Georgia’s Senate Race Gets Two New Candidates
Peach Press is written by Olivia Bauer and Kyle Hayes.
Welcome to Peach Press, a Georgia politics newsletter. In this edition:
- Rep. Doug Collins and Rev. Raphael Warnock launch U.S. Senate bids
- Agency leaders raise alarms about the Governor’s budget cuts in hearings last week
- Terry England, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, is our Legislator of the Week
The podcast crew reacts to Rep. Doug Collins’ announcement he will challenge Sen. Kelly Loeffler and checks in on the Democrats vying to challenge Sen. David Perdue.
The race for the Senate seat currently held by Kelly Loeffler gained two new candidates this week. Rep. Doug Collins confirmed his bid for office Wednesday morning on Fox & Friends, teeing up the hosts of President Trump’s favorite show to remind him of Governor Kemp’s “defiance.”
Collins made an appeal to friendly state lawmakers that Republican voters should be allowed to decide their own nominee. The Georgia House of Representatives is considering legislation that would scrap the jungle primary election in favor of the more traditional party primary followed by a general election in November. But on Thursday morning, that proposal was moving backwards and House Speaker David Ralston said that a change to the special election was unlikely.
The candidate almost certain to garner the institutional backing of state and national Democrats entered the race on Thursday morning. Revered Raphael Warnock, who leads Ebenezer Baptist Church, introduced himself to voters in his launch video. Warnock’s announcement was quickly followed by an endorsement from Stacey Abrams.
Warnock joins Matt Lieberman on the Democratic side of the race to finish Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term. Lieberman told PeachPod he will continue to run whether the Democratic party supports another candidate or not. Former State Senator Ed Tarver is likely to run, but other Democratic hopefuls including DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston and State Sen. Jen Jordan have ruled out a bid.
In Georgia’s other Senate race, the field of Democrats seeking to challenge Senator David Perdue recently shrank when Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry dropped out, citing difficulties raising money. He’ll run for a seat on the DeKalb County commission instead.
Perdue is having no such fundraising trouble. The AJC’s Tia Mitchell reports that Perdue will disclose he raised $2.5 million in the final months of 2019.
Other notes from #GaSen:
- Teresa Tomlinson was recently endorsed by Jason Carter, former State Senator and 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee.
- The American Prospect’s David Dayen profiles Sarah Riggs Amico and her decision to give up her company following a bankruptcy deal that preserved 3,000 jobs and health and pension benefits.
- Jon Ossoff launched a series of town halls this week, contrasting himself with Perdue over his lack of open public appearances.
The thorniest question to face lawmakers so far has been how to balance the state budget. Governor Kemp ordered agencies to prepare significant cuts to the budget prior to session, and lawmakers spent last week hearing from agency heads who gave a varied assessment of how they could absorb spending reductions.
Some agency heads raised alarms over the effect of cuts. Judy Fitzgerald, the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, described the cuts as painful and raised concerns that cuts would result in service reductions, reported Georgia Recorder’s Jill Nolin.
Other agency heads said cuts could be absorbed, but lawmakers were skeptical. Department of Public Health commissioner Kathleen Toomey said that services will be only marginally reduced if at all, but State Rep. Clay Pirkle and State Rep. Mary Frances Williams both raised doubts that services would be unaffected.
Budget woes have driven conversations on other issues. Senators approved a cap on a popular program that allows high school students to earn college credit while still enrolled in high school. And Governor Kemp signed fast-moving legislation that requires more online retailers to collect sales taxes.
The fraught debate over the budget is just the latest fault line between Governor Kemp and House Speaker Ralston. Jim Galloway’s AJC column dives into their tense relationship.
As the budget debate continues, you’re likely to hear about a poll promoted by the Governor’s staff that shows wide support for spending cuts. Kyle points out a problem with that poll:
Hear more about the budget hearings in Monday’s episode of PeachPod:
Terry England (R — Auburn) is a farmer who was first elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2004. He has been the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee since 2011.
England has an important role in shepherding the budget through the appropriations process in the House each session, and is a go-to expert on the state’s finances.
His task is even more difficult this year, as he works to fit the governor’s mandated spending cuts and priorities as well as lawmakers’ goals. England highlighted the challenge that lay before lawmakers in a recent GeorgiaPol column, writing:
“Can we afford a second teacher pay raise? Can we afford a second income tax rate cut the legislature has hoped to implement during this session? I simply don’t know.”
Notably, England was critical of the budgeting process that began in the summer. He pointed out a directive from Governor Kemp that agency heads skip last fall’s budget hearings and said that leaders were vague in the annual joint budget hearings last week.
Congressional Candidate Nabilah Islam is petitioning the Federal Election Commission to allow campaign finances to be used to cover health insurance. During her interview on PeachPod, she discussed the financial challenges of running a campaign, such as student loan debt and health insurance costs. She’s one of several Democrats seeking to succeed Rep. Rob Woodall in GA-07 when he retires at the end of this Congress.
