Peach State Politics (March 26, 2021)
GOP voting bill signed, Warnock visits detained lawmaker, vaccine expanded, Raffensperger's 2022 problem(s), This Week in Washington, my vaccine experience, and more
State lawmakers have given the final approval to a GOP-backed bill that would overhaul Georgia’s election laws, and Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law shortly thereafter. A video of a state lawmaker getting arrested for knocking on the Governor’s door went viral as the bill was being signed.
Plus, Gov. Kemp has expanded vaccine eligibility to all Georgians over the age of 16, we will go over the latest news out of Washington, and I will share my COVID-19 vaccine experience.
Lawmakers pass GOP-backed voting bill; Kemp signs it into law
As the 2021 Georgia legislative session enters its final week, lawmakers gave final approval to a GOP-backed bill that would overturn some of the same election laws put in place by Republicans over a decade ago.
In party-line votes, the House and the Senate passed S.B. 202 on Thursday afternoon, which would require photo identification for absentee ballots, limit access to dropboxes in each county and allow the GOP-controlled state election board to take over county election offices.
The bill would also shorten runoff campaigns from nine weeks to four weeks, and early voting for runoff elections will now be limited to a minimum of one week.
Republican lawmakers have argued that the changes are necessary in order to boost confidence in Georgia’s elections, while Democrats are accusing Republicans of changing the rules after back-to-back statewide losses.
Gov. Brian Kemp, who is expected to face a competitive re-election battle next year, signed the bill into law shortly after its passage on Thursday evening. He said in a Fox News interview that the bill will expand the right to vote in Georgia rather than restrict it.
Dem lawmaker detained during protest
A state lawmaker was arrested on Thursday night for knocking on the Governor’s door while he was signing the sweeping election bill. Video of the confrontation went viral on social media.
State Rep. Park Cannon, a Democrat from Atlanta, was forcibly dragged out of the Capitol by state troopers and was taken to the Union City Jail, according to media reports. Cannon was charged with two felony counts: “Willful Obstruction of Law Enforcement” and “Preventing Or Disrupting General Assembly Sessions,” jail records show. She has since bonded out of jail.
Top Democrats in the state were quick to criticize Cannon’s arrest. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) flew from Washington to visit Cannon, who is a parishioner at his church. The Senator said that Cannon “did not deserve this,” and that Thursday was “a very sad day” for the the state of Georgia.
Warnock’s colleague, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D), echoed criticisms of Cannon’s arrest. “A FELONY for ... for what?”, he rhetorically asked in a tweet.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams (D), who is no stranger to being arrested during voting rights protests, also rebuked state troopers for their swift arrest of Cannon. “This won’t stop us from standing up for voting rights and being a voice #ForThePeople,” she said.
Georgians struggle to find vaccine appointments as eligibility expands
In vaccine news, Georgia has expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all Georgians over the age of 16. This eligibility expansion has only accelerated an already competitive race to find available appointments. Lots of Georgians, particularly in the metro Atlanta area, have been frustrated with the lack of available appointments, and Gov. Kemp himself urged everyone to pre-register the moment appointments go online.
The governor also noted that demand for the vaccine is lower in the state’s rural counties, singling out areas south of Macon. Because of this, he is directing 70% of this week’s vaccine shipment to areas where demand is highest.
Georgia’s vaccination rate has consistently lagged the rest of the country. The state ranks 51st — behind all 49 other states plus Washington D.C. — in the percentage of residents who have received at least one dose, according to data from the CDC.
In order to boost vaccine confidence, Kemp himself will be publicly vaccinated at a mass vaccination site in Waycross, Georgia on Friday. His wife, First Lady Marty Kemp, was vaccinated last week.
This Week in Washington
It’s time to take a look at some of this week’s biggest stories from our nation’s capital. After 64 days in office, President Joe Biden faced reporters for his first solo press conference as president.
Biden announces a new goal for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout: 200 million shots in 100 days, doubling a previous goal that was met last week
The President, who will be 81 years old on Election Day 2024, says it’s his “expectation” to run for re-election
He reiterated his support for a “talking filibuster” in the Senate
Senate confirms Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor; all of Biden’s Cabinet secretaries have now been confirmed by the Senate
Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s former health secretary, became the first openly transgender person to ever be confirmed by the Senate
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) continues to oppose Democrats’ election reform bill, warning it “could lead to another January 6”
McConnell & Schumer spar at hearing on election reform bill
Pressure continues to mount on the White House to address the influx of migrants at the border; Biden says Harris will oversee efforts to resolve problems at the border
Julia Letlow, the widow of a Louisiana Republican who died of COVID-19 before being sworn in, elected to replace him in Congress
Raffensperger’s 2022 problem(s)
Earlier this week, we learned that U.S. Rep Jody Hice (R-Greensboro) will mount a primary challenge to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger with the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. But the Republican primary might not be the only problem that Raffensperger will face in next year’s election.
Democrats, who are riding high after flipping Georgia at the presidential level for the first time since 1992 and sweeping both of the U.S. Senate runoffs in January, are preparing to mount a serious challenge to Raffensperger.
No Democratic candidates have announced plans to challenge Raffensperger as of now, but several sources have said that State Rep. Bee Nguyen (D-Atlanta) could enter the race soon. Nguyen, who holds the DeKalb County House seat that was previously held by Stacey Abrams, is the first Vietnamese-American to ever serve in the Georgia Legislature. She has criticized Raffensperger for supporting some of the GOP-backed voting measures and has recently emerged as a leading voice against the rise in hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans.
Raffensperger, despite being the most popular statewide elected Republican, will have quite a few things working against him in 2022. For one thing, he will have to deal with the state’s changing political landscape if he emerges from his Republican primary. He also has higher approval numbers from Democratic voters than he does from voters in his own party. And while Trump and his allies are sure to attack him for not supporting baseless claims of voter fraud, Democrats will likely criticize him for his support of some of the recent voting restrictions passed by Republican lawmakers.
Ralston appoints study committee to examine rising crime rates in Atlanta
A Georgia state leader believes the rise in violent crime in Atlanta has become “intolerable,” and he wants a committee to examine whether the state should get involved.
House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) announced that he will be appointing a study committee to examine the rising crime rates, and that he would like for their report to be completed before the 2022 legislative session.
Ralston says that Atlanta has a crime problem, and believes that the city is “losing the fight against crime.” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says she welcomes any input from lawmakers on how to tackle what she calls “COVID crime wave.” The Associated Press has more details:
“The Atlanta Police Department recorded 154 homicides in 2020, when the city had averaged 90 annually over the previous decade. That increase has continued in the first part of 2021, and detectives have made only three homicide arrests in the first 11 weeks of 2021, compared to an average of 11 in the same period over the past decade.
Aggravated assaults, which can include nonfatal shootings, have also risen significantly, although not as sharply as homicides. Although Ralston also deplored break-ins in his remarks, burglary and auto break-ins are down in recent months, although auto theft is up.”
Biden to hold fundraiser for Bottoms
President Biden will hold a virtual fundraiser for Mayor Bottoms on Friday afternoon, with tickets going for $10,000 a pop.
Bottoms, who was one of Biden’s earliest supporters, is set to face a competitive race for re-election this year. Her top challenger so far is Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore.
It was widely speculated that Bottoms would land a job in the President’s cabinet. But it was revealed that she turned down an offer to serve in the administration, opting instead to seek a second term as Mayor.
Trump endorses Shafer for re-election as GA GOP chair
Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer nabbed the endorsement of former President Donald Trump this week as he seeks a second term as chair.
Shafer, a former State Senator who narrowly lost a Republican runoff for Lieutenant Governor in 2018, said that he was “grateful” for the former President’s support.
Trump, who is now issuing public comments in written statements after being permanently suspended from Twitter, said that “no one in Georgia has fought harder” for him than Shafer, who has endorsed the former President’s false claims of election fraud.
Cobb County Republican Party chair Jason Shepherd was challenging Shafer, but Trump’s endorsement almost certainly secures a second term for Shafer. Assuming that he wins a re-election, Shafer will oversee a state party that is still recovering from a series of statewide losses. He will also be tasked with plotting out the party’s plans for the 2022 elections, when Georgia Republicans will largely be on defense once again.
Vernon Jones teases primary challenge to Kemp
Former State Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat-turned-Republican who has become one of President Trump’s fiercest allies in Georgia, hinted at a primary challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp this week.
Jones said on Twitter this week that Trump would still be President if not for Brian Kemp. That is, of course, not true: even if Trump were successful in overturning Georgia’s election results, President Biden still would have prevailed with 290 electoral votes, 20 more than the 270 needed to be elected President.
Jones has been mentioned as a statewide candidate since he announcement his endorsement of Trump last year. Democrats donated to his primary challenger and he said that he wouldn’t be a candidate for re-election, despite initially announcing that he would resign before the end of his term.
This would not be Jones’ first statewide campaign: he unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2008. It’s unclear if Republican voters will have the apatite for a candidate who only recently joined the party, but President Trump still holds a grudge against Kemp for not supporting his baseless claims of voter fraud. His endorsement may have catapulted Kemp to the GOP nomination in 2018, but could it do the same for Jones?
My vaccine experience
On Wednesday, I received my first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. Finding the appointment was not easy. In fact, it took me hours to find an available appointment in the metro Atlanta area. But I managed to find one single spot open at a Kroger in Acworth, Georgia.
The process of being checked in was not as complicated as I thought it would be. You didn’t even have to sign any paperwork at the pharmacy or list any prescriptions that you currently take. All you had to do was show them your identification, along with your health insurance information if you had any.
After about 10 minutes, they called my name. I was escorted to a room behind the counter where a lady wearing a face shield, mask and gloves would give me the first dose of the vaccine. I felt a sharp pinch, but it didn’t last too long.
I had a lengthy conversation with her after she gave me the vaccine. She told me that she had contracted COVID-19 herself back in November, and that she has not fully regained her taste and smell all these months later. Because she had antibodies, she was one of the first to receive the vaccine.
She then told me to stay in the store for about 15 minutes so she could see if I had any reactions to the vaccine. She told me to come visit her again when time was up to let her know that I was leaving. I didn’t have any bad reactions and managed to drive back home without much trouble.
The only side effect I have experienced is a persistent pain in my left arm. I had trouble even lifting my arm at times, but it has gotten better over the last day. I did find myself being very tired after receiving it, but I my sleep schedule remained about the same that night.
Kroger allows customers to schedule both their first and second doses online at the same time, so I will not have to go online again and schedule my second dose after receiving the first one. My second dose is currently scheduled for April 19.
I highly encourage all of you to make an appointment as soon as you can. We must all do our part to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Visit vaccinefinder.org to find available appointments near you. In most states, you are able to be vaccinated outside of your home county. So if there are no available appointments in your county, feel free to enter ZIP codes from other counties in your state. You will have better luck finding appointments in smaller, rural counties.