuck, of Sapelo Island.
McIntosh County is seeking a writ of mandamus, a writ of prohibition and a declaratory judgment that Webster will hold an illegal special election on Oct. 1.
A writ of mandamus is a court order requiring a government official or entity to perform or stop performing an act as required by law. A writ of prohibition is a judicial order preventing lower courts from proceeding with matters outside of its jurisdiction. A declaratory judgment is a court-issued ruling defining legal rights and obligations of parties in a dispute without enforcement measures or damages being granted.
Judge McCorvey is presiding over the case because all local judges were recused by law because a party in the case is a sitting local judge.
Republican Brenda Battle is running for State House District 153 against Democratic incumbent David Sampson, according to the Albany Herald.
The Republican candidate said her platform is built on relationships, representation and resources. She called herself a “risk taker” – someone who will be willing to go for new opportunities that will bring industry to the district and promote economic development.
“We can’t be afraid of discussing with each other those things that could greatly impact us,” Battle said. “We definitely have to do better at creating relationships and nurturing those relationships and passing that on to the youth to continue with those relationships to build a better city.”
Battle said she’s already begun building those important relationships locally and statewide – something she considers important, especially since she’s a Republican candidate running for a seat that has historically belonged to a Democrat.
“The only color that I’m interested in is green, and that is our cash flow,” Battle said. “We are the hub of southwest Georgia, and we should take the position that, being the hub, you can’t provide for other counties if you’re on the same level financially as those counties.”
She also said she recognizes that much of gun violence locally stems from individuals. She said while she supports the 2nd Amendment, she believes gun laws need to be re-evaluated to keep guns out of the hands of youths. This includes laws on background checks for mental illness and ensuring proper firearm storage and safe use.
Bibb County public schools will receive more than $25 million in state and federal grants, according to the Macon Telegraph.
Most of the money comes from a seven-year “Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs” partnership grant, often referred to as GEAR UP, which aims to boost the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in higher education.
The Bibb County School District is one of just three districts nationwide to receive the funding from the US.. Department of Education. Several school officials described the grant as “a significant investment in our students’ future” at Thursday’s board meeting.
“The grant will support various initiatives focused on improving post-secondary readiness and academic achievement, including expanding tutoring services, introducing new college and career readiness programs, and offering additional resources and support for students and their families,” Lori Ward Rodgers, BCSD assistant superintendent for district effectiveness and federal programs, said in a news release.
BCSD will receive more than $2.6 million in GEAR UP grants per year over a seven-year period, totaling more than $18.5 million.
Gwinnett County District Three Commissioner Jasper Watkins is hosting Town Hall meetings, according to AccessWDUN.
During the meetings, Watkins will share information on transportation, the millage rate, crime rates, parks and recreation, water resources, economic development, planning and development and the Rowen Project.
“I look forward to connecting with residents at these town halls to discuss the important issues facing our community,” Watkins said. “Whether it’s transportation, public safety, or future development, hearing directly from our community helps shape the decisions we make to ensure Gwinnett County continues to thrive.”
The first town hall will take place on Sept. 23 from at the Dacula Parks and Activity Building in Dacula. The second meeting will be held at the Snellville City Hall on Sept. 30. Both will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Former Governor Nathan Deal read from his new children’s book, according to the Statesboro Herald.
Former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal came to Mattie Lively Elementary School recently in his capacity as an author of a children’s book.
At the request of his late wife and to honor her commitment to children’s literacy, Deal recently published “Veto, The Governor’s Cat,” which tells the story of the Deals’ two rescue cats, Veto and Bill.
After learning her breast cancer had spread, Nathan Deal started working on the book and Sandra Deal approved of his original manuscript before she died in 2022.
“Veto, The Governor’s Cat” is based on the lives of Veto and Bill, who were brought to the Governor’s Mansion to protect the garden from chipmunks and later moved with the Deals to Habersham County after they left office.
In sharing the story of Veto and Bill, Deal said that it is a continuation of his wife’s advocacy work. A portion of the proceeds from the book will support literacy projects and other educational initiatives through The Deal Foundation.
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