ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp is sitting on a record campaign war chest for this early stage of his reelection bid with no declared Democratic challenger and a Republican primary opponent considered a heavy underdog.
Kemp had raised $11.9 million through the end of last month, including $3.9 million during the three months since this year’s General Assembly session ended, according to a report filed Thursday with the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission.
The Republican governor’s Democratic opponent in 2018, Stacey Abrams, has not entered what would be a rematch between the two, although she is considered likely to declare her candidacy.
Former state Rep. Vernon Jones is mounting a GOP primary challenge to Kemp as a loyalist of former President Donald Trump. His campaign had not filed a report on the commission’s website as of Friday morning,
Kemp’s report was among a flurry that landed at the commission on the deadline for candidates for state office to submit campaign fund-raising totals covering February through June. While the data showed many statewide Republican incumbents getting off to strong starts, some of their GOP primary challengers and potential Democratic opponents were also active.
In the race for attorney general, incumbent Republican Chris Carr had amassed $1.6 million through June 30. Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, however, had a strong second quarter, outraising Carr in April, May and June $673,761 to $564,762.
Another Democratic hopeful, Charlie Bailey, who lost to Carr in 2018, had raised $573,168 through the end of June, including $294,194 during the second quarter.
One of the Republicans seeking to oust GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in next year’s primary is giving him a run in the battle for bucks.
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro, has raised $575,771 since entering the race in March. That bested the $497,468 Raffensperger raised during the second quarter, but the incumbent’s campaign has brought in a total of $746,761 including fund-raising prior to the April-June reporting period.
Like Kemp, Raffensperger is being targeted by Trump allies in Georgia because he refused to go along with efforts to reverse the results of last year’s presidential election in Georgia amid allegations of widespread voter fraud that were subsequently dismissed in a series of court challenges.
Another Republican challenger attacking Raffensperger over the 2020 election, former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle, had raised $164,308 through June 30.
On the Democratic side, state Rep. Bee Nguyen raised $386,713 during the second quarter. The other Democrat in the race, Manswell Peterson, is being investigated by the commission for questionable disclosures on his campaign finance report.
State Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, reported earlier this week that he has raised more than $2 million in his bid for lieutenant governor. The seat became vacant when incumbent Geoff Duncan announced in May he would not seek reelection.
The other Republican in the race, Savannah activist Jeanne Seaver, and two Democrats running for lieutenant governor – Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone – had not posted campaign reports with the commission as of Friday morning.
ATLANTA – The processing of first-time unemployment claims in Georgia is being slowed down because the vast majority do not involve layoffs, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Only 10% of May’s 74,783 initial jobless claims resulted from Georgians being laid off from their jobs, according to labor department data. Layoffs accounted for 49% of claims at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in April of last year.
“Claims filed due to layoffs are determined quickly and payments can be released without delay,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said. “However, we are not seeing many simple layoff claims at this time, and we must review each claim thoroughly to ensure a claimant is eligible.”
Delays in processing first-time unemployment claims have been a frequent complaint since COVID-19 struck Georgia in March of last year, forcing businesses to close and lay off workers. Such delays are among the allegations in a class-action lawsuit filed against the labor department last month.
Last week was the first full week since Georgia ended its participation in several federal unemployment insurance programs begun during the pandemic. However, 19,761 jobless Georgians still filed initial unemployment claims during the week, down 988 from the week before.
With the federal programs discontinued, claimants for state unemployment are required to be able and available to work and be actively seeking a job during each week they’re asking for benefits.
Information on the best way to conduct work searches can be found on the agency’s website at dol.georgia.gov.
The labor department has processed more than 4.9 million first-time unemployment claims since March of last year, more than during the last 10 years before the pandemic. The agency has paid out more than $22.8 billion in state and federal jobless benefits.
More than 203,000 jobs are listed on EmployGeorgia. Claimants receive access to job listings, support to upload up to five searchable resumes, job search assistance, career counseling, skills testing, job fair information and job training services.
President Joe Biden is pushing to extend an expansion of the federal child tax credit through 2025. (Official Biden Twitter video)
ATLANTA – The expanded federal child tax credit Congress passed this year is expected to lift nearly 700,000 Georgia children out of poverty, including about 470,000 Black children, child advocacy leaders said Thursday.
As a result, the state’s overall child poverty rate will be reduced from 13.6% to 5.9%, while the Black child poverty rate will go from 21.8% to 11.4%, Kimberly Scott, executive director of Georgia WAND (Women’s Action for New Directions), said during a news conference in Atlanta.
“This is major tax relief for nearly all working families,” Scott said. “The expanded child tax credit will serve as a lifeline for so many Georgians.”
Georgia WAND and other nonprofit groups interested in children’s wellbeing staged Thursday’s news conference to raise awareness of the expanded child tax credit.
Starting July 15, families will receive monthly checks of up to $300 per child. Over the course of a year, that amounts to $3,600 for each child under age 6 and $3,000 for each child ages 6 through 17.
The expanded child tax credit is part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan President Joe Biden steered through Congress in March. Additional legislation – the American Families Plan – that remains pending would extend the credit through 2025.
Ray Khalfani, a policy analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, said it’s important that the tax credit be extended beyond just this year because the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic are still being felt, particularly by minority workers hit hardest by layoffs.
“While the economy may be recovering for some, for too many the crisis remains,” he said. “Racial disparities are often linked to the last-hired, first-fired syndrome.”
Mindy Binderman, executive director of GEEARS (Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students) said she is glad to see a larger tax credit going to families with children under 6.
“We know poverty has negative consequences for child outcomes, for health, social, emotional and cognitive development,” she said. “We think the [larger credit] will be helpful.”
Khalfani said he expects a strong push to convince members of Congress to support making the expanded child tax credit permanent. He predicted the effort will get a boost from success stories that emerge from families helped by the expanded credit.
ATLANTA – Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller has raised more than $2 million in the five weeks since entering next year’s race for lieutenant governor, Miller’s campaign reported Thursday.
The fundraising haul for the Republican was jump-started by a campaign kickoff event in his hometown of Gainesville last week that drew more than 1,000 supporters, including former Gov. Nathan Deal and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue.
“We’re just getting started,” Miller said. “We’re traveling the state, we’re getting a tremendous response, and these numbers tell that story. I have a long record of conservative policy victories that have brought prosperity to Georgia, and I have a conservative vision to ensure that even better days are ahead for Georgia families and businesses.”
Miller got into the race in May shortly after incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan declared he would not seek reelection. Nonetheless, Duncan had rolled up nearly $2.1 million in campaign contributions by the time he dropped out and still had more than $825,000 in his war chest as of the end of June, according to a report filed with the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission.
One other candidate is running for lieutenant governor on the Republican side, Savannah GOP activist Jeanne Seaver. Her campaign finance report had not been posted on the commission’s website as of Thursday.
Two Democratic state representatives also are looking to step up to lieutenant governor. Neither Erick Allen of Smyrna nor Derrick Jackson of Tyrone had posted reports with the commission.
ATLANTA – A Utah-based manufacturer of mattresses and pillows that announced a year ago it would build its first East Coast plant in Georgia is expanding that facility.
Purple Innovation, best known for creating the Purple Mattress, will create an additional 500 jobs in Henry County on top of the 360 announced last year, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday. The jobs range across production, fulfillment, customer care, and other areas of the business.
Purple Innovation was formed in 2015 by two brothers with extensive experience in materials science, Tony and Terry Pearce. It uses a patented gel technology – the Purple Grid – to provide support without sacrificing comfort.
The planned expansion in McDonough will serve as a customer care center. It is scheduled to open next spring.
“We know that Georgia is the right place … as we build on the incredible foundation we’ve established with Governor Kemp and Henry County,” said Purple CEO Joe Megibow.
The new positions the expansion will create include customer care representatives, training and content specialists and quality assurance analysts. Potential applicants can visit the company’s website at purple.com/careers for additional information.
“We take a lot of pride when one of our established industries expands in Henry County,” said Pierre Clements, chairman of the Henry County Development Authority.
“Purple Innovation doubling their manufacturing footprint and adding a customer care center to their Henry County campus proves that our efforts in leveraging our strong supply chain position to grow our advanced manufacturing and professional services sectors are working.”
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) worked with the development authority, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the state Department of Labor’s Georgia Quick Start program and Georgia Power to land the project.
