ATLANTA — The mother of a woman who blamed Georgia’s abortion law for the death of her daughter is backing former state Sen. Jason Esteves in next year’s primary campaign for governor.
Shanette Williams said Thursday that she trusts the Atlanta Democrat to overturn the law that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
“We need a champion for women in the governor’s office now more than ever, and it’s clear that Jason is the right person for the job,” Williams said in a statement released by the Esteves campaign.
The Republican-led law passed in 2019. It took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion, reversing a decades-old precedent that said it did.
Pregnant women have subsequently been denied medical care in Georgia during miscarriages because of uncertainty among doctors about whether they could face prosecution for it.
Williams’ daughter, Amber Nicole Thurman, died after doctors delayed removing remnants of her fetus after she self-aborted with pills.
Williams said at a legislative hearing in June that her daughter died of sepsis, which she said could have been avoided with a 3-minute procedure that she said doctors withheld for 20 hours.
“She didn’t just die. She was murdered by the people who took the oath to do no harm,” Williams said at the hearing.
Democrats say the law is “vague” and creates an “air of criminality” around women who miscarry or need an abortion for a medical reason. Esteves said he would fight to overturn it if elected.
That is not an unusual position for a Democrat, but Esteves will be looking for any edge in what has become a free for all for governor.
Leading political figures in the Democratic primary include former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; former DeKalb County CEO and state labor commissioner Michael Thurmond; and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who recently switched from the Republican party.
Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary will face the winner of the Republican nomination, which includes Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Peter Hubbard, the Democrat running for Public Service Commission District 3, speaks with reporters after an Atlanta Press Club debate at the WABE studios in Atlanta, where he was the only PSC candidate to attend, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Ty Tagami/Capitol Beat)
ATLANTA — A solar power advocate who is running for a seat on Georgia’s energy regulation agency made his case without opposition Wednesday when his opponent declined to participate in a broadcasted debate.
“Why didn’t you have the courage to show up today and defend your six rate hikes in two years,” Peter Hubbard, the Democrat running to unseat Republican Fitz Johnson from the Public Service Commission, said at the Atlanta Press Club debate Wednesday. “And what will you do to lower power bills?”
The five-member PSC regulates the companies that provide consumers with electricity, natural gas and telecommunications. All five run statewide for six-year terms, but a series of events produced a race where Hubbard is competing with Johnson for an abbreviated term representing District 3 in metro Atlanta.
The odd-year election stems from an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit that argued statewide elections for seats that technically represent a portion of the state dilute the impact of Black voters.
The lawsuit postponed PSC elections last year and in 2022.
Johnson was appointed in 2021, so this is the first year he has had to stand for election to the post.
Two other candidates are vying for the District 2 seat, which represents eastern Georgia.
Republican Tim Echols was first elected in 2010 and reelected in 2016 and would have been up for reelection in 2022 if not for the lawsuit.
Democrat Alicia Johnson wants to unseat him. She and Echols also did not participate in Wednesday’s debate, which took place in the studios of Atlanta broadcaster WABE.
Hubbard said current PSC policy will further drive up consumer electricity bills as more data centers get built. The facilities, a necessity for the development and operation of artificial intelligence, consume massive amounts of power. And Hubbard said they pay less per unit of energy than other customers.
Both of the Republican incumbent candidates have refuted such claims, saying a resolution that the all-Republican PSC approved in January forbids Georgia Power from passing on the costs to ratepayers of serving new large-load customers — including data centers.
Fitz Johnson said at a Georgia Chamber of Commerce event this summer that the new policy “absolutely strengthens the grid, puts downward pressure on the rates … so we don’t have to be worried about large loads coming here and driving up your rates.”
Echols has said the state “is poised to become the artificial intelligence capital of America” and that data centers produce local tax revenue.
The incumbents were in office when the expansion of nuclear Plant Vogtle was completed last year, seven years behind schedule and with massive cost overruns.
Vogtle’s Units 3 and 4 were the first new nuclear reactors built in America in decades.
Hubbard said the cost makes nuclear power unaffordable. He said solar power and other innovations can meet future needs at a reasonable cost.
“There are things like unlocking the value of solar, and embracing newer technologies like virtual power plants, that can allow us to accommodate the load growth that we’re seeing from data centers while also putting downward pressure on rates,” Hubbard said at his solo debate, which is being broadcasted on radio and television. “The lowest cost resource is also the most sustainable and the most reliable. Solar and battery storage will increase the reliability and lower costs for consumers in the state. So, we can have our cake and eat it too.”
The election is Nov. 4. Turnout was low in the PSC primaries this year. No other statewide candidates are on the ballot, but local offices on November ballots may draw more to the polls for a race that could affect every resident’s pocketbook.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s net tax collections rose by 1.9% last month compared to September of last year, the state Department of Revenue reported Tuesday.
The state collected $3.27 billion in September, up $60.3 million over the same month a year ago.
Monthly individual income tax receipts rose 3.2% over September 2024 as tax refunds fell 16.2% and withholding payments rose 1.7%.
Other categories were up too, the sales and use tax by 2.9% and the corporate income tax by 7.6%. Motor fuel taxes gained 1.8% and tag and title fees rose 20.8%.
The title ad valorem tax, a small category that brought in $71.7 million for the month, fell 8.5% compared to a year ago.
ATLANTA — Local health departments are giving COVID-19 shots while supplies last, with more vaccine expected to arrive next week.
The Georgia Department of Public Health began vaccinating after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new COVID-19 immunization recommendations Monday.
The CDC is recommending that most adults get vaccinated, especially those 65 and older and those who have never been vaccinated. Parents of children at least 6 months old should discuss vaccination with a healthcare provider, the federal agency said.
No prescription is required, but local health department nurses or other providers will counsel patients on the risks and benefits of vaccination, the Department of Public Health said.
Most major insurance companies will cover the cost of immunization, but the state is advising people to check with their insurers. Vaccination is covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
ATLANTA — Public health services save Georgia money and heartache, but funding has failed to keep up with costs and recent federal cutbacks put the state at a crossroads, lawmakers heard from advocates and experts Tuesday.
Expiring federal dollars from the COVID-19 pandemic, clawbacks of federal grants and now the Congressional budget shutdown have affected all public health programs, including Georgia’s, said Kelly Hughes, a health policy expert with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“This is just a time of uncertainty and instability,” she said.
Georgia has nearly doubled state tax dollars allocated per capita to public health during the past dozen years, but federal contributions have lagged, resulting in a net decline, said Leah Chan, a health policy analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. She said Georgia’s per person spending fell to $74 this year, from $97 in 2012.
Rural areas are more likely to suffer because small, local governments are less able to plug funding gaps. Hospitals could close, the lawmakers heard, and public health workers could become increasingly rare.
The House study committee on public health funding was established in April through legislation sponsored by a half dozen Republicans. House Resolution 847 says public health has been underfunded and more money may be needed to ensure a “sustainable” infrastructure.
“Georgia’s health security and financial well-being depend on a growing, fully funded state and local public health system,” the enabling resolution says.
It passed unanimously.
The lawmakers on the resulting committee heard more or less what their resolution had anticipated: programs for vaccination, lead abatement, tobacco cessation, substance abuse prevention, HIV prevention, and maternal and child health care save society far more in preventable health care expenses than they cost.
They also increase communal welfare and wealth, said Jessica Schwind from Georgia Southern University.
“You have an increase in academic achievement, increase in workforce productivity, higher tax revenue generation because you have people working, reduced criminal justice costs, stronger economic development,” said Schwind, an assistant professor of epidemiology. “When you take care of the individual, that has profound impacts on the community.”
Several members of the committee had co-sponsored the resolution that authorized their meetings. There was only one Democrat assigned and present. The rest were Republicans, two of them among the most influential lawmakers in the General Assembly.
Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, leads the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees the chamber’s budget-writing duties.
Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, chairs the House Rules Committee (as well as the Special Committee on Healthcare), and effectively decides which bills make it to floor of the chamber for a vote by all representatives.
Neither indicated what they would do next. The committee chair, Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, did not either as she ended their third and final meeting. Their committee has a Dec. 1 deadline to issue any recommendations.
The April resolution the trio had co-sponsored sounded a lot like Schwind’s presentation.
“Increases in public health spending have been shown to reduce preventable deaths,” it says, “and healthier communities support stronger economies.”
