Today’s newsletter highlights include:
- Stars rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia.
- Larry David’s meetup with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
- Deadline to request an absentee ballot in Georgia.
While Vice President Kamala Harris turned to star power in Clarkston to rev up Democratic votes, former President Donald Trump’s campaign took a different approach in neighboring Fulton County.
A day after Trump held a fiery Duluth rally aimed at young male voters, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump made a bee line to a Democratic stronghold.
Her event was in the City of South Fulton, a community of more than 110,000 residents — 91% of whom are Black. And despite the city’s deep-blue leanings, she received a warm welcome.
Credit: Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“There’s been all this agita over the Black vote, but no candidate or campaign for president has visited the Blackest City in America,” said Khalid Kamau, the city’s mayor. “I welcome anyone willing to come listen to my people.”
Lara Trump said Republicans “know that you have to show up and not be afraid to ask for peoples’ votes.”
“Kamala Harris and the Democrats think that they can put on a concert and everyone will forget how much they’ve failed the American people in just four short years,” she said.
An AJC poll out this week suggests Harris has some work to do to win over Black voters in the type of numbers she needs to win the state. Just under 74% of Black voters said they back Harris. In 2020, 88% of Black voters supported President Joe Biden when he narrowly won the state.
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Credit: Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
GOOD MORNING! We’re 11 days away from the presidential election. Georgia landed Bruce Springsteen last night, but Texas is expected to get Beyoncé today. Who got the better deal?
Here are three things to know for today:
- More than two-thirds of likely Georgia voters believe climate change played a role in worsening the impacts of hurricanes, the AJC’s Drew Kann reports.
- State election officials say a cyberattack on Georgia’s absentee voting website “has all the hallmark signs of a foreign attack,” but said there is no way to verify where it came from, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.
- Today is the last day you can ask for an absentee ballot in Georgia. The AJC’s Mark Niesse writes slow delivery times pose a risk that ballots might not make it on time.
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Credit: Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
STAR POWER. Vice President Kamala Harris is leaning into the power of celebrity as she heads into the final days of the campaign.
The Democratic nominee drew 23,000 people to her rally Thursday night in Clarkston, headlined by former President Barack Obama and rock legend Bruce Springsteen. And tonight in Houston she’s expected to bring out what many may consider an even bigger draw: Beyoncé.
Earlier this week, rapper Eminem voiced his support for Harris at a Michigan campaign rally.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson and director Spike Lee, both Morehouse graduates, and filmmaker Tyler Perry were among the speakers in Clarkston, sharing their reasons for supporting Harris.
And that was just on stage. The AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu spotted in the crowd actresses Danai Gurira, Jasmine Guy, Natasha Rothwell and Lynn Whitfield. And that’s before counting the influencers and reality TV stars.
The Trump camp was quick to call out Harris’ lineup, saying the vice president was “relying on out-of-touch celebrities.”
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MEANWHILE. As the campaigns clashed in Atlanta, one of the biggest critics of the state’s new voting rules held court at the Fox Theater.
No, we’re not referring to Democratic voting rights advocates.
It was Larry David, the grouchy star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” whose final season this year centered on criticism of Georgia’s overhaul of voting rules in 2021.
At his standup act on Thursday, David dipped into his Yiddish vocabulary to call a provision in the measure that forbids groups from handing out food and water to voters waiting in line a “farkakte” law.
Credit: Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Credit: Courtesy photo
Backstage is where it got really interesting. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger earlier this year wrote David a tongue-in-cheek letter congratulating him for becoming the first “and to our knowledge, only person” arrested for running afoul of the part of the law that forbids the distribution of food or beverages to voters waiting within 150 feet of a polling site.
David and Raffensperger met face-to-face on Thursday, where they shared an embrace and a few pictures with their aides Jordan Fuchs and Brian Robinson.
“It was pret-tay, pret-tay, pret-tay fun,” said Robinson, in a nod to one of the show’s catchphrases.
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Credit: Credit: AP
Credit: Credit: AP
WHO’S ON FIRST? Several eagle-eyed Politically Georgia readers have reached out recently to ask why former President Donald Trump’s name appears first on the 2024 ballot in Georgia.
Although alphabetical order would put Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Trump, Georgia law says the party of the candidate of the winning party in the state’s last general election gets to go first. So, after years of beating up on Gov. Brian Kemp, Trump can thank Kemp for getting the top slot, since Kemp won Georgia’s last gubernatorial election in 2022.
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Credit: Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
DON’T BE ALARMED. Georgia’s voter registration deadline was Oct. 7. Yet, in the first weeks of early voting, the number of active voters has been growing:
- Oct. 15: 7,174,153
- Oct. 23: 7,205,570
- This morning: 7,212,396
What gives? Two things are happening. First, some people mailed in their voter registration forms before the deadline but they’ve been processed after the deadline.
The second thing is more interesting: inactive voters are coming back to vote. These are people who haven’t voted or had contact with elections officials for at least five years, or who appear to have moved away. Once voters are inactive, it takes another four years of inaction before state officials can cancel their registration.
Why are they coming back? It’s hard to say. Georgia’s status as a swing state means the campaigns are more active here, so more people are likely being contacted and asked to vote.
As of yesterday, more than 344,000 people out of the 2.1 million early ballots cast so far did not vote in 2020, according to a partnership between the AJC and GeorgiaVotes.com to track early voting data.
Regardless, the return of inactive voters shows why it’s not as easy as you might think to keep the state’s voter registration rolls up to date.
“You can’t just take a national change of address list and say you have to cancel these people,” said Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. “There are people who have legal rights.”
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Credit: Credit: Jeff Amy/AP
Credit: Credit: Jeff Amy/AP
FINE BY ME. Former President Donald Trump has continued to assail the federal response to Hurricane Helene, including bashing the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week during a trip to North Carolina.
But here in Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has had few complaints.
“We’ve had a great working relationship with them,” Kemp told reporters at the state Capitol earlier this week.
The only hiccup, Kemp said, was when the Biden administration initially only included 11 counties in the federal emergency disaster declaration. But Kemp said he got that straightened out after making a phone call to the White House.
Politicians tend to put down their swords when disaster strikes. But Trump isn’t a typical politician.
“I think you have to let people know how they’re doing,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina, per the Associated Press. “If they were doing a great job, I think we should say that, too, because I think they should be rewarded. … If they’re doing a poor job, we’re supposed to not say it?”
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Credit: Credit: Georgia State Patrol
Credit: Credit: Georgia State Patrol
ONWARD. The state Supreme Court this week allowed a nearly $5 million lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Public Safety to move forward.
- Who sued? Richard Andrew Justice, who was hired as a state trooper in 2019. He said the agency didn’t pay him and 400 other hires nearly $5 million in overtime while they were at trooper school.
- What happened? A lower court had dismissed the case, ruling the Department of Public Safety was immune from the lawsuit. The state Supreme Court ruled DPS waived their immunity by entering into an employment contract with Justice. The ruling means the lawsuit can proceed.
- More context: Justice was among the 32 troopers who were fired as part of an alleged cheating scandal (another trooper resigned). All but one of those troopers were later cleared after an investigation.
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Credit: Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” the hosts review Vice President Kamala Harris’ star-studded campaign rally in Clarkston. Plus, state Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, and the AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu discuss Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.
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 Thursday’s show, state Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Auburn, talked about the growing demographics in Gwinnett County. And former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan discussed the gender gap in the latest AJC poll.
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Credit: Credit: Julia Nikhinson/AP
Credit: Credit: Julia Nikhinson/AP
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. Today’s happenings:
- Vice President Kamala Harris will host a rally focused on abortion rights in Houston, Texas, where Beyoncé is expected to join her.
- Gov. Brian Kemp and first lady Marty Kemp will encourage early voting at events in Atlanta and Suwanee.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., will speak at a Harris campaign event in Albany.
- Former President Donald Trump will speak on border security in Austin, Texas, then headline a campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan.
- Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance will speak at rallies in Raeford and Monroe, North Carolina.
- First lady Gwen Walz, wife of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will speak at campaign events in Wisconsin and at a rally in Marquette, Michigan, with actress and singer Mandy Moore.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, will speak at a fundraiser in Philadelphia and a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
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Credit: Credit: AJC
Credit: Credit: AJC
KNOW YOUR STUFF. Everything costs money. But figuring out how much is tricky, especially when it comes to immigration.
The AJC’s Lautaro Grinspan took on that tough question from reader Ron Weaver, who wanted to know how much of Georgia taxpayers’ money has been spent on illegal immigration since 2021. It’s part of our “Know Your Stuff” series.
Short answer: We don’t know exactly, but we know Georgia has likely lost money while the federal government has likely saved money.
Longer answer: The recent surge of unauthorized immigration will help reduce the federal deficit by almost $900 billion, per an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That’s because these immigrants pay taxes.
However, the costs for local and state governments are different.
Laurato writes: “State and local governments are responsible for providing the public services available to all residents regardless of immigration status, including services related to education, law enforcement, and health care.”
The CBO notes that increases in immigration “raise state and local governments’ costs more than their revenues,” a trend they say expect to continue.
Georgia has an estimated 339,000 immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.
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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.
