ATLANTA – The candidates in two competitive U.S. House races in Atlanta’s northern suburbs have plenty of money to work with as the June 9 primary approaches.
Incumbent Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath of Roswell, who is seeking a second term representing the 6th Congressional District, raised more than $1 million during the first quarter of this year, according to a report filed this week with the Federal Election Commission. However, McBath has brought in more than $4 million for the 2020 election counting contributions she received before January.
That leaves the incumbent well positioned financially to fend off the challenge of former Rep. Karen Handel, a Republican from Alpharetta, who lost to McBath two years ago.
But Handel will have more than enough resources to compete. After raising $283,155 during January, February and March, Handel’s campaign war chest stood at just less than $1 million as of March 31.
That’s well above Republican primary opponent Joe Profit, an author and businessman from Marietta. Profit has raised $378,302 during the 2020 election cycle, including $143,094 during the first quarter. However, $164,200 of his funds came in the form of a loan he made to his campaign.
Three other Republican hopefuls in the 6th District had not filed reports with the FEC as of Friday.
The 6th District covers East Cobb, North Fulton and North DeKalb counties.
The 7th Congressional District race is more crowded because Rep. Mark Woodall, R-Lawrenceville, is retiring. Three of the seven Republican candidates vying to succeed Woodall have raised nearly $1 million each.
State Sen. Renee Unterman of Buford leads the pack. She raised just $78,814 during the first quarter, with the General Assembly in session for most of that time. But Unterman has brought in $961,190 in total, including a loan of $602,841 she made to her campaign.
Dr. Richard McCormick, an emergency room physician from Suwanee, is keeping up with Unterman in the fundraising race. The $202,202 he received in January, February and March gave him $912,862 for the total election cycle, including personal loans of $247,000.
Businesswoman Lynne Homrich, a former executive with Home Depot, is the third Republican candidate in the 7th District with a campaign war chest north of $900,000. She raised $126,103 during the first quarter, bringing her total to $908,728. That includes personal loans to the campaign of $330,000.
Businessman Mark Gonsalves has raised $451,909 thus far in his campaign.
Three other GOP candidates have struggled to raise money. Retiree Eugene Yu has brought in $25,140 – all in the first quarter. Educator/author Lisa Noel Babbage has raised $7,660, and Zachary Kennemore, a hotel night auditor, reported only $120 in contributions
Carolyn Bourdeax, a familiar name in the 7th District, dominates the battle for bucks among Democrats. After narrowly losing a bid to unseat Woodall two years ago, the college professor from Suwanee has raised more than $1.7 million for another shot this year, including $326,131 in January, February and March.
State Sen. Zahra Karinshak of Duluth, limited during the General Assembly session, brought in $151,239 during the first quarter to give her a total of $667,231, second among Democrats on the 7th District Democratic primary ballot. That includes a loan of $150,000 she made to her campaign.
Nabilah Islam of Lawrenceville, self-described as a “full-time candidate,” has raised $544,615 thus far, including $144,490 during January, February and March.
State Rep. Brenda Lopez Romero of Norcross has raised $153,422, the vast majority coming in before January.
Entrepreneur Rashid Malik had not filed an FEC report as of Friday.
The 7th Congressional District takes in most of Gwinnett County and part of Forsyth County.
ATLANTA – A plan by a now-defunct energy consortium to build a coal-fired power plant near Sandersville has died a quiet death.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has rejected an application to give Power4Georgians another 18 months to begin construction on the $2.1 billion project.
The last permit the consortium received, back in 2014, set a deadline of April 2016 for work to begin, EPD Director Richard Dunn wrote in a letter last month to Dean Alford, the driving force behind the project. Dunn’s letter denied a request for an extension Power4Georgians sent the EPD just before that deadline.
“Upon review of your April 12, 2016, letter, and the relevant facts, your request for extension is denied and approval to construct the facility … is hereby deemed invalid,” Dunn’s letter stated.
Alford, a former member of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, was charged last fall with criminal attempt to commit theft by taking and racketeering in connection with a different energy project.
A civil suit filed in that case accuses him of defrauding 39 investors out of $6 million in a Ponzi scheme stemming from a project that was supposed to convert municipal solid waste into fuel pellets. Alford has denied the charges.
While utilities across the country – including Georgia Power Co. – were retiring coal plants during the last decade to reduce their reliance on coal, Power4Georgians was pushing against that tide with plans to build an 850-megawatt coal plant in Georgia.
As originally constituted, the consortium included several of the state’s electric membership corporations (EMCs). But as planning for the project lagged amid concerns that the Obama administration was about to crack down on carbon emissions from coal plants, the EMCs pulled out, leaving Power4Georgians scrambling for other financing sources.
ATLANTA – The coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Augusta.
Atlanta-based Southern Co. announced this week that the workforce at the $25 billion project is being cut by 20%.
As of Wednesday, 42 workers had tested positive for COVID-19, while 57 were awaiting test results, the Augusta Chronicle reported Thursday.
Southern officials cited “challenges with labor productivity” as the reason behind the layoffs.
“It is expected to provide operational efficiencies by increasing productivity of the remaining workforce and reducing workforce fatigue and absenteeism,” the company stated in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “It is also expected to allow for increased social distancing by the workforce and facilitate compliance with the latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
More than 9,000 workers were on the construction site in Burke County as of late March, meaning the layoffs could affect 1,500 to 2,000 workers. Southern estimated the cost of the layoffs at $15 million to $30 million, assuming absenteeism stabilizes and the project realizes intended productivity efficiencies in the coming months.
However, Southern officials said they do not expect the workforce reduction to affect the total cost of the project or the current completion schedule.
The cost of constructing two additional nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle has nearly doubled since the Georgia Public Service Commission approved the project in 2009. The schedule also has slipped substantially, in large part because of the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric Co., originally the prime contractor.
The two new units originally were due to be completed in 2016 and 2017, but the latest schedule calls for finishing the first of the two reactors late next year and the second a year later.
Georgia Power Co. is the major partner in the Plant Vogtle expansion, partnering with Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG), and Dalton Utilities.
Plant Vogtle is the only nuclear power plant construction currently underway in the country, as other projects have been abandoned due to rising costs. The nuclear expansion also is the largest ongoing construction project in Georgia.
ATLANTA – Small businesses in Georgia and across the country were left in limbo Thursday when the U.S. Senate adjourned without approving a new round of economic stimulus funding to help offset losses from the coronavirus pandemic.
Almost $350 billion in Small Business Administration (SBA) loans Congress passed last month as part of a $2.2 trillion package has run out, as has a $10 billion SBA program meant to get fast cash to affected businesses.
The SBA has approved loans to more than 30,000 Georgia businesses worth more than $7 billion, Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday. But many other companies have been left high and dry, Clark said.
“If you’re already in the system, you’ve got a spot in line,” he said. “But if you haven’t applied yet, you can’t.”
Clark said the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been hampered not only by a shortage of funds. During the program’s first week, some types of small businesses – including sole proprietorships – could not apply for loans because the rules governing those businesses were not in place.
Clark said Georgia farmers got lumped into that business category and couldn’t get relief.
“By the time the rules got promulgated, the funds were gone,” he said.
While President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have pledged to pour more money into the PPP, the funding is being delayed by partisan politics. Republicans are pushing for a $250 billion stand-alone package aimed only at small business, while Democrats want to double the package to include more money to help state governments and hospitals.
Clark said the final outcome likely will be determined by the White House and majority Democrats in the House of Representatives, which was also the case during the negotiations that led up to last month’s bailout.
With Congress set to return on Monday, Clark said business groups will engage in intensive lobbying efforts during the weekend to try to get an agreement.
Candidates in Georgia vying for two U.S. Senate seats this fall have released new quarterly campaign fundraising figures that show a financial boost for some Democratic hopefuls as well as huge money pots amassed by both Republican incumbents.
Sen. David Perdue and the Rev. Raphael Warnock led the large pack of candidates in fundraising for the first quarter of 2020. Perdue hauled in roughly $1.6 million, while Warnock took in about $1.5 million in campaign contributions.
The fundraising by Warnock, a Democrat, topped efforts by Republican competitors U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Gainesville and incumbent U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler – though both managed to add more to their campaign chests via personal loans or transfers from other campaigns.
Loeffler is looking to fend off nearly two dozen challengers in the free-for-all election for her seat, which she was appointed to after former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson retired at the end of last year.
While Loeffler’s more than $1.1 million in contributions lagged behind Warnock, the billionaire businesswoman from Atlanta also sent her campaign a personal loan of $5 million. Including that loan, Loeffler has loaned her campaign $10 million so far.
Collins, meanwhile, also added nearly $1.1 million in contributions to his haul, including $1.6 million from other campaign transfers. That rounds out to about $2.2 million in cash overall to spend for his campaign.
Loeffler’s Republican counterpart, U.S. Sen. David Perdue, outpaced Democratic rivals in fundraising quarter – but not by much in the case of filmmaker John Ossoff.
Ossoff raised slightly more than $1 million from campaign donors, a higher tally than his Democratic primary opponents Teresa Tomlinson and Sarah Riggs Amico.
Tomlinson, the former Columbus mayor, raised nearly $614,000 this quarter, while businesswoman Sarah Riggs Amico raised almost $162,000.
Perdue and Loeffler both have far more cash in the bank for their campaigns than opponents as they head toward the November general election. Perdue has roughly $9 million in cash-on-hand, while Loeffler has about $6.1 million.
Warnock, the pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, has nearly $1.2 million in cash-on-hand, topping Democratic candidates Ed Tarver and Matt Lieberman, who are also competing for Loeffler’s seat.
Ossoff has about $1.8 million on hand for his campaign. That amount leads Tomlinson, with about $435,000, and Riggs Amico, with roughly $280,000.
This story has been updated to correct campaign contribution figures for Raphael Warnock, Kelly Loeffler and Doug Collins.
