GA News

The Georgia House of Representatives passed a measure Wednesday that could allow property owners to sue city and county governments if they fail to enforce state laws related to homelessness, public safety and immigration. House Bill 295, sponsored by Athens Republican Rep. Houston Gaines, passed with a 98-75 vote, clearing the lower chamber just ahead […]

A sweeping GOP proposal that would overhaul local property taxes failed to pass Tuesday, with nearly all House Democrats opposing the measure over concerns about the impact to public services and schools back home.  The proposal was rolled out with much fanfare in late January, with Speaker Jon Burns calling the proposal “historic” at the […]

A bill creating a new felony charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer with a motor vehicle cleared the House in a contentious vote Tuesday evening. A separate bill raising the penalties against protesters who block streets or highways passed the Senate hours earlier largely along party lines. House Bill 1076, sponsored by Powder Springs […]

The race is on for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat this week after the major candidates from both parties officially signed up to run. On the Democratic side, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is seeking to defend the seat he won in a tight 2021 runoff. Ossoff is the only Democratic senator up for re-election this year […]

Since International Paper abruptly closed its mills in Liberty and Chatham counties last fall, business owners in Southeast Georgia who once made the state the largest timber exporter in the nation have been feeling acute pain. As of January, demand for timber had dropped more than 60%, meaning truckers and contractors who would haul the […]

The Georgia state Capitol was bustling on Monday, but not because of the usual business of lawmaking. Instead, big names in politics trickled in and out of the Capitol building, some having travelled hours to face a long line to ensure their names appear on the ballot for the upcoming November elections. Among those who […]

The Georgia Senate last week passed a bill that would allow Georgians with autism or other developmental disorders and their family members to request to receive a special license plate. Senate Bill 433 passed the chamber unanimously with the help of a little star power. Connor Tomlinson, one of the stars of Netflix’s “Love on […]

This past week – the last before candidates officially qualify to run – brought plenty of news about who won’t be appearing on the ballot this year.  Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Duluth Democrat, announced this week she is dropping out of the campaign for governor, saying that she will instead run for an […]

Lawmakers are contemplating a measure that would prevent the public from accessing law enforcement audio and video recordings that show a person’s death after the bill’s sponsor argued that new restrictions are needed to preserve the dignity of the people depicted in the footage. But the legislation, House Bill 1223, has prompted criticism from First […]

The largest prison in the state is located in the town of Jackson, in middle Georgia. It’s a state prison with a capacity of 2,200 inmates. The new prison that the federal government proposes to open in Social Circle, about 40 miles southeast of Atlanta, would house four to five times that many. According to Immigration […]

The Senate session ended abruptly Thursday just as senators were nearing a vote on a bill aimed at ensuring data centers pay for the energy infrastructure built to accommodate them after it appeared a last-minute alternative measure had the votes to pass. The Georgia Senate avoided voting on Senate Bill 34, which moved out of […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has loaned Southern Company $26.5 billion to fund upgrades to its energy grid in Georgia and Alabama. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a press release Wednesday that the loan to Southern Company, the parent company of Georgia Power and Alabama Power, is intended to lower consumer energy costs for […]

House lawmakers signed off on a plan to incrementally reduce the state’s income tax rate over concerns from Democrats who argued the perk would disproportionately benefit wealthier Georgians.  The proposal, House Bill 1001, accelerates an already planned cut to the state’s income tax rate and is part of a series of reductions to the rate […]

Georgia’s first comprehensive needs-based college scholarship came closer to becoming reality Wednesday after the state House and Senate approved a budget plan that would fully fund the endeavor.  Gov. Brian Kemp proposed the DREAMS scholarship in his State of the State Address last month with a proposed price tag of $325 million. But last week, […]

The president of the Georgia Republican Assembly, a right wing political organization, has been fined $500,000 for his alleged involvement in an suspected Ponzi scheme that authorities say defrauded investors out of $140 million, the Georgia Secretary of State’s office announced Wednesday.  Timothy Nathaniel Darnell, who once worked for Bankers Life Advisory Services, has been […]

Voters are having their say in the race to replace former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who stepped down from Congress in January after a public feud with President Donald Trump. Early voting started last week, and the final day to cast a ballot is March 10. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the […]

Two prominent attorneys have launched campaigns for the Georgia Supreme Court, challenging two sitting justices who were originally appointed by former Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.  Former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin, a personal injury attorney and former president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, stood together Tuesday at Liberty Plaza […]

The Georgia House passed a slew of bills Tuesday that could reshape the way public school students learn. The chamber approved bills including a ban on cell phones for high schoolers, a requirement to install weapons detectors at school entrances and a bill aimed at boosting reading rates that Speaker Jon Burns called “arguably the […]

Georgia officials on both sides of the aisle are proposing legislation aimed at holding insurance companies accountable when they fall short of the long-held promise of mental health parity, which is the idea that insurance coverage for mental health should be on par with coverage for physical health. The push comes after Georgia Insurance Commissioner […]

Feb. 24 is World Spay Day and February is Spay and Neuter Awareness Month in Georgia. February is also Feline Fix by Five month, a reminder to have kittens fixed before they turn five months old. That focus on prevention is important for two reasons: First because fixing animals is the only way to fix […]

The Georgia House on Friday passed a bill to create a special committee to study raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include 17-year-olds, but stopped short of taking action to prevent 17-year-olds from being tried as adults.  House Bill 1061, originally written to shift 17-year-olds away from the adult criminal justice system to […]

Democrats attempted to pass Medicaid expansion on the floor of the Senate in a legislative maneuver that was quickly shot down by their Republican counterparts Friday. The bill they hoped to amend, Senate Bill 440, was originally intended to update and modernize laws around the state Department of Public Health. Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Marietta […]

The return of President Donald Trump to Georgia was the big political news this week, with the president visiting a Rome steel plant to promote his economic agenda and his allies as early voting got underway to replace former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.  But it was also a big week for announced departures.  House Speaker […]

ROME, Ga. – In a freewheeling hour-long speech at a northwest Georgia steel plant, President Donald Trump sought to boost his second-term economic agenda ahead of November’s pivotal midterm elections. “We have the most people working in history, and just recently, we crossed two milestones,” he said Thursday. “They thought it was totally impossible when […]

WINDER, Ga. — Georgia’s State Election Board did not move to take control of Fulton County’s elections at a closely watched meeting this week, but at least one board member left the door open for future intervention.  In the aftermath of a widely publicized raid on the county’s election warehouse in January, there has been […]

The Secretary of State’s Office has ordered a former principal of the now-defunct lending firm First Liberty Building and Loan to pay a $500,000 fine for alleged investment fraud. In an order filed Wednesday, Brant Frost V is accused of selling securities and offering investment advice to First Liberty investors without being licensed to do […]

Civil rights icon Andrew Young issued a blunt warning Tuesday that liberties won during the 20th Century are under threat, but he also said he believes people today have the necessary tools to protect them. Speaking at the launch of a project to digitize 1.8 million Civil Rights Movement-era photographs in Atlanta, the 93-year-old former […]

At a luncheon talk to the Golden Isles Republican Women’s group on Thursday, Public Service Commissioner Tricia Pridemore cheered on the Trump administration’s deregulation efforts and discussed what she sees as young women’s unnecessary anxiety about climate change. But she didn’t mention the 2026 PSC race. There’s a good reason why. On Tuesday she announced […]

A Chatham County elementary school teacher en route to work early Monday was killed after a man trying to flee federal immigration agents rammed her vehicle on Whitefield Avenue near the Truman Parkway, according to county police. Linda Davis, a longtime teacher at Herman W. Hesse K-8 School was pulled from her crushed Lexus sedan […]

Early voting began Monday in the race for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, and candidates are racing to set themselves apart from the crowd – and often from the district’s previous representative, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Greene resigned from her seat last month, spurring more than 20 candidates to throw their hats in the ring, […]

In opening statements on Monday, prosecutors made the case that the Georgia man whose teenage son is accused of carrying out the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history more than a year ago is also responsible for the attack. The shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, left students Christian Angulo and Mason […]

The demographics in Georgia are changing, and so is the way people choose to ceremoniously depart this world.  Embalming, or the practice of preserving a body to delay decomposition, was the preference of most Georgians just a few decades ago, says Sen. Rick Williams, a Milledgeville Republican and a licensed funeral director and embalmer for […]

A majority of Georgia’s third graders – 62% – are not reading proficiently, according to the Georgia Council on Literacy. That’s a big deal because research suggests reading proficiency at this age is a major predictor of future success, with kids who cannot read well by third grade four times as likely to drop out […]

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WABE and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. Environmental groups are asking state regulators to reconsider some of the Georgia Power expansion they approved late last year. In a meeting Thursday, the Georgia Public Service Commission added the request to its agenda for next week. Georgia […]

Senate Republicans passed a proposal Thursday to reduce the state’s income tax while cutting some of the state’s tax credits for corporations despite Democratic pushback in a hours-long debate. Vidalia Republican Sen. Blake Tillery, who is running for lieutenant governor and who is sponsoring the proposal, said that the legislation is “tailored to address the […]

Georgia residents may soon be able to access HIV prevention medicine at their local pharmacy if a bipartisan push from state lawmakers to make the drugs faster and easier to access is successful. Senate Bill 195, which was introduced by Rome Republican Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, would allow pharmacists to both prescribe and administer medication, known […]

The moment that FBI agents showed up with a search warrant at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, one of two things had to be true. The first was that federal investigators must have made an important breakthrough, uncovering previously unknown evidence that fraud had been committed in Georgia’s 2020 election. After all, […]

Revelations from an unsealed affidavit used to justify an unexpected FBI raid on Fulton County’s elections hub quickly reverberated through Georgia’s political ecosystem, which is gearing up for a contentious series of statewide elections later this year.  The day after a federal court unsealed the document, lawmakers at Georgia’s state Capitol issued sharp statements of […]

A federal court has released an affidavit used by the FBI to justify a January raid on Fulton County’s election warehouse, raising new questions about the investigation.  The document, which was under seal until Tuesday, cited irregularities in the 2020 election that federal authorities claim necessitated the seizure of the documents, though critics say the […]

Republicans in the Georgia Senate hijacked a bill aimed at increasing access to home health care services by adding two last-minute amendments that would further restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender Georgians. Both amendments and the bill passed in a party-line vote Tuesday. The first amendment to House Bill 54, introduced by Savannah Republican […]

Georgia Senate Republicans unveiled a sweeping plan to cut hundreds of millions in corporate tax credits while completely eliminating income taxes for some Georgians and cutting it for others. Senate Bill 476, sponsored by Vidalia Republican Sen. Blake Tillery, who is currently running for lieutenant governor, would align with Gov. Brian Kemp’s recommended accelerated reduction […]

Need a prescription for birth control? You may soon be able to get one at your local pharmacy. On Monday, lawmakers considered a bill that would enable pharmacists to prescribe contraception, such as birth control pills or a birth control shot, directly to Georgia residents. The bill, House Bill 1138, was introduced by Rep. Beth […]

Georgia state House Republicans have a proposal to help tame the affordability crisis: end property taxes for homeowners by 2032. Party leaders say their proposal, which would benefit Georgians who own and live in their home, will put money into peoples’ pockets where it belongs. But the proposed shakeup has municipal and county governments, as […]

For many Democrats, the mood during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office has been decidedly grim. But at a Saturday campaign rally in Atlanta, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff told voters that “the first light of dawn is on the horizon.” In a 30-minute speech at the Georgia International Convention Center, Ossoff highlighted the […]

Rick Jackson, the wealthy executive and founder of Jackson Healthcare, entered Georgia’s race for governor Tuesday and upended a Republican primary field that was previously considered settled. Jackson, who is relatively unknown statewide, pitched himself as a “conservative business leader” capable of breaking up the political establishment “cartel.” His late entry comes as a challenge […]

The big news in Georgia politics this week was the surprise announcement from a wealthy health care executive that he will join in the GOP primary race for governor.  But there were other significant developments too: Georgia Republican Congressman Barry Loudermilk announced he will not seek another term, and President Donald Trump picked his candidate […]

ATLANTA — Lemon pepper wings, a staple of Atlanta restaurants and recent meme culture, could soon get official recognition at the Georgia Capitol. House Bill 1013, introduced by Rep. Eric Bell, a Jonesboro Democrat, would make lemon pepper wings the official state chicken wing flavor for Georgia, adding to the list of food related bills […]

Georgia House lawmakers have replaced the governor’s proposed income tax rebate with a one-time tax break for homeowners. The change was included in the chamber’s version of this year’s revised budget, which overwhelmingly cleared the House with a 167-to-5 vote Thursday. The $42.3 billion spending plan now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers will want […]

At a time of national turmoil over federal immigration enforcement efforts, representatives of Georgia’s Latino community showed up at the state Capitol Thursday to demonstrate their growing political clout in the battleground state.  This year, as the state gears up for consequential statewide elections, advocates stressed the central role that the Latino community plays in […]

Fulton County has filed a lawsuit challenging last week’s FBI raid on an elections warehouse, County Commission Chair Robb Pitts announced Wednesday. The lawsuit, which Pitts said was filed in federal district court, seeks the return of the roughly 700 boxes of election records seized during the raid, and for an affidavit the feds filed […]

The Georgia state Senate passed a bill Tuesday to prevent local governments and school districts from opting out of a statewide homestead tax exemption, which caps annual property tax increases. After a lengthy debate, state senators voted 31 to 19 to pass Senate Bill 382, sending it to the House for review. This comes as […]

Getting off the school bus or being dropped off in the morning could look different if a bill under consideration in the state Capitol passes into law. House Bill 1023, sponsored by House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, a Mulberry Republican, would require weapons detection systems to be set up at every student point of entry […]

Librarians and education advocates are warning that a bill moving through the state Legislature could cause Georgia’s librarians to self-censor controversial materials and lead to more challenges on books about LGBTQ people or issues. Senate Bill 74, sponsored by Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns, changes an exemption in state law dealing with the distribution of […]

It turns out the race to be Georgia’s next governor is not so set after all.  With the primary less than four months away, another prominent candidate has jumped into the contest for the Republican nomination.  Jackson Healthcare founder and CEO Rick Jackson announced his candidacy Tuesday, and his campaign said he planned to spend […]

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is entering 2026 with a huge fundraising edge over his Republican rivals, while one of Georgia’s longest serving lawmakers is facing a potentially competitive primary and Republicans in northwest Georgia are preparing for the difficult task of finding Marjorie Taylor Greene’s replacement. Congressional and U.S. Senate candidates spent the weekend […]

State officials and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are facing criticism for a lack of information following a Friday jet fuel spill that contaminated the Flint River, which provides drinking water to 400,000 people south of Atlanta and in central Georgia. Cleanup continues, authorities said, but neither the Georgia Environmental Protection Division nor the airport has released […]

A California-based Planned Parenthood chapter will help manage Planned Parenthood Southeast after months of turmoil that led to an internal investigation and the ouster of the embattled organization’s interim CEO late last year. The partnership, which was announced by Planned Parenthood Los Angeles on Thursday, is aimed at providing support and guidance for staff at […]

The ballots are now set for two special legislative races in Georgia and the candidates are still lining up for a third contest set for March 10.  Since the 2026 legislative session is already underway, the winners may not be seated in time to cast any votes under the Gold Dome this year unless they […]

Immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota – and particularly the shooting death of a U.S. citizen by federal officers – shaped much of the conversation in Georgia’s Capitol this week. Alex Pretti’s death inspired widespread protests over federal immigration policy, and discontent was exacerbated by statements from Trump administration officials painting the 37-year-old nurse as the […]

A third Georgia state lawmaker was charged Friday with unemployment fraud in a pandemic-era safety net program. Rep. Dexter Sharper, a Valdosta Democrat, was arraigned Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell G. Vineyard, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release. Sharper faces federal charges of making false statements to obtain nearly $14,000 in […]

If you thought that President Donald Trump and Georgia Republican candidates for higher office have left the 2020 election in the rearview mirror, think again. Federal agents on Wednesday were seen seizing records from Fulton County’s election center warehouse as the president continues echoing false claims surrounding his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The […]

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.” Kaitlin Cooke of Cartersville, Georgia, was contemplating suicide when she started calling a statewide mental health crisis line in 2018. She said she would sneak outside and call the hotline […]

House Republicans have proposed a major property tax overhaul that they say will save Georgia homeowners money but eliminate a reliable source of revenue for counties, cities and schools.  Under the proposal, homeowners would no longer have to pay property taxes on their primary residence starting in 2032, amounting to a 100% homestead exemption. The […]

ATLANTA — Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Fulton County elections warehouse Wednesday.  A court order signed by Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas authorized agents to seize all physical ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County, all ballot images and Fulton County’s 2020 voter rolls. A copy of the order was […]

U.S. Department of Justice officials have refiled a lawsuit against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking Georgia’s unredacted voter data, this time in an Atlanta-based court in the Northern District of Georgia, where Raffensperger’s primary office is located. Last week, a federal judge in the Middle District of Georgia dismissed a similar lawsuit, arguing that […]

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is running for a promotion to governor, and he’s planning to use this session of the state Legislature as a stage for his campaign. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. That’s how the political system works. However, the proposal that Jones intends to make the centerpiece of his campaign – […]

Georgia’s two Democratic senators are joining their colleagues in the U.S. Senate in a pledge to vote against a spending package that includes billions of dollars in funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The senators say they demand civil liberty protections before further funds are appropriated to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Senators have […]

Georgia’s teenagers could soon be doing significantly less scrolling, swiping and tapping on weekdays. The state Legislature is poised to consider expanding the state’s classroom cell phone ban for elementary and middle schools to high schools. Under the plan passed last year with bipartisan support, school districts had until Jan. 1 to come up with […]

There are now four special elections set for March 10 in Georgia. The most closely watched will be the race to fill former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat in northwest Georgia. Nearly two dozen candidates signed up to run in what is known as a jungle primary, which is when all the candidates appear on […]

A federal judge has dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Friday, placing another roadblock in the path of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to obtain sensitive voter information from states across the U.S.  Georgia is now one of at least three states in which federal judges have […]

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is refusing to turn over sensitive personal information from Georgia’s voter rolls to the U.S. Department of Justice in response to the Trump administration’s ongoing legal campaign aimed at forcing state and local officials to disclose voter roll information to the federal government. But pressure from some lawmakers and other […]

Clean energy advocate Patty Durand, who was accused of stealing a booklet labeled as containing “trade secrets” during an energy regulatory hearing, will not be indicted after the Fulton County District Attorney’s office formally declined to prosecute the case. The decision was filed Wednesday in Fulton County Superior Court. Durand, who founded a watchdog organization […]

Gov. Brian Kemp has suspended from office a Democratic lawmaker charged with unemployment fraud in connection with COVID-19 pandemic relief. Kemp, a Republican, announced Thursday that Rep. Sharon Henderson would be suspended from office until her case is resolved or her term ends. All members of the Legislature are up for re-election in November. Last […]

Election season in Georgia is here, with statewide primary elections less than four months away and the campaigning for those contests well underway. But as Georgians prepare to cast their ballots, a key question remains unclear: Will the state be able to eliminate QR codes from ballots to comply with a 2024 state election law? […]

Two high-profile Republicans running for higher office in Georgia have a pitch for voters: zero state income taxes. They have promised that the change wouldn’t cause much pain if the state ends $3 billion in corporate tax breaks. The policy is not a new idea for Georgia — but it’s never gone very far. One […]

The head of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services faced questions from lawmakers Wednesday over the agency’s multi-million dollar deficit. As of last month, the department faced a projected shortfall of about $85 million by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, leading to restricted services for families and terminated contracts with […]

Two candidates vying to represent a Macon-area Senate district are headed to a runoff after neither managed to clear the 50% threshold in a six-way race Tuesday. Democrat LeMario Brown, a Peach County small business owner, farmer and former city council member, and Republican Steven McNeel, a Bibb County attorney, appear to be the top […]

Georgia’s economy is showing signs of strength, but persistent inflation and slow job and wage growth have left consumers feeling sour about their finances.  And the state economist, Robert Buschman, told lawmakers Tuesday that he expects that slow growth and higher inflation to continue.  Buschman’s presentation to legislative budget writers put charts and graphs to […]

A surge in data center development has turned Georgia into a national hotspot while raising fresh concerns about the state’s energy landscape and natural resources. After a massive request from Georgia Power to expand its energy capacity by about 10,000 megawatts due to unprecedented growth driven largely by a rise in data centers and a […]

Legislators, religious leaders and community members gathered at Georgia’s state Capitol in Atlanta Friday to commemorate civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. the day after what would have been his 97th birthday.  The ceremony, held amid a nationwide backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and growing calls for increased affordability, highlighted King’s efforts […]

Nearly three-quarters of all state student aid money nationwide was based on financial need rather than merit in the 2022-2023 school year, according to the College Board. In Georgia, that number was around 1%. Georgia is an outlier when it comes to the money available for college students without the money for an education or […]

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp called for an expedited income tax rate cut and another tax rebate, new spending for law enforcement retirement savings and funding for a needs-based scholarship program in his annual state of the state address Thursday before the Georgia General Assembly.  The speech — Kemp’s eighth and final address as governor — […]

I have a recurring nightmare, a nightmare that becomes more realistic with each passing day. It goes like this: It is November 2026. Here in Georgia and elsewhere, the midterm polls have been looking bad for Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans, but the ballots have finally been cast and are being counted. Tensions are […]

Last year, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s priorities going into the 2025 legislative session had an almost singular focus: overhauling the state’s civil litigation system through a series of policies that proponents refer to as “tort reform.” This year, with the fight over tort in the rearview mirror, Kemp has begun to roll out his plans […]

Nearly two dozen people are hoping to become the next member of Congress to represent northwest Georgia. Voters in Georgia’s 14th District – which includes Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker and Whitfield counties and portions of Cobb County – will head to the polls starting on Monday, Feb. 16 when early voting […]

The Georgia Senate on Tuesday passed its first bill of the session, which would ban local governments from requiring gun owners to lock their firearms in vehicles. The bill, Senate Bill 204, passed by a 32-21 vote after a short debate over the balance between local public safety initiatives and statewide Second Amendment protections. The […]

Georgia Senate Democrats unveiled a raft of proposed bills Tuesday that they say will protect Georgians from what they characterized as a rogue federal government using immigration enforcement to terrorize citizens. “As this regime has sought to build a wall against progress, the progress of achieving America’s values and ideals, we must build a wall […]

The hallowed halls of Georgia’s state Capitol were abuzz Monday as lawmakers, lobbyists and everyday citizens flocked to the Gold Dome for the start of the 2026 legislative session. For lawmakers in the state House and Senate, that means a 40-day countdown to introduce, deliberate and finalize laws for the upcoming year has officially begun. […]

Former Macon-Bibb commissioner Seth Clark on Monday became the latest Democrat to enter the race for lieutenant governor. In an interview, Clark positioned himself as an alternative to the “career state Capitol folks (who) could learn a thing or two from local government,” saying that he is entering the race as a voice for middle […]

Monday marks the start of Georgia’s annual legislative session, when state legislators will head to Atlanta for 40 days of deliberating and passing laws underneath the Gold Dome of the state Capitol. The yearly legislative session is when the representatives and senators Georgians elect pass new laws, so the Capitol will be buzzing for the […]

There will be some fresh faces under the Gold Dome when lawmakers reconvene next week for the 2026 legislative session.  That’s thanks to a series of off-year special elections held to replace state lawmakers who have died, resigned or been appointed to other political offices. At least three representatives will make their House debut, and […]

The seven Democratic candidates vying to become governor addressed Coastal Georgia voters Thursday in the first major policy forum of the election year, with each aiming to distinguish themselves amid a crowded race for the state’s top job. Georgia Democrats are hoping that the lack of incumbent — current Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, will […]

A Democratic Fulton County commissioner who blocked Republican election board nominees in defiance of a judge’s order is running to become Georgia’s next secretary of state. Commissioner Dana Barrett announced her candidacy Thursday. Georgia’s secretary of state has a number of duties, including overseeing elections and granting business licenses. Barrett won her seat representing the […]

Georgia GOP Senate leaders unveiled a plan Wednesday that would entirely eliminate the personal state income tax by 2032, shortly before House Speaker Jon Burns said the House would focus on cutting property taxes. A special Senate committee voted 6-3, along party lines, to adopt its final legislative recommendations, which would waive income taxes for […]

Republicans will maintain their hold over a Cherokee County state House seat after Bill Fincher, a former district attorney, defeated Democrat Scott Sanders during a runoff election Tuesday. Fincher, who now owns an RV park, received over 70% of the vote according to unofficial results from the secretary of state’s office. He will replace Republican […]

The election to replace former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will be held on March 10, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday, and the race is set to include a long list of candidates. Greene, a conservative Republican who was once one of President Donald Trump’s most stalwart allies, announced plans to resign in November after publicly […]

A congressional watchdog agency has recommended Georgia Congressman Mike Collins be subpoenaed by a House committee in an investigation into allegations that he used government funds to benefit a top aide. Collins, a Republican from Jackson, is seeking the GOP nomination to face Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in November’s midterm election. He is set […]

Twiggs County commissioners recently approved a massive data center project, sparking a legal battle and deepening distrust between citizens and their elected officials in the rural middle Georgia community. The decision was made despite vocal opposition aired at a contentious public hearing and accusations that the process was improperly rushed to bypass a state review […]

Rep. Karen Bennett of Stone Mountain resigned effective Jan. 1, and Monday was the last day for Rep. Lynn Heffner of Augusta. The House and Senate are set to gavel in Monday for a legislative session set to last through early spring.

A state legislative committee is recommending expanded loan forgiveness for doctors and increased funding for mobile screening units to combat a severe shortage of cancer care providers in rural Georgia. The House Study Committee on Cancer Care Access released its final report following a series of public meetings across the state held last year. The […]