Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Georgia farmers prepare for higher minimum wage.
- A broken foot didn’t slow down state lawmaker’s campaign.
- Savannah’s mayor goes global.
When the University of Georgia holds its December graduation ceremony on Friday, expect to see one particularly famous face among the thousands of students.
That would be former football star Herschel Walker, a household name in Georgia long before he unsuccessfully challenged Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022.
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC
The Republican posted on social media he was excited to “share the moment” at graduation with several current Bulldogs fresh off their victory in the SEC championship game.
Recruited to run for the Senate at Donald Trump’s urging, Walker’s campaign lurched from one crisis to another amid accusations about his history of violent behavior and infidelity, a knack for baffling statements and a pattern of exaggerations and lies.
Among those falsehoods was a claim that he graduated from UGA with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. His campaign was forced to delete the false assertion from his website and materials, and acknowledge that Walker left the school after his junior year to play professional football.
Credit: Dave Pickoff/AP
Credit: Dave Pickoff/AP
At the time, Walker told us in a statement that he returned to Athens to complete his college degree after his stint with the New Jersey Generals of the USFL but “life and football got in the way.”
Could Trump tap him for a federal position? Some Georgia Republicans say it’s possible. In an interview last month, Walker told us he hasn’t decided if he will seek office again.
“I haven’t thought about it,” he said. “Going back to school was so important, because as I’ve said many times, education is so important. You know, I think education is an equalizer.”
Campaign finance records show that Walker has spent more than $1.5 million of what was left in his campaign account after his 2022 loss to boost several of his favorite charities and political allies. He still has roughly $4.3 million left in his coffers.
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Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
GOOD MORNING! Greetings from the Biennial Institute for Georgia Legislators on the campus of the University of Georgia, where everyone is buzzing about college football. What else?
Even Stuart Countess, president and CEO of Kia Georgia Inc.’s manufacturing facility in West Point — and an Alabama grad — got into the spirit by wearing a UGA tie while he addressed lawmakers during Sunday night’s opening session. One Bulldog alum even got creative at the beef carving station, where a sign said “Bevo horns down!”
Here are three things to know for today:
- “We could round up every illegal immigrant there is, but what are we going to do with them when we do that?” asked Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman, one of several sheriffs surveyed by the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman about President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation intention.
- Columnist Patricia Murphy writes about how Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is stoking fears about the future of the F-35 fighter jet production, which has a big presence in Georgia.
- Nearly every member of Georgia’s congressional delegation is backing Gov. Brian Kemp’s ask for more than $12 billion in hurricane aid. The one exception? U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, Tia Mitchell reports.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
WAGE PRESSURE. Georgia lawmakers — most of them, anyway — are urging Congress to approve more than $12 billion in hurricane aid for the state.
Farmers are driving the debate, as many of them lost their crops in the storms and didn’t have insurance to cover their losses. Adding to the pressure is a likely increase in the minimum wage farmers must pay immigrants who temporarily come to the U.S. to harvest crops.
The Adverse Effect Wage Rate is set to increase to $16.08 per hour from $14.68 per hour, a 9% increase, according to Sam Watson, a Republican state senator from Moultrie who is also president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.
“It’s just going to cripple us even further,” he said.
Watson, a vegetable farmer, said he doesn’t mind paying those wages.
“But the problem is the countries around us that also grow these same crops, they do not pay those same wages,” he said at hearing last month. “We can’t compete with that.”
Even with the increase, Georgia will likely have one of the lowest wage rates in the country. Georgia’s wage ranked 46th out of the 50 states this year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
KEEP WALKING. Kenya Wicks’ foot hurt after a long day of campaigning for the state Senate. But this wasn’t soreness. She had a broken bone.
“I was out in a boot. I didn’t care,” she said. “Me and my boot kept walking.”
Wicks says she eventually knocked on something like 7,000 doors during her campaign, winning a runoff in the Democratic primary on her way to a convincing general election victory in Senate District 34.
Wicks will be one of 22 new members of the state Legislature in January. She said she gets her determination from her late grandmother, who raised her in Louisville, Kentucky, and brought her along on lots of volunteer work.
“I learned early to be a public servant,” she said.
Wicks spent 30 years in the U.S. Army, a tenure that she said included deployments to Iraq, Somalia and Turkey. She retired and settled in Fayetteville, Georgia, where she met state Sen. Valencia Seay, D-Riverdale. Wicks spent two years as Seay’s chief of staff. She then ran for Senate when Seay decided not to seek reelection.
In the Legislature, Wicks said she wants to focus on health care, higher education and veterans issues.
“I’m just excited for January, to get started,” she said.
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Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” Dr. Jason Schneider, an internal medicine physician who provides gender affirming care for adults in the Atlanta metro area, joins the show to discuss the medical side of transitioning. Then, Cole Muzio, founder and president of the conservative Frontline Policy Council, and state Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, discusses transgender issues in the state Legislature.
Be sure to download the AJC’s Politically Georgia podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EDT on 90.1 FM WABE. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297.
On Friday’s show, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, talked about federal funding for Hurricane Helene recovery and the looming government shutdown deadline.
Then, the AJC’s Tamar Hallerman gave an update on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her pending election interference case against Trump.
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Credit: Russ Bynum/AP
Credit: Russ Bynum/AP
GLOBETROTTER. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was a keynote speaker last week at a global summit in South Africa.
The Strong Cities Network’s Fifth Global Summit brought together leaders from 60 cities worldwide, including seven mayors from the United States. Johnson shared his view that local governments are the starting point for policy innovations.
“Reimagining community safety starts and ends with leadership — it begins with us, with cities,” Johnson said, per a news release from the city.
It’ll be worth tracking Johnson’s whereabouts over the next year. He’s often mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for higher office. There will be plenty of offices to choose from in 2026, when all of Georgia’s statewide constitutional offices, plus a U.S. Senate seat, will be on the ballot.
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Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will speak at a Tribal Nations Summit in Washington then host a holiday ball at the White House for members of Congress.
- Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the holiday ball.
- The U.S. Senate will work on confirming more of Biden’s judicial appointments.
- The House returns Tuesday.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
DAVID SCOTT’S FATE. U.S. Rep. David Scott will likely find out this week whether fellow Democrats in the U.S. House are going to allow him to retain his leadership post on the Committee on Agriculture.
Scott told us last week that he will not bow out of the race even though two other senior lawmakers decided to relinquish their ranking member posts on other committees after similar challenges.
The Atlanta Democrat has been making phone calls to try to drum up support but also declined to participate in at least two candidate forums last week, according to Punchbowl News. Both of Scott’s challengers — Jim Costa of California and Angie Craig of Minnesota — did attend.
The House Democrats’ Steering and Policy Committee could meet as soon as Tuesday to vote on its recommendations for ranking members of each standing committee and subcommittee.
Even if Scott isn’t that panel’s first choice, he can still make it onto the ballot for the full caucus’ consideration. But that would require roughly 20% of the 65 members of the Steering Committee to back him. The full caucus vote would likely be a day or two after that.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthdays:
- Stacey Abrams, former House minority leader and two-time Democratic nominee for governor.
- State Rep. Shelly Hutchinson, D-Snellville.
Belated birthday:
- State Rep. Brent Cox, R-Dawsonville (was Sunday).
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
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Credit: Rodney Ho/AJC
Credit: Rodney Ho/AJC
RIP. Our condolences to the family and friends of Steve Mensch, the president and general manager of Tyler Perry Studios, who died in a plane crash on Friday in Florida at the age of 62.
Mensch played a key role in fighting for the lucrative state tax credits that have turned Georgia into a major filmmaking hub for TV and movie productions.
“For all his power as Tyler Perry’s right hand man he displayed zero ego in every interaction he had with our shop,” said Kaleb McMichen, who was a senior aide in the Georgia House. “Few people will ever know how instrumental he was in preserving Georgia’s film tax credit over the last decade or so.”
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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
