Democratic State Sen. Jen Jordan (left) is challenging Republican incumbent Attorney General Chris Carr (right). (Official Senate office and Attorney General office photos)
ATLANTA – Despite their differences, the two candidates for Georgia attorney general share one important commonalty: Both were trained at the University of Georgia law school.
Incumbent Republican Chris Carr, who graduated from UGA in 1999, touts his conservative values and his successes prosecuting gangs and human traffickers as reasons Georgians should vote for him for a second full term.
Democrat Jen Jordan, a state senator from North Atlanta and a 2001 UGA law grad, has staked her claim to the top legal job on her strong defense of abortion rights.
Jordan cemented her statewide political reputation in a fiery 2019 speech on the Senate floor opposing a Georgia law that banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. She described her personal experiences with multiple miscarriages and staked her pro-choice stance on a woman’s right to privacy.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn a 1973 ruling guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion allowed Georgia’s “heartbeat law” to finally take effect this summer and pushed abortion to the center of this fall’s political debates.
Carr has vigorously defended the Georgia law. He says that an attorney general must uphold all state laws. Just after the Supreme Court issued its ruling on abortion, he asked a federal circuit court to allow the Georgia law to take effect.
“It’s the job of the attorney general to defend and uphold the laws of Georgia passed by the General Assembly and signed by our governor,” he said. “That’s what I do. That’s what the state constitution requires.”
But Jordan disagrees.
“I don’t think it’s constitutional,” Jordan said of the Georgia heartbeat law a few days after the Supreme Court decision. “I would not defend it because I don’t think it’s lawful.”
Jordan’s position has garnered endorsements from national pro-choice groups—and drawn incumbent Carr’s ire.
Beyond abortion, Carr touts his record prosecuting human trafficking and gangs as a top achievement.
Carr created a Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit in 2019. So far, the unit has convicted six people and indicted more than 40.
Carr also recently formed a Gang Prosecution Unit, said spokeswoman Kara Richardson. The unit currently is pursuing more than a dozen cases.
The incumbent Republican is also a strong supporter of gun rights. He joined coalitions of attorneys general calling on federal courts to overturn laws limiting magazine capacities in New Jersey and California.
Jordan says gang activity and gun violence have been on the rise during Carr’s tenure as attorney general and change is needed.
“I pledge to crack down on the illegal gun trade and work with law enforcement to tackle gun violence,” she said. “I will prioritize my efforts to combat gang crimes, and I will aggressively prosecute individuals implicated in such activity.”
A fundamental part of Carr’s legal philosophy is his opposition to what he calls “federal overreach.” His office filed five separate lawsuits against federal mask and vaccine mandates during the COVID pandemic.
“Chris is pro-vaccine personally, but he knew it was unconstitutional for the president [Biden] to turn private companies into the ‘health police’ against their employees,” his campaign website states.
Carr also opposed a Biden administration ban on oil drilling permits on federal lands and advocated for reversing the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, claiming a ban would drive up energy costs and cause job losses.
Jordan touts her campaign against a medical sterilization facility in Cobb County that was emitting carcinogenic air pollution as one of her top achievements.
“Although [the factory] is in operation, the fight isn’t over,” she said. “It is for this reason, and more, that I am running to be the next attorney general of Georgia.”
Jordan also authored a law this year that legalized fentanyl testing strips in Georgia. The test strips can help people identify fentanyl, an often deadly opioid, to better protect themselves and minimize risk.
“This law will save lives,” she said.
For his part, Carr has led Georgia through health-care settlements with large corporations that will return money to the state. Georgia is expected to receive around $636 million as part of a national opioid settlement and around $19 million as part of a settlement with vaping company JUUL.
Carr – like other top Georgia Republicans – has been forced to steer a delicate path when it comes to the national political divisions created during the Trump presidency. He supported many Trump policies and – along with other Republican attorneys general – opposed the 2020 impeachment of the then-president.
But after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Carr signed on to a letter to then-U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen condemning the riot.
Closer to home, Carr has defended Georgia’s voting laws.
“My office won case after case that have targeted Georgia election laws because we followed the facts, not the political rhetoric,” he said.
Jordan said she would be a strong defender of voting rights if elected the state’s top lawyer.
“I will respond swiftly to allegations of voter fraud or any claims of voter intimidation, and work to ensure every Georgian’s vote is counted,” Jordan said.
A galvanizing moment in Carr’s career came when young Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed after being accosted by three white men in February 2020 in Brunswick.
After it emerged that local district attorneys had ties to the accused murderers and had fumbled the investigation, Carr appointed Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes – a Black woman – to lead the prosecution in the racially sensitive case.
Carr also asked both the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the federal Department of Justice to investigate the matter.
“The loss of Ahmaud Arbery was a tragedy that should have never occurred,” Carr said when the three white men were convicted last year.
Jordan said law enforcement reforms are needed. Her campaign website says that the “overcriminalization of drug offenses” has led to “mass incarceration.”
“As your attorney general, I will partner and work with law enforcement to strengthen police accountability mechanisms and to build community-led public safety strategies,” she said.
Martin Cowen, a Libertarian candidate, is also running for the attorney general position.
The three candidates will debate Oct. 18 as part of the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young debate series.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s housing supply – especially affordable housing – is far too low to meet the demand, a group of housing experts told state lawmakers this week.
A House study committee began a series of hearings Wednesday to discuss the problems facing Georgia’s housing market, where affordable homes are often tough to come by.
“We all need safe shelter, affordable shelter, all our Georgia families do,” said Rep. Dale Washburn, R-Macon, the committee’s chairman.
The problem is acute in Atlanta but reaches statewide. Augusta is short by 8,600 housing units per year, while Columbus faces a 3,800 unit deficit. Savannah is short by 9,300 units, said John Hunt, president of MarketNsight, a housing market research firm.
Local zoning rules have not changed to reflect state and national demographic shifts, Hunt said, causing a problem called “the missing middle.”
Millennials ready to purchase a first home and baby boomers whose children have moved out are looking for smaller housing units in the 950-square-foot to 1,750-square-foot range. These groups prefer living in walkable neighborhoods with higher densities and often have disposable income to spend.
But long-standing zoning rules make it difficult to build such units. Hunt noted that the zoning system is about 100 years old and was initially developed to maintain housing segregation.
“At the local level, we’ve done a frighteningly efficient job of limiting supply by not allowing density in places where it makes sense,” Hunt said.
The Hyundai electric vehicle factory in Bryan County and other economic development projects will only increase the demand on housing, said Hugh “Trip” Tollison, president of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. He expects the Savannah area to gain 15,000 to 20,000 jobs over the next five years. Those workers – many of whom will come from other areas to help meet the new demand – will need housing.
“It’s a big, big lift, and it’s going to happen in a short period of time,” Tollison said, noting coordination among the various governments is needed.
Even though zoning is typically a local matter, states can take steps to encourage more affordable housing, said Emily Hamilton, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, a policy institute housed at George Mason University.
Accessory dwelling units such as backyard, garage, or basement apartments allow homeowners to earn extra income by renting out an apartment on their property. They also increase housing supply, Hamilton said, and so far eight states have passed laws legalizing such units.
Minimum lot size requirements also encourage more dense housing, said Hamilton. Reducing lot size requirements helped Houston build 40,000 additional single-family homes with lower price points.
Georgia should also encourage multi-family units to help quickly meet the housing demand, Hamilton said.
And the state legislature should reform Georgia law to make it clear that cities and counties can’t block the building of single-home rentals, said Simon Bloom, founding partner at the law firm Bloom Parham and a former chairman of the board of the state Department of Community Affairs. Doing so would increase available rental stock, Bloom said.
Banks and other large investors purchasing homes across metro Atlanta have strained the housing supply, said Samyukth Shenbaga, managing director for community development at the Atlanta Regional Commission.
In some counties, such as Henry, Paulding, and Douglas more than 6% of single-family residences are owned by such investors. Georgia ranks second after Texas in terms of the number of homes purchased by institutional investors in the state, Shenbaga said.
“I definitely think that is one issue that is contributing to the rising cost of housing,” agreed Chris Denson, director of policy and research at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a think tank based in Atlanta that advocates market solutions. “Due to the lack of supply, a lot of these banks see housing now as a precious commodity, and that’s why you’re seeing them engaged in this market.”
Denson pointed to high regulatory costs in Georgia as one reason housing costs are up. His organization recently commissioned a survey on the topic.
Denson said Georgia’s regulatory cost of 27% is about three percentage points higher than the national average. These costs come from requirements like zoning approvals, architectural design standards and building codes, he said.
“We’re not saying [regulations are] bad or should be eliminated, but they truly do add up and they add to the cost of a new home,” Denson said. “And the two largest cost items, both building code changes and design standards, are fully within the government’s power to influence.”
Legislators and housing experts also discussed impact fees, which some local governments levy to cover the increased service and infrastructure costs of building new housing units and attracting new residents.
“For the most part, we don’t truly know what those revenues are going towards,” Denson said, noting his organization has identified more than 50 jurisdictions in Georgia that assess impact fees.
Hamilton, of the Mercatus Institute, said impact fees can help communities handle the increased demands of new development, though some governments may use the fees to deter new development.
“Impact fees need to be calibrated so that they are covering the real cost of new infrastructure and service …. but not any higher than that,” Hamilton said.
The committee meets again Thursday and is planning another two days of hearings Oct. 12 and Oct. 13.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A federal judge has dismissed a voting rights group’s lawsuit against Georgia’s controversial 2021 voting law.
The decision confirms VoteAmerica’s online tool that helps people obtain absentee ballots is legal under the terms of Senate Bill 202, the voting reform law the General Assembly adopted last year.
After a prospective voter fills in certain information via the VoteAmerica online tool, the organization mails a partially filled in absentee-ballot request to the voter. The voter then completes the request and submits it.
VoteAmerica had initially claimed the law would prevent it from continuing to use its tool to help Georgia voters get absentee ballots.
But Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and lawyers for the state confirmed during the course of the legal proceedings that the VoteAmerica tool is valid, leading to the voluntarily dismissal of the lawsuit on Tuesday.
“This is a victory for Georgia voters and for VoteAmerica, even as we keep fighting in the courts for groups still negatively impacted by SB 202,” said Danielle Lang, senior director for voting rights at Campaign Legal Center, which represents VoteAmerica and other plaintiffs in the case.
Raffensperger, one of the defendants in the case, also called the decision a victory.
“Since [VoteAmerica] has filed their lawsuit, Georgia has had a primary election with record midterm turnout that did not see any major issues implementing the new provisions of SB 202,” a statement from Raffensperger’s office said.
“In implementing SB 202, the State Election Board promulgated a rule that clearly explained that online tools that helped a voter fill out their absentee application are permitted, as long as the group offering the tool kept a voter’s personal information safe.”
The case will continue because the two other plaintiffs in the lawsuit – the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information – claim that SB 202 prevents them from continuing their absentee ballot program via direct mail.
Incumbent Republican Raffensperger is currently running for re-election against Democratic state Representative Bee Nguyen in November.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp has declared a state of emergency in all 159 Georgia counties in anticipation of Hurricane Ian, currently a Category 3 hurricane expected to hit the state on Friday.
The state of emergency will take effect at 7 a.m. Thursday in preparation for expected high winds and rainfall over the state as the hurricane moves north.
Currently hovering over Cuba, Ian is expected to strike Florida’s west coast on Wednesday and Thursday and move north into Georgia on Friday, bringing with it heavy rains, flooding and high winds.
The southeast Georgia coast is likely to be hit with a tropical storm or depression before the storm exits Georgia on Sunday, with possible storm surges, beach erosion and rip currents predicted.
Coastal Camden and Glynn counties are already under a tropical storm warning. A tropical storm watch is in effect for the entire Georgia coast.
Across the state, Georgians could face heavy rains, flooding, high winds and the loss of power, the governor’s office said.
Georgians are encouraged to pay close attention to local officials’ guidance and make emergency plans. Those in low-lying or coastal areas should consider moving to higher ground.
Georgia activated the State Operations Center this week to help prepare for the storm. The State Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency is currently at Level 2 activation.
The state of emergency extends until Oct. 28.
Those who find themselves in Ian’s eventual path can also consult the informational website https://gema.georgia.gov/hurricanes, which includes tips on storm preparedness before, during, and after a hurricane.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Georgia veterans commissioner Patricia Ross (left) and state Sen. Tonya Anderson (right) – both U.S. Air Force veterans – after the study committee meeting on Thursday. (photo credit: Rebecca Grapevine)
ATLANTA – A state Senate study committee focusing on veterans nursing homes in Georgia met Thursday to hear about problems Georgia veterans face and what the state can do to help.
Though most veterans health-care services are spearheaded by the federal government’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), states also have an important role to play in helping veterans apply for and manage their benefits.
In Georgia, the Department of Veterans Service (DVS) maintains two skilled nursing facilities in Milledgeville and Augusta. Currently, the two homes can provide skilled nursing services to around 400 Georgia veterans, said Russell Feagin, director of health and memorials at DVS.
But around 2,000 veterans in Georgia need such placements, according to a VA estimate cited during the meeting.
A variety of factors have stymied the state’s ability to serve more veterans in such homes.
Funding is one. The veterans homes are financed by federal dollars that Georgia must match, Feagin said.
State budget cuts over the past decade decreased funding while costs have risen, Feagin said, meaning the two homes can afford to serve fewer veterans.
And like other health-care facilities nationwide, the veterans homes face challenges hiring and keeping enough staff, especially because they cannot match private-sector wages, he said.
“An increase in dollars will help solve the problem in Milledgeville and actually Augusta,” said DVS Commissioner Patricia Ross. “But we still will not come close to that 2,000 number that the VA says we should have within the state.”
Ross, who took over as commissioner of the agency last year, said Alabama will soon open its fifth veterans home despite having about half the number of veterans as Georgia. South Carolina also has five such homes and a smaller population of veterans.
Georgia will face increased demand over the next two decades as the post-9/11 cohort of veterans ages, Ross added.
A research center at Kennesaw State University is conducting a study about which locations in Georgia would be best suited to build new veterans homes, she said. Those results are expected later this fall.
Beyond the numbers, new facilities could provide the state with the opportunity to embrace more recent health-care trends, such as smaller communities built around cottages or pods, Ross said.
“We need to be moving on a path to making the situation better,” said the committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, noting veterans issues tend to draw broad bipartisan support. Her resolution during this year’s legislative session created the committee.
Kirkpatrick said the committee will meet again in December to discuss the findings from the Kennesaw State study.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
