ATLANTA – Georgia voters have overwhelmingly ratified all four legislative proposals on the statewide ballot this year.
Three of the four received support from more than 75% of the electorate Tuesday, while the proposal garnering the least “yes” votes still won by 18 percentage points.
Two amendments to the Georgia Constitution drew the strongest support. A constitutional change prohibiting statewide elected officials and members of the General Assembly from being paid after they have been indicted for a felony and suspended from office passed with 88.5% of the vote.
Georgia lawmakers took up the legislation after hearing complaints that then-state Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck was still being paid his salary of $195,000 a year after being suspended in 2019 by Gov. Brian Kemp. Beck was indicted and later convicted of fraud and money laundering.
A second constitutional amendment arising from a strong tornado that hit Heard, Coweta, and Fayette counties last year got the most support of the four proposals on the ballot, winning 91.9% of the vote. It will let cities, counties, and local school districts temporarily exempt disaster victims from paying property taxes.
Voters also passed two other tax relief measures that were on the ballot as “questions” rather than as constitutional amendments. Question A, which passed with the least support at a still-solid 59.1%, provides a property tax exemption for equipment used in the timber industry.
Question B expanding an existing property tax exemption for agricultural equipment by applying it to equipment shared by two or more family farms sailed through with 76.5% of the vote.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Republicans swept the races for Georgia’s constitutional offices Tuesday, winning all seven down-ballot contests from lieutenant governor down to insurance and labor commissioner.
With 97% of the vote counted shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday, state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, was ahead of Democrat Charlie Bailey in the contest for lieutenant governor, 51.5 % to 46.3%, according to unofficial results. Libertarian Ryan Graham picked up 2.1% of the vote.
Jones was the only Republican on the statewide ticket who took part in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. He served on an alternate slate of electors that was poised to hand the state’s 16 electoral votes to Trump if any of the lawsuits filed on behalf of Trump after Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia had moved forward.
Bailey ran unsuccessfully for attorney general four years ago and was planning to again this year before he changed his mind and decided to become a candidate for lieutenant governor.
Republican Attorney General Chris Carr won a second full term as Georgia’s top lawyer. Carr was leading Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, 52% to 46.5%. Libertarian Martin Cowen was third at 1.5%.
Then-Gov. Nathan Deal appointed Carr attorney general in 2016. He was elected to a full four-year term two years later.
GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger defeated Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen, D-Atlanta, 53.3% to 44%. Libertarian Ted Metz trailed at 2.8%.
Raffensperger burnished his image as a political straight shooter when he refused to intervene in the 2020 presidential election after Trump called him in early January of last year and urged him to “find” the 11,780 votes the then-president needed to carry Georgia.
In the race for state School Superintendent, Republican Richard Woods defeated Democratic challenger Alisha Thomas Searcy 54.3% to 45.7%. Woods was first elected superintendent in 2014.
Incumbent state Insurance Commissioner John King won a first full term in that office, leading Democratic challenger Janice Laws Robinson 54.2% to 45.8%. Gov. Brian Kemp appointed then-Doraville Police Chief King to the post in 2019 after then-Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck was indicted for fraud and money laundering.
State Sen. Tyler Harper, R-Ocilla, was elected agriculture commissioner, 53.1% to 44.8%, over Democrat Nakita Hemingway. Libertarian David Raudabaugh was third at 2.1%.
Current Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black opted not to seek reelection this year and instead launched an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.
State Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, was elected labor commissioner over Democratic state Rep. William Boddie of East Point. Thompson had 52.2% of the vote compared to 45.2% for Boddie. Libertarian Emily Anderson was third with 2.6% of the vote.
The seat is being vacated by Republican Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, who decided not to run for a fourth term.
No Democrat has won a statewide constitutional office in Georgia since 2006.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Republican Gov. Brian Kemp won a second term in office Tuesday in a rematch of the 2018 gubernatorial race.
With 97% of the vote counted shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday, Kemp was leading Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, 53.5% to 45.8%, according to unofficial results, well above the 50%-plus-one margin needed to avoid a runoff next month. Libertarian Shane Hazel was running a distant third with just 0.7% of the vote.
“I appreciate the strong grassroots supporters we have had, literally from Claxton to Calhoun,” Kemp told a cheering crowd at the Coca-Cola Roxy across from Truist Park. “We would not be here without you. Thank you so much.”
Throughout the campaign, Kemp stressed his record of leading Georgia’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. He credited the rebound to his decision to reopen businesses shut down by the virus sooner than governors in other states.
Kemp also touted his record on crime, including the creation of a multi-agency Crime Suppression Unit last year in the wake of a crime wave spawned by the pandemic and, more recently, the formation of a Gang Prosecution Unit in the attorney general’s office to target criminal street gangs.
On the campaign trail, Kemp reminded voters he was the driving force behind the 2019 “heartbeat” bill banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. But he stopped short of calling for even tighter restrictions on abortion favored by some Republicans.
Kemp pledged to double down on his tax-cutting agenda if he won a second term as governor by asking lawmakers to approve $2 billion in income and property tax rebates on top of the $1.6 billion tax rebate Georgians received this year.
Abrams told her supporters at rallies across the state that most of the benefits of Kemp’s tax cuts were going to upper-income Georgians, while the governor was missing an opportunity to help low- and middle-income families. She called for spending Georgia’s bulging $6.6 billion surplus instead on education, housing, and health care.
Abrams criticized Kemp for refusing to expand Georgia’s Medicaid program, a failure that was leaving 500,000 Georgians without affordable health insurance coverage and forcing hospitals across the state to close for lack of operating funds.
She also blamed the increase in violent crime on guns and accused Kemp of worsening the problem by backing legislation the General Assembly passed this year allowing Georgians to carry concealed firearms without a permit.
Kemp and Abrams also tussled over an election-reform law Abrams blasted as a voter suppression measure concocted by Republicans last year following Democratic wins in Georgia in 2020 and at the beginning of 2021. The governor characterized it as an election integrity measure aimed at making it harder to commit voter fraud.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Enrollment on University System of Georgia (USG) campuses has declined for a second year in a row.
Total enrollment for the fall semester at the system’s 26 colleges and universities stands at 334,459 students, down 1.2% from the 340,638 who were attending classes a year ago.
While enrollment grew by 1.2% at the system’s four research universities – the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, and Augusta University – the number of students declined across the rest of the system.
Enrollment at comprehensive universities fell 3.7%, state universities were down 5.7%, and state colleges dropped 2.4%.
Despite the overall decline, eight institutions had an increase in enrollment, while 17 declined and one remained flat compared to last year.
“The University System of Georgia faces similar challenges to undergraduate enrollment as other public systems, including a booming job market and the lingering effects of the pandemic,” system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said Tuesday.
“Still, I’m a facts guy, and the facts show USG graduates will make over $1 million more in their lifetimes thanks to their college degree. … Frankly, we need to do a better job marketing that valuable return on investment.”
The university system saw steady enrollment increases between 2013 and 2020, with record-high headcounts each fall between 2015 and 2020. An all-time high student population of 341,489 signed up for classes in the fall of 2020, despite the pandemic.
Besides the lure of the job market, national research has shown that financial uncertainty and the ongoing effects of the pandemic have contributed to enrollment decisions.
Among the university system schools that did report higher enrollment this fall, Georgia Tech led the way with enrollment growth of 3.3%. Augusta University was next at 2.2%, followed by Gordon State College and the University of Georgia, each of which grew 1.2%.
Other institutions reporting enrollment growth included South Georgia State College, Georgia Gwinnett College, Kennesaw State University, and Albany State University. Dalton State College maintained flat enrollment.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A newly unsealed federal indictment charges nearly three dozen defendants for their involvement in a drug trafficking conspiracy centered in South Georgia and reaching into the Caribbean.
Operation Carpet Ride identified drug trafficking operations in Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Effingham, Evans, Liberty, Richmond, and Tattnall counties dating back to January 2016. The conspiracy allegedly imported large quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs for distribution in South Georgia.
“The painstaking investigation in Operation Carpet Ride spans nearly six years and thousands of miles as it tracked illegal drugs flowing into the United States,” said David H. Estes, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “Our law enforcement partners have done outstanding work in identifying, investigating and disrupting this drug trafficking organization.”
Of the 32 defendants charged in the indictment, 22 are from South Georgia. Their listed addresses include Claxton, Glennville, Hinesville, Reidsville, Savannah, Statesboro, and Sylvania. The rest are from Florida or Puerto Rico.
Each defendant is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, and marijuana.
The primary conspiracy charge carries a statutory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison to life. Conviction on the charge also carries a minimum of five years of supervised release following any prison term, and there is no parole in the federal system.
Other individual charges in the indictment include drug possession and distribution, maintenance of a drug-involved premises, and illegal firearms possession and use.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
