ATLANTA – Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the hit musical “Hamilton,” called on Latino Georgians this week to support U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., in a race that could determine the balance of power in Washington.
Though Miranda is deeply rooted in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City, he has close ties to Atlanta.
Miranda premiered his musical “Bring it On” at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta in 2011.
“I’ve seen you guys freak out over half-an-inch of snow,” he teased the crowd at a rally Wednesday night.
“History has its eyes on you,” Miranda said, quoting “Hamilton.” “I see very starkly what the sides are and the stakes are in this election.”
“I believe women should have the right to do what they want with their bodies. …. Senator Warnock brought billions of dollars of aid to our communities, communities of color, and I’m on that team.”
“Latinos and Latinas are going to show up for Senator Warnock in this election and I’m proud to stand with you,” Miranda added. “I look forward to coming back here and having a beer with all y’all when [Warnock] wins again.”
The event had added meaning because the location, the Georgia Beer Garden, was the site of Warnock’s 2021 victory party.
The restaurant sits in the shadow of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the former church of Martin Luther King Jr., where Warnock has served as pastor since 2005.
Warnock, who is seeking his first full term in the Senate, said he continues to preach every Sunday because he wants to remain connected to ordinary people.
“I’ve translated my agitation into legislation, my protests into public policy,” said Warnock.
He pointed to his support for policies that would help the Latino community, chief among them immigration reform.
“We need comprehensive immigration reform – it’s past time,” Warnock said. “I do think especially about the Dreamers, the young folks right here in our community for whom this is the only country they’ve ever known,” he said, referring to children of illegal immigrants who grew up in the U.S. but lack citizenship.
“I’m not suggesting it’s easy, but it’s not as complicated as people are making it,” Warnock added.
Warnock also said he has brought federal funds to the Latino community in Georgia.
“I was able to secure for the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce $500,000 to strengthen small business because I understand that when Latino businesses thrive, that’s not only good for them, that’s good for the Georgia economy,” Warnock said to cheers from the crowd.
And Warnock touted his health-care reform successes. He strongly supported including a $35-per-month price cap on insulin as well as other health-care cost caps for Medicare enrollees included in the federal Inflation Reduction Act passed earlier this year.
Warnock said his Republican opponent, former University of Georgia football star Herschel Walker, is unprepared to hold a Senate seat.
“What I want you to do is get off the government health care,” Walker said about health care during a debate last week. “That’s what I’m trying to do, to make you independent rather than dependent.”
Walker linked Warnock to President Joe Biden and blamed current inflation on Democratic economic policies last week during what is likely to be the sole debate between the candidates prior to Election Day on Nov. 8.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Herschel Walker’s football coach is going to bat for the former University of Georgia standout’s U.S. Senate campaign.
Former University of Georgia football Coach and Athletic Director Vince Dooley endorsed Walker Thursday in a campaign ad released by the Republican’s campaign.
Dooley alludes to a campaign theme Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has been repeating often: that Walker isn’t qualified to represent Georgia in Congress.
“Herschel has always been challenged about doing things that people thought he wasn’t capable of doing,” Dooley says in the ad. “Falls sometimes along the way. But he gets back up, and with his incredible drive, determination, and self-discipline, he has achieved mighty things.”
The ad goes on to show footage of running back Walker battering opposing defenses while leading the Dawgs to the national championship in 1980 and winning the Heisman Trophy two years later.
Dooley, who recently turned 90, coached UGA football from 1964 through 1988, then served as the school’s athletic director from 1979 to 2004.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Unemployment in Georgia held steady last month for a third month in a row at a record low 2.8%, while the number of jobs hit an all-time high, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The state’s unemployment rate for September was well below the national rate of 3.5%
Job numbers increased over the month to more than 4.8 million and hit record highs in the trade and transportation and education and health services sectors with more than 1 million and 637,300 jobs, respectively.
“We are continuing to see strong job creation and demand for workers in Georgia, state Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said. “We are seeing some of the best economic opportunities for job seekers that we have seen in years.”
The number of unemployed Georgians fell by 1,481 last month to 148,173, the lowest since January 2001.
Initial jobless claims were down by 19% in September to 21,570.
There are more than 178,000 jobs listed online at EmployGeorgia.com, resulting in about 235,000 unfilled positions.
Industries with more than 10,000 postings included health care, retail trade, accommodation and food services, and manufacturing.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
The line outside South Cobb Regional Library in Mableton stretched around the block on the first day of early voting for the Nov. 3 elections in 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – After eclipsing the 2018 midterm elections turnout on the first day of early voting this week, Georgians surpassed the turnout ahead of the 2020 presidential election on the second day of early voting.
More than 134,000 voters cast early ballots across the Peach State Tuesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported. That’s a 3.3% increase over the second day of early voting two years ago. Historically, voting in midterm elections falls off substantially from voting in presidential elections.
“We’re extremely pleased that so many Georgians are able to cast their votes, in record numbers and without any reports of substantial delays,” Raffensperger said. “This is a testament to the hard work of Georgia’s election workers, the professionals who keep our elections convenient and secure.”
This year’s midterms mark the first general election since the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed controversial election-reform legislation last year replacing the signature-match verification process for absentee ballots with a photo ID requirement and restricting the location of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Raffensperger and other Republican leaders are pointing to the strong early voting numbers as proof the new law is not suppressing the vote as Democratic critics have claimed.
But Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams argued the record turnout is a result of Democrats overcoming the voting restrictions.
“It does not mean voter suppression doesn’t exist,” Abrams told supporters Tuesday during a rally in southeastern Atlanta. “But we’re stronger, better, and faster than it.”
During the first two days of early voting, which began Monday, more than 268,000 Georgians voted early in person. Tuesday’s turnout was 75% higher than the second day of early voting ahead of the last midterm elections in 2018.
Early voting turnout is expected to increase during the last week of the early voting period. All 159 Georgia counties will have early voting this Saturday.
The last day for early voting will be Nov. 4, the last Friday before Election Day Nov. 8. To find early voting locations and hours in your county, visit the secretary of state’s My Voter Page.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Both major party candidates for Georgia labor commissioner agree the agency needs an overhaul after it was overwhelmed by unemployment claims during the pandemic.
But Democratic state Rep. William Boddie and Republican state Sen. Bruce Thompson disagreed over how to solve the agency’s woes during a debate Tuesday streamed by Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Boddie, a lawyer from East Point, said he wants to more than triple the department’s employees from the current 1,100 to the 4,000 on the payroll when Michael Thurmond, the last Democratic labor commissioner, ran the agency during the late 1990s and 2000s.
Boddie complained the labor department took a 55% budget cut this year.
“How can you adequately serve the needs of the state with a skeleton budget?” he asked.
Thompson said throwing money at the problem is not the answer. He said he would use technology to modernize the department’s operations.
“When you bring technology in, you don’t need to balloon this staff,” he said.
Boddie also pledged to increase the number of career centers the agency operates around the state by placing one in every county with a population of 25,000 or more.
Thompson, who owns several businesses in Northwest Georgia, said he would use his business experience to improve efficiency at the labor department.
“I’m the only one on the panel with the experience as a business person who has gone in and turned companies around,” he said.
Libertarian candidate Emily Anderson agreed with her opponents that the leadership of the labor department “dropped the ball” during the pandemic. She conceded she lacks the government experience of either Boddie or Thompson but is a “quick learner.”
The current labor commissioner, Republican Mark Butler, is not seeking reelection.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
