ATLANTA – Georgia Senate Republicans kicked off a series of post-election leadership meetings in the General Assembly Friday, nominating a new Senate president pro tempore and electing new caucus leaders.
Senate Republicans, who lost one seat to the Democrats in Tuesday’s election but still hold a 33-23 majority, nominated Sen. John Kennedy of Macon president pro tempore. If elected by the full Senate on the first day of the 2023 session in January, Kennedy would succeed Sen. Butch Miller of Gainesville, who left the Senate in an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor.
The GOP Caucus also elected Sen. Steve Gooch of Dahlonega majority leader, Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas caucus chairman, Sen. Randy Robertson of Cataula caucus whip, Sen. Matt Brass of Newnan caucus vice whip, and Sen. Dean Burke of Bainbridge caucus treasurer.
Kennedy – subject to January’s Senate vote – and Gooch are getting promotions. Kennedy has been serving as Republican Caucus chairman, while Gooch has been the GOP whip.
But the biggest promotion goes to Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, who was elected lieutenant governor on Tuesday after defeating Miller in the Republican primary last May. Georgia’s lieutenant governors preside over the state Senate, overseeing the flow of legislation and making committee assignments.
Despite rumors that disgruntled senators might try to take away some of the lieutenant governor’s powers, the Republican Caucus voted Friday to leave the status quo in place as Jones assumes the position.
“I am proud that our caucus acted quickly after Tuesday’s election to handle our internal business and move forward together,” Kennedy said Friday. “State Senate Republicans will begin our preparations for the 2023 legislative session with common purpose and a renewed sense of optimism for the results we can deliver on behalf of the people of Georgia.”
There is precedent in the Georgia Senate for stripping lieutenant governors of their powers. When Republicans took control of the Senate in a flurry of party switching immediately following the 2002 elections, the new GOP majority voted to reduce the authority enjoyed by then-Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, a Democrat.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Two years ago, Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Georgia since 1992, and the Peach State elected two Democrats to the U.S. Senate in runoffs.
Last Tuesday, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp won reelection in a rematch with Democrat Stacey Abrams by a wider margin than in 2018, leading the GOP to a sweep of all eight constitutional offices. Sen. Raphael Warnock is the only statewide Democratic candidate left standing, pending a runoff with Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
Given those results, it might be tempting to conclude Georgia has turned back to solid red again, as it had been since 2006, the last time before 2020 a Democrat won statewide office.
“You might look at the 2020 election and runoffs as an anomaly in a still Republican state,” said Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University.
But such an interpretation ignores the gains Democrats have been making in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, where an increasingly diverse electorate added two Democrats to Georgia’s congressional delegation since 2018 and put more Democrats in the General Assembly.
“The 2020 outcomes were consistent with the trajectory we’ve seen for the last decade,” said Brian Robinson, a former top aide to then-Gov. Nathan Deal and a Republican political commentator. “What we’re seeing now is more of an anomaly.”
This year’s Republican success story starts with Kemp, who bested Abrams last Tuesday by 7.5 percentage points, a significantly larger margin of victory than in 2018, when he won by just 1.4 percentage points.
Robinson said Kemp picked up those points this time around by appealing to the middle. His 2018 campaign was geared more toward the Republican base, as was exemplified dramatically in an ad featuring Kemp pointing a shotgun at a teenager wanting to date his daughter.
Bidding for a second term this year, Kemp had a record to run on. His main theme was that he moved quickly to reopen Georgia businesses during the early months of the pandemic, paving the way to an economic recovery that outpaced other states.
“He took a risk opening first that could have gone sideways on him,” Robinson said. “It allowed him to make significant inroads.”
Robinson said Kemp also gained ground with moderate voters by refusing to go along with then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, a stand for election integrity that also helped Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger win reelection by more than 9 percentage points.
Trump also was a factor in Abrams’ favor in 2018, Robinson said. Suburban voters unhappy with the lightning rod president in the White House had a reason to vote for Abrams that year, he said.
But this year, Abrams’ candidacy was hurt when moderate voters identified her with the fight against voter suppression, which most Georgia voters weren’t experiencing when they went to the polls, Robinson said.
Also, Kemp took advantage of Abrams’ national celebrity by running ads claiming she was out of touch with Georgians.
“She became more celebrity than local politician,” Robinson said.
The rest of the Republican slate for statewide constitutional offices rode Kemp’s coattails to victory. While Raffensperger’s winning margin over Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen was the largest, most of the remainder of the GOP ticket won by almost as large a margin.
Republicans also gained a seat in Georgia’s U.S. House delegation, boosting the GOP majority to 9-5, a result that had been a fait accompli since the GOP-controlled General Assembly redrew Georgia’s congressional map during a special redistricting session late last year.
The new map substantially redrew Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath’s 6th Congressional District to heavily favor Republicans. As a result, she moved into Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux’s heavily Democratic 7th District and beat Bourdeaux in a primary last May. Republican Rich McCormick then was elected in McBath’s now GOP-friendly former district.
But the redistricting session also allowed Democrats to make gains in the General Assembly, slightly reducing the size of Republican majorities in the state House and Senate. Changing demographics in Cobb and Gwinnett counties that favor Democrats forced Republicans to draw a smattering of new districts likely to go to Democratic candidates.
Democrats gained one seat in the state Senate, bringing the Republican majority down to 33-23, and made a few pickups in the House.
“The investments Democrats have been making all cycle have paid off,” said U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, who chairs the Georgia Democratic Party. “Georgia Democrats gained seats in both chambers even in the face of Republican gerrymandering.”
The only uncertainty remaining is who will represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate going forward. With neither incumbent Democrat Warnock nor Republican challenger Walker clearing the 50%-plus-one margin of victory needed to avoid a runoff, they will clash again on Dec. 6.
Swint said the outcome may have a lot to do with whether Democrats retain their majority in the Senate. If Democrats win tight contests in Arizona and Nevada – the only other Senate contests from Election Day other than Georgia’s still not decided as of Friday – Republicans won’t be able to flip the Senate even if Walker wins next month.
“You may not get the Republican money to come in or the fervor [for Republicans] to go out and vote,” Swint said.
While what happens to the balance of power in the Senate isn’t in Walker’s control, Robinson said there are steps the University of Georgia football legend must take if he wants to overcome his sizable underperformance at the polls last Tuesday compared to the rest of the statewide Republican ticket.
“He’s got to make Raphael Warnock own Biden’s failed recovery,” he said. “Walker [also] needs to show some fluency on policy issues and matters specific to Georgia.”
Regardless of what happens in the runoff, Swint said Democrats should take heart that Georgia is not going back to the days of total Republican domination a decade ago.
“In Cobb and Gwinnett, it’s been real tough for them.” he said. “The days of Republicans winning everything are over.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia is continuing to attract suppliers for its growing renewable energy industries.
FREYR Battery, a Europe-based producer of next-generation battery cells, will build a manufacturing plant in Coweta County, a $2.57 billion investment that will create 723 jobs during the next seven years, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday.
“Job creators and innovators from all over the world bring their operations to Georgia because they know they will have success here,” Kemp said. “We’re proud to welcome FREYR to the Peach State as the latest company to bring transformational investments and opportunity to our communities.”
FREYR is dedicated to supporting a domestic supply chain for renewable power sources. The company’s battery cells can be used for stationary energy storage, electric mobility, and additional applications.
“At FREYR, we are deeply committed to the ambition we share with our U.S. partners to decarbonize the transportation and energy sectors,” said Tom Einar Jensen, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “As we advance our U.S. expansion plan in cooperation with our key stakeholders, we expect to make meaningful investments to spur job creation and the eventual development of localized, decarbonized supply chains in the U.S. to enhance energy security and economic activity.”
FREYR’s announcement comes as Georgia already is ramping up to become a leading producer of electric vehicles and EV batteries.
During the past year, Rivian and Hyundai have announced plans for huge EV manufacturing plants near Covington and Savannah, respectively, the two largest economic development projects in the state’s history. SK Innovation has built two EV battery manufacturing facilities in Northeast Georgia.
FREYR’s new facility, to be called Giga America, will have a planned first phase production of about 34 gigawatt hours. The company is currently evaluating clean power supply solutions for the new plant, including the potential use of renewable energy from solar installations.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked to land the project in partnership with the Coweta County Development Authority, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Georgia EMC, and the state Department of Labor’s Quick Start program.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A European-owned ammunition maker will build a new manufacturing, assembly, and distribution facility in Bryan County, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday.
Norma Precision, which established its North American headquarters near Savannah earlier this year, will invest $60 million and create 600 jobs with the Bryan County facility.
“Norma Precision is already hiring hardworking Georgians on our coast, and this new facility will support healthy communities across the Savannah area,” Kemp said.
The Bryan County operation will help the company continue to develop high-end ammunition to serve key markets in the hunting, sporting goods, military, and law enforcement sectors.
“This new facility offers Norma Precision a significant opportunity to expand our small arms ammunition manufacturing and distribution operations to meet our customer expectations in the United States and abroad,” said Paul Lemke, the company’s CEO.
Following completion of the new 300,000-square-foot facility, the company will move its Chatham County operations to Bryan County, the fastest-growing county in Georgia and the sixth-fastest growing in the nation. Current employees at the Chatham location will have the option of transferring to the new facility.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development worked in partnership on the project with the Development Authority of Bryan County, the Georgia Ports Authority, Georgia Power, and the state Department of Labor’s Quick Start program.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will square off in a Dec. 6 runoff that could decide whether the Senate will continue to be controlled by Democrats or whether the GOP wins a majority.
With 100% of precincts across Georgia reporting results by Wednesday afternoon, it had become clear neither Warnock nor Walker would exceed the 50%-plus-one threshold required under state law to avoid a runoff.
Warnock holds a narrow lead with 49.4% of the vote to 48.5% for Walker. Libertarian Chase Oliver has just less than 2.1% of the vote, enough to keep the two major-party candidates from winning the election outright on Tuesday.
“There’s just not enough numbers out there to change the outcome of this race,” Gabriel Sterling, elections manager for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, told CNN Wednesday.
Sterling said the office already is starting to design runoff ballots to be delivered to all 159 counties in Georgia by the beginning of next week.
He said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is planning for a minimum of five early voting days ahead of the runoff and setting aside a weekend early voting day for Saturday, Nov. 26.
“It’s really about getting all the parts lined up … so voters can make their voices heard on that Dec. 6 runoff,” Sterling said.
Warnock is no stranger to runoffs, having won the Senate seat over incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a runoff in early January of last year.
With the possibility of control of the Senate at stake, both parties are expected to invest huge sums buying campaign ads.
At least voters already weary of the constant barrage of ads that marked the general election campaign won’t have to endure them as long as during the last runoff. While the Warnock-Loeffler runoff stretched out over two months at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, a change in state law since then will limit the upcoming runoff campaign to four weeks.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
