by Ty Tagami | Jun 12, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
JEKYLL ISLAND — An election on the Republican ballot Tuesday goes to the core of two overarching concerns during this election cycle: affordability and data centers.
The five-member Georgia Public Service Commission does not decide whether technology companies can build their data centers, which consume land to house their computer servers, often use water to cool them and consume copious amounts of electricity to power them.
But the elected commission members’ decisions can affect the companies’ cost of doing business by controlling electricity rates and, by extension, the amount of money that regular customers pay to cool, heat and power their homes and businesses.
Candidates on both sides of the aisle have talked of the need to contain rising consumer bills after a half dozen increases in recent years were blamed for Republicans’ loss of two seats on the commission last year.
The commission can control electricity rates through its regulatory authority over Georgia Power, a monopoly energy producer.
The challenge for affordability-minded voters: how to pick the candidate commission for District 5 who can do more than talk a good game.
Democrats have already settled on their choice, sending Shelia Edwards of Cobb County to the November general election.
Republicans have more work to do, after two of their candidates emerged from a field of three in the May 19 primary.
Engineer Josh Tolbert and businessman Bobby Mehan won the most votes, but neither had the majority required to avoid a runoff.
Tolbert came close, with about 47% of the vote to Mehan’s 31%.
Mehan, of Haralson County, has pitched his executive resume as the right preparation to deliver affordability, saying his former leadership of a small global health care technology company and his current roles as managing partner of a local private equity firm and state mediator have conferred the skills to deliver on an unequivocal promise.
“Throughout this campaign, I have cast a clear vision: no new rate increases,” Mehan said at a Georgia Public Broadcasting debate with Tolbert in late May, repeating a prior promise.
Tolbert has positioned himself as a technical expert, saying his four engineering degrees, including a doctorate in mechanical engineering, combined with his professional experience, including as chief technology officer of a small nuclear power company, make him the best choice to rein in costs.
“I’ve designed power plants. I’m a small business owner that can connect technical choices with economic outcomes. This is expertise the Public Service Commission needs,” Tolbert said at that same debate.
Tolbert said Mehan was offering more of the same policies that allowed Georgia Power to increase costs for its customers in recent years.
The commission approved a half dozen rate increases when all five members were Republican, which may have precipitated the ouster by two Democrats last year.
“My opponent says that what we need is more non-technical people on the commission. But if we approach the problem in the same way we always have, we should expect the same result,” Tolbert said at the debate. “This job is technical. It’s time we send an engineer to do it.”
He said his expertise would empower him to ask insightful and hard-hitting questions that the commission could use in negotiations with Georgia Power to push back against pressure to let the company increase customer bills.
Tolbert said Mehan’s hard line against any rate increase was unrealistic, an empty slogan to win the election.
Mehan said his executive decision-making skills would allow him to judge guidance offered by the commission’s own experts, which he said he would rely upon, and that Tolbert’s approach would be slower than a blanket denial on rate increases.
“If technical scrutiny is what Josh is saying that we require to keep the Republicans in power in this seat, then that sounds like to me, that’s going to be more time. Time is money,” Mehan said. “If affordability is the number one issue to voters, then I think we’ve got to figure out how to do this and do this quickly. … If there’s anything that I’m good at, it’s the top-line growth.”
Both said they like nuclear power as a clean and reliable energy source, but they said new plants would be too expensive to build for the foreseeable future. Both said they back solar power and other renewables, but both also say fossil fuels must remain part of the mix due to their large share of Georgia Power’s portfolio.
Whoever wins the runoff will face an opponent who took nearly 56% of the vote during the three-way Democratic primary. Edwards said her background in writing technical documents for NASA had prepared her to help the commission contain customer costs.
Were she to win, she would flip a longtime Republican seat, joining the other two new Democrats to establish a Democratic majority on the commission.
Edwards said at a Georgia Public Broadcasting debate in April that a commission led by her and the other two Democrats would discourage Georgia Power from requesting unreasonable rate increases.
“We’re taking mothers and children off welfare, but we’re steadily giving these corporations corporate welfare and that needs to stop,” she said. “We have to have those conversations with Georgia Power. And I think they’re going to turn around to be reasonable people when I’m on the PSC as the third vote.”
by Ty Tagami | Jun 11, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — With days to go before the final votes are cast in Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial runoff, President Donald Trump committed to another tele-rally to help his preferred candidate across the finish line.
Last month, Trump said, “I love you,” after Lt. Gov. Burt Jones introduced him during a public phone call.
Trump’s endorsement has been a core asset for Jones in his campaign against self-funded entrepreneur Rick Jackson.
Jackson has tried to complicate the narrative for Trump loyalists, calling the president an inspiration and a role model, saying he would govern like him. Jones has repeatedly noted that he is the only candidate in the race with the president’s endorsement.
Democrats countered Jones’ tele-rally announcement on X Wednesday, saying Jones had tied himself to a president whom they contend had raised costs for Georgians by imposing tariffs.
“Burt Jones has shown Georgians time and again that the only approval he’s looking for is Donald Trump’s,” a spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Georgia said in a statement.
Jones and Jackson emerged from the May 19 Republican primary ahead of six other candidates.
Jones won just over 38% of the vote, about 6 percentage points ahead of Jackson.
Soon after, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who won about 12% of the vote, threw his support behind Jackson.
Given the margin in the first round, Carr’s endorsement could swing enough votes to influence the outcome Tuesday.
“In this runoff, you have a chance to choose a leader who will put Georgians first,” Carr said in a statement, “and Rick Jackson is that person.”
But Trump, who was scheduled to call into the tele-rally at 7 p.m. Thursday, has repeatedly shown an ability to influence primary outcomes.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 10, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and entrepreneur Rick Jackson have a few things in common.
Both are wealthy, but one is wealthier. Both say they are aligned with President Donald Trump, though Trump has endorsed only one of them.
Both are Republicans and want to become the GOP nominee for governor.
Yet only one can win the runoff Tuesday.
Republicans will make their choice after a bruising election campaign that cost the candidates tens of millions of dollars in advertising.
Both candidates have aired ads that allege the other is corrupt, another thing they have in common.
They share similar policy priorities, too.
Here is what they have said about the issues when queried at public events in recent months.
Both say they want to cut taxes
Jackson said during an Atlanta Press Club debate in April that he would cut the state income tax in half and freeze property taxes.
Jones had advocated for eliminating the income tax altogether, a goal that proved elusive during this year’s legislative session, when lawmakers approved more modest rate cuts.
Also, the Senate, which Jones leads, balked at the House’s goal of abolishing the property tax, agreeing instead only to an inflation-based cap on homestead value increases.
“Special interests pressured Burt. He did what was best for them and not you,” Rep. Brent Cox, R-Dawsonville, says in a new attack ad by the Jackson campaign.
Jones said at a Georgia Association of Manufacturers’ gubernatorial forum in April that he would continue trying to cut the income tax if he were to become governor.
“I’d like to see us go to zero,” he said.
They hold similar views on the environment
Asked about environmental regulations at the manufacturers’ forum, Jones said, “We’re regulated way too much as a country and even sometimes at the local and state level.”
Jackson said he “would keep protecting our natural resources” but only up to a point. “There has to be a balance between protecting the environment and actually making a good business decision,” he said.
He had a similar response to an audience question about litigation connected with PFAS, a pollutant that has been detected in rivers and the blood of residents in northwest Georgia, home to the carpet industry.
Jackson said, “there’s a balance between the health of the people … versus putting out of business one of the largest manufacturers in Georgia through class action litigation.”
Immigration policy got personal
Jones attacked Jackson on immigration at that Press Club debate in April, claiming Jackson was employing “illegals” in his backyard.
Jackson said he would deport “criminal illegals” as governor, but when Jones pressed him about whether he had employed undocumented workers, Jackson responded, “I don’t know.”
Jackson skipped the next Press Club debate in May, which was to be a runoff forum between the two of them. Jones, in a nod to the empty lectern for Jackson, said Jackson had skipped because Jones had “tripped him up” with that immigration question.
At the manufacturers’ forum in April, Jackson had offered his views on immigration.
“I’m not anti people coming in as long as they come here legally, but we need to do everything we can to make that possible because being here legally they pay taxes,” he said.
Competing for Trump supporters
Both say they are avid supporters of the president.
“President Trump’s business focus inspired me to run,” Jackson said at the April Press Club debate. ” Georgia needs business leadership, a focus on results, not politics. I’ll be just like him, with a Southern tone.”
But only Jones has Trump’s endorsement, a fact that Trump has repeatedly communicated for his chosen candidate.
“The biggest reason why President Trump is endorsing my candidacy for governor is because he knows me,” Jones said at that same debate. “We’ve got over a 10-year history together, and he knows me to be somebody who does what he says he’s going to do.”
Soon after Jackson ran his attack ad against Jones on the tax issue, Jones fired back with one of his own, repeating prior claims about Jackson being a political shapeshifter.
“Jackson donated to Stacey Abrams and donated to Liz Cheney after she impeached President Trump,” Jones’ ad says.
Jackson had addressed the issue at the Press Club debate, saying he did not know he had given money to a political action committee affiliated with Cheney but had given considerably more money to Trump’s campaign in December.
“I was late to the Trump train. I admit that,” Jackson said, adding that as a longtime conservative he had donated “to all Republicans, good and bad. … But there’s nobody that supports President Trump more than I do now.”
Money talks
Both men have considerable wealth at their disposal and have used it to promote their candidacies.
Jones talks about his stable family background, while Jackson shares his rags-to-riches story.
Jones describes himself as a sixth-generation Georgian, who helps operate his family’s petroleum business, with 2,500 employees.
Jackson says he was born to an alcoholic mother and raised in public housing and in foster homes. As a young man, he skipped college and went into business, ultimately growing a multibillion-dollar medical staffing business.
The candidates’ wealth invited an attack from Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who failed to gather enough votes on May 19 to advance to the Republican runoff.
Carr could not match their ad-buying power, a point he drove home at the April Press Club debate.
“There’s one really rich guy and one guy’s rich daddy that are trying to buy your vote,” he said, “and one guy’s trying to earn it and that’s me.”
The week after he lost the primary, Carr threw his support behind the really rich guy, endorsing Jackson.
At that manufacturers’ forum, before the field was winnowed to two, Jones questioned whether anything the candidates were saying really mattered, noting that the Republicans had similar platforms.
“So, at the end of the day,” he said, “the voters have to decide who it is that they think can best execute on these promises.”
by Ty Tagami | Jun 9, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Metro Atlanta’s transit system unveiled its new phone app Tuesday, touting the technology’s utility for planning and safety.
The announcement came the same day that federal prosecutors described the defendant accused in a third violent attack on Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority property in nearly as many weeks.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Anthony Gresham, 42, of Lithia Springs, in connection with the shooting Friday of a 17-year-old boy on a MARTA train.
“Gresham was allegedly undeterred by decades of prosecution for robberies, drug trafficking, and other crimes, which compounds the need for federal intervention in this case,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement Tuesday.
Gresham is accused of pulling a handgun from his bag and firing three times at the boy, Hertzberg said.
The boy had entered the train at the Midtown station. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for gunshot wounds to his left hand and leg.
The violence comes as MARTA updates its trains, stations and systems in preparation for visitors from across the globe for the FIFA World Cup, with the first match in Atlanta on June 15.
Gresham was charged with committing an act of violence with intent to cause serious bodily injury on a mass transportation system, possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Hertzberg said Gresham had prior felony convictions in at least three different counties that would have precluded him from legally carrying a gun. The convictions included armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, burglary, theft, and robbery by force.
Many will probably ride a MARTA train from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, heading the same direction as Margaret Swan, 66, who was stabbed to death on May 30 as her train approached the Oakland City station on Atlanta’s south side.
John Elijah Matthews, 25, of Decatur, was arrested at that stop. He also was charged in federal court, in his case on June 2.
Hertzberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said the U.S. Attorney General would decide whether to seek the death penalty.
After Matthews was charged, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy ordered the Federal Transit Administration to investigate safety protocols and security spending because of the recent violence.
Prior to Swan’s death, a 40-year-old man survived being stabbed in an Atlanta MARTA station on May 24.
The transit agency said on Tuesday that its new app, available on phones running on Apple’s App Store and on the Google Play store, offers live train and bus tracking, trip planning and system alerts. It also allows riders to report safety concerns and incidents to MARTA police, and it works in several languages.
“MARTA is committed to improving the customer experience, whether it’s on our buses and trains, or when riders use our website or apps,” MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Jonathan Hunt said.
The app was designed by the company Reflexions, which is also working on an update to the transit system’s website, itsmarta.com.
by Ty Tagami | Jun 8, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Thousands of students at Georgia’s public colleges will have new leadership when they return this fall after the University System of Georgia named new campus leaders.
On Monday, the system named three new presidents: Greg Tanner at South Georgia State College, Russell Crutchfield at Gordon State College and Kerry J. Palmer at Georgia Southwestern State University.
Tanner is not entirely new to the role: he has served as interim president at South Georgia State since February 2023.
Chancellor Sonny Perdue said Tanner “hasn’t missed a beat over the past three years” there, helping to increase enrollment as the campus recovered from Hurricane Helene.
Crutchfield moves from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office, where he has been chief operating officer, to lead Gordon State effective Aug. 1.
Perdue praised Crutchfield’s roots in the university system and his work for Kemp, saying Crutchfield knows how to develop a skilled workforce for Georgia’s economy.
Crutchfield has been with Kemp since January 2024. Previously he served in executive leadership at the University of West Georgia as chief of staff and associate vice president. He also held leadership roles at several state agencies.
Palmer will become president of Georgia Southwestern on Aug. 1 after nearly three decades in education at the university and K-12 levels. As chief academic officer at Troy University in Alabama, he oversaw an $80 million budget. Perdue called him a results-driven leader who understands the role universities play in communities and in the workforce.
Palmer succeeds President Michelle Johnston, who is departing to lead the University of Montevallo in Alabama. Crutchfield follows Donald J. Green, who was tapped last month to lead Valdosta State University.
