Georgia

Stacey Abrams’s contemptible non-concession.

But one of the biggest state-level elections may be headed to a runoff after next Tuesday.

The voter-suppression rap on Georgia’s Brian Kemp is unfair.

“Memes are dank”―(not) Abraham Lincoln.

Photoshop.

On Tuesday night, Brian Kemp—the Georgia secretary of state and self-proclaimed “politically incorrect conservative” who owns a truck, talks about standing for the national anthem and happily supports President Trump—beat Lieutenant Gov. Casey Cagle in the state’s gubernatorial runoff, officially…

The governor’s race in the Peach State has been combative. With President Trump intervening, it’s about to go all-out.

The star Democratic candidate for governor awaits the result of a GOP runoff, one that could help fuel her unique campaign's strategy.

Was the Peach Bowl the real national championship game? Since the University of Central Florida took down Auburn 34-27 on January 1, the school’s athletic director has been making that case. Ignore for a second the fact that UCF’s weak schedule killed their chance of making it to the College…

Donald Trump begins 2018 with a rare condition for his presidency: the biggest news story isn’t directly about him. That doesn’t mean the president hasn’t had a lot to say about the wave of anti-regime protests in Iran that have taken place since last Thursday. As Jeryl Bier reported, the Trump…

Between the fundraising and national attention, it all appeared just peachy for Jon Ossoff. Then Georgia voted.

Democratic donors have poured tens of millions of dollars into the most expensive test run in the history of House campaigns.

Atlanta

Jon Ossoff, the Democratic nominee in the special election to replace Tom Price in Georgia's 6th congressional district, is the progressive hope du jour. He has a small lead in an average of polls against his opponent, Republican Karen Handel, ahead of the vote next Tuesday. The district favors the…

Donald Trump's campaign changed the political playbook in elections across the country. But if Republicans in greater Atlanta retain an imperiled House seat next Tuesday, it will be thanks in so small part to their having called a familiar play.

Atlanta

The headlines I saw said that only 29 percent of Americans approve of President Trump's decision to fire James Comey. That includes the headline written by NBC News about its own poll, which produced that result.

The Republican Party avoided a demoralizing upset Tuesday when it forced Democrat Jon Ossoff into a special election runoff to fill a vacant conservative Georgia House district.

Tuesday's special House election in Georgia carries with it an inordinate degree of focus on Donald Trump. The president created the House vacancy in the suburban district north of Atlanta after picking Representative Tom Price to be the secretary of Health and Human Services. Price had won the…

In Editor at large William Kristol's weekly Kristol Clear podcast, Bill Kristol sees a lesson for the GOP in early stumbles out of the 2017 gate: Prepare the battlefield. Also, observations about the South from Kristol, a New York City native, visiting Georgia this week

Tom Price, a Republican congressman from Georgia and orthopedic surgeon, is Donald Trump's choice for secretary of Health and Human Services. The New York Times reports:

In a congressional race in which Ted Cruz clashed with House Republican leaders, the former mayor of West Point, Georgia, captured the GOP primary Tuesday and is all but certain of winning the general election in November.

The NAACP chapter in Atlanta, Georgia, has demanded the destruction of a famous, engraved Confederate depiction near their city. The largest bas-relief in the world, sculpted on the north face of Stone Mountain, just a 30-minute drive east of Atlanta, the relief consists of Confederate leaders…

Johnny Isakson, the two-term senator from Georgia, has been talking for nearly a year about running for reelection, and he officially announced his intention to run just days after last November’s midterm election. And when the 70-year-old Republican announced on Wednesday that he has Parkinson’s…

Georgia's new Republican senator David Perdue took his first foreign trip as a member of Congress to Israel. Perdue, the former CEO of Reebok and Dollar General, met with Benjamin Netanyahu and appeared in a video statement with the Israeli prime minister. The Republican said he made his first trip…

Republican David Perdue has won his race for the U.S. Senate in Georgia against Democrat Michelle Nunn, CNN projects. Perdue is expected to win more than 50 percent of the vote, meaning the race will not have to proceed to a runoff.

Senate candidate Michelle Nunn of Georgia refused to say how she would have voted on the Affordable Care Act. While the Democrat was campaigning in Macon Monday, a local TV news reporter asked Nunn about her position on the law.

The grandson of former president Jimmy Carter wants to run for the White House himself, says Georgia governor Nathan Deal. Jason Carter, a young Democratic state senator from Decatur, is challenging the Republican Deal in a close race. Speaking at a rally in Dahlonega, the 72-year-old Deal told the…

A pair of polls on the Georgia Senate race continue to show a close race between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn.

Republican governor Nathan Deal has spent much of his race for reelection talking up Georgia’s progress since he took office in 2011: targeted tax reform, economic development, a bigger education budget. His ads tout that the state has added 175,000 jobs and make the vague, hard-to-verify claim…

A Georgia man confronted Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn over the rising cost his health care plan because of Obamacare:

Barack Obama called into an Atlanta radio station to urge Georgia voters to elect Michelle Nunn to the U.S. Senate so that the president can "keep on doing some good work."

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on the 2014 elections.

Ron Klain, the Democratic political operative tapped by President Obama to run the federal government's response to the Ebola virus outbreak, recently worked as a political adviser to Michelle Nunn, the Georgia Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

A video tracker for the opposition research firm America Rising asked Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn whether she voted for President Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Nunn, who is in a close race to fill the open Georgia Senate seat, refused to answer the direct question. 

The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on the competitive purple state senate races in Iowa and Colorado, and the competitive races in traditionally red states like Georgia and North Carolina.

Democrat Michelle Nunn leads her Republican opponent David Perdue in a new poll of the U.S. Senate race in Georgia. The 11Alive poll, conducted by SurveyUSA, found Nunn with 48 percent support to Perdue's 45 percent.

In the summer of 1864, the Union cause rested with Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. They commanded the most formidable armies ever seen on the continent, yet neither had been in uniform four years earlier, when the war began. Both were West Point trained and had served,…

Georgia Democrat Michelle Nunn experienced a week of embarrassment late last month when National Review's Eliana Johnson published a leaked memo from Nunn's Senate campaign. The memo was essentially Nunn's plan for how to win her race in Georgia, a state her Democratic father represented in the…

See update below.

Republicans have distinct advantages in Senate races this year, including President Obama’s low job ratings, the number of vulnerable Democrats, and an unhappy national mood. But there’s another advantage: the generally high quality of their candidates. This wasn’t the case in 2010 and 2012, when…

Businessman and first-time candidate David Perdue pulled off what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls a "political shocker" by winning the Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate in Georgia Tuesday. Perdue defeated Republican congressman Jack Kingston, who had the backing of much of the…

The FBI announced Tuesday in Savannah, Georgia that eighty-eight people have been charged in "one of the largest federal food program frauds ever prosecuted." Fifty-four of the defendants were charged with conspiring to open "purported grocery stores" specifically for the purpose of defrauding…

In the lead-up to Georgia's July 22 GOP runoff election for U.S. Senate, Congressman Jack Kingston of Savannah has received an endorsement from the Heisman Trophy-winning University of Georgia football legend Herschel Walker. Walker, a Georgia native and star running back of UGA's undefeated 1980…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on the recent primary elections and how they're bad news for Democrats seeking to run against an "extremist" GOP.

Two Democratic members of the House of Representatives have said Eric Shinseki, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, should resign amid reports of the neglect of sick and injured veterans at VA hospitals around the country.

The Associated Press reports that former CEO David Perdue and congressman Jack Kingston won first and second place, respectively, in Tuesday's Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Because Perdue, at 30 percent, did not win an outright majority, both he and Kingston (who got 26 percent)…

If there’s one thing we know about today’s Georgia Republican primary for U.S. Senate, it’s that we really don’t know who will win. Or, more precisely, we don’t know which candidates will come in first and second to proceed to the inevitable runoff election in July. With five major candidates in…

Georgia Senate candidate Michelle Nunn is coasting to victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary, while her Republican opponent won't likely be decided until the July 22 runoff. With a contentious, crowded GOP field getting most of the attention, Nunn has been able to stay out of the spotlight. A…

With just days before Georgia's May 20 primary election, the leading Republican candidate has suggested he would support raising taxes as a way to fix the economy. Speaking to editorial board of the Macon Telegraph, businessman David Perdue said he supports "both" curbing government spending and…

A new internal poll of the Georgia Republican primary for U.S. Senate finds David Perdue, Karen Handel, and Jack Kingston all within a few points of each other. The poll conducted by Rosetta Stone Communications on behalf of the Handel campaign, found Perdue leading the pack with 22 percent…

A new poll of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Georgia shows former secretary of state Karen Handel moving into a statistical tie for first place with businessman David Perdue, inching ahead of congressman Jack Kingston. The poll found among likely voters, Perdue has 22 percent support,…

Savannah-based congressman Jack Kingston is getting some support in his bid for the U.S. Senate in Georgia by way of a new ad from the Chamber of Commerce. The ad calls Kingston a "consistent conservative." Watch it below:

Michelle Nunn, the likely Democratic nominee for Senate in Georgia, has a new ad that explores her biography. The daughter of former senator Sam Nunn, the younger Nunn points out that while she played basketball like her father, she did not follow him into politics.

Karen Handel, a Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia, has a new TV ad that pitches her as a "conservative fighter" who wants to "stop illegal immigration and Obamacare" and "cut spending."

Jack Kingston, the Savannah-based Republican congressman running for the U.S. Senate, has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Here's more from the Washington Post:

Michelle Nunn, the presumptive Democratic nominee for an open Senate seat in Georgia, has raised $2.4 million in the first quarter of 2014. The Associated Press reports:

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate, features heavily in a new TV ad from Georgia Senate candidate Karen Handel. "You know her background. You know her record," says Palin, who endorsed Handel two weeks ago. "The conservative who has walked the walk."

Three Republican House members from Georgia, who are also running for the Senate, voted against their conference's budget Thursday. Jack Kingston, Phil Gingrey, and Paul Broun joined nine other Republicans in voting against the budget, authored by chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

In a new radio ad, Republican Senate candidate Karen Handel of Georgia hits back at her primary opponent David Perdue for his recently released comments about her lack of a college education. Perdue also touted his international business experience. The minute-long Handel ad replays Perdue's…

Karen Handel, the former secretary of state of Georgia, has raised $200,000 in the past two weeks for her campaign for Senate, according to a spokesman. The cash-strapped Republican, who is facing better financed primary opponents, has raised more in that time than she had in the previous quarter.

Michelle Nunn, the likely Democratic nominee for Senate in Georgia, has released her first 30-second TV ad of the campaign. Nunn is the daughter of former senator Sam Nunn, but the ad seeks to introduce her more broadly to voters in Georgia.

A leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia criticized a fellow primary opponent for having only a high school degree. David Perdue, a businessman and first-time candidate for office, was touting his experience and education to a group of voters in January when he made a reference to…

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has endorsed Karen Handel for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Palin made the announcement on her Facebook page, citing a quotation attributed to Margaret Thatcher: "If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman." Handel, the former…

Republican congressman Paul Broun, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, has paid part of his annual taxpayer-funded budget as a House member on a campaign consultant company.

Republican congressman Paul Broun is leading a field of five Senate candidates in Georgia, a new poll has found. Broun has 27 percent of the GOP primary vote, according to a poll commissioned by liberal group Better Georgia. Broun's competitors came in relatively far behind, with fellow congressman…

On Friday, President Obama noted that “any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing, which is not in the interests of Ukraine, Russia, or Europe.” But it also matters deeply to the United States of America and the tools Obama hopes to use to resolve…

The Wall Street Journal's "Saturday Interview" with former Georgia president Mikheil Saakashvili:

Jack Kingston, the longtime Republican congressman from Georgia and a U.S. Senate candidate, is out with his first TV ad of the primary season. The 30-second spot will introduce Kingston, a South Georgian based in Savannah, to the rest of the state, particularly the Atlanta media market. The…

The 2014 Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Georgia remains effectively tied up among the five top candidates, according to a new poll. Businessman David Perdue, a first-time candidate and cousin of former governor Sonny Perdue, has the lead with 12.7 percent, the Daily Caller reports.

Let’s be clear. Cut through the spin. Get right down to it. In the Republican Senate primary in Georgia, there’s only one candidate with a successful, lifelong career in business. There’s only one candidate who has the experience and network of a statewide campaign. There’s only one candidate with…

Another conservative organization has endorsed congressman Paul Broun in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Georgia. The Madison Project, headed up by former Kansas congressman Jim Ryun, endorsed Broun over four other major GOP candidates.

A new poll of Georgia voters found the likely Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate is slightly ahead of four the candidates in the crowded GOP primary. PPP, working on behalf of the liberal group Americans United For Change, found that Democrat Michelle Nunn leads Republican congressmen Paul Broun,…

Jimmy Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, will run for governor of Georgia. The younger Carter is currently a state senator.

Senator Kay Hagan, a Democrat from North Carolina who is up for reelection in 2014, says she supports delaying the deadline for signing up for health insurance under Obamacare's individual mandate. Hagan, who voted for Obamacare back in 2010, also says the fine for not signing up for health…

One Georgia reporter "spent the entire work day trying to sign up online" and on the phone for Obamacare:

A Georgia health care company will lay off over 100 employees due in part to Obamacare, according to a WSB-TV report:

The congressional campaign of former Georgia congressman Bob Barr received a curious donation last quarter--from a man who had been dead for nearly three years. Barr's son Derek responded to the questions about the donation to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jim Galloway.

A Republican candidate for Congress in Georgia has received around a quarter of his donations from out of state--and at least one of those is from the grave.

Gary Schmitt, on the five-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Georgia:

In a press release today, Georgia insurance commissioner Ralph T. Hudgens warns that, because of Obamacare, "Georgia insurance companies are demanding massive rate increases up to 198 percent for some individuals." Hudgens claims this runs contrary to President Obama's promise to "Americans that…

David Perdue, a Georgia businessman and cousin of former governor Sonny Perdue, has announced he will run for the Senate as a Republican. The Associated Press has the story:

Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Democratic senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, will run for the Senate next year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Georgia Democrats may finally have a candidate for next year's Senate race to succeed Republican Saxby Chambliss. Michelle Nunn, an Atlanta businesswoman and the daughter of former senator Sam Nunn, is "actively preparing" for a Senate campaign, the Hill reports:

Karen Handel, the former secretary of state of Georgia, is running for the Republican nomination for Senate next year. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Tom Price, a Republican congressman from Georgia, will not run for the U.S. Senate next year. Price told the Marietta Daily Journal that his "assessment at this point is the House is the battleground for politics in this country right now" and he will seek sixth term for his metro Atlanta House…

Karen Handel, the former secretary of state of Georgia and a potential Republican Senate candidate, sent this email to her supporters:

Congressman Tom Price, a Republican, has said he will not announce a decision about running next year for the Senate in Georgia until May, but a pair of fundraising emails obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD indicate the GOP congressman may be leaning toward getting in the race. Here's an excerpt from…

House Phil Gingrey of Georgia plans to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. The six-term Republican and obstetrician will make the announcement at his alma mater of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Here's more from Georgia Tipsheet:

Republican Karen Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state, gubernatorial candidate, and vice president for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, is moving closer to running for the Senate next year to succeed Republican Saxby Chambliss. Georgia political blog Peach Pundit reports:

“I have some discomfort with all Republican primaries because they’re all family squabbles,” said Tom Price, the 58-year-old Republican House member from north of Atlanta. “My brother and I used to fight almost daily,” Price, the middle child among five brothers and sisters, said. “My mom’s only…

Georgia congressman Paul Broun announced Wednesday he is running in 2014 for the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Saxby Chambliss. Broun, a Republican House member since 2007, is the first major candidate to officially enter the race. Here is an excerpt from his announcement in Atlanta:

Paul Broun, the Republican congressman from Georgia, may be getting closer to announcing a 2014 run for Senate to succeed retiring Republican Saxby Chambliss. Via Jim Galloway, GOP consultant Andrew O'Shea sets the scene at a meeting of conservative activists Tuesday night in metro Atlanta, where…

Two-term Republican senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia will reportedly retire at the end of 2014. Jim Galloway at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the details:

House Republican Tom Price of Georgia refused to say whether he would challenge Senator Saxby Chambliss in the 2014 GOP primary. In a Tuesday afternoon appearance on CNN, Price was asked by host Brooke Baldwin if he would "mount a primary challenge" against Chambliss. He at first dodged the…

Georgia-based blogger and radio host Erick Erickson will not be running for the U.S. Senate, Erickson writes at RedState.com:

Erick Erickson, a conservative blogger, radio talk show host, and CNN contributor, may be considering a run for Senate in Georgia. On his radio show Tuesday, Erickson stated there are "a lot of people pledging a lot of money" for a primary challenge against incumbent Republican senator Saxby…

Saxby Chambliss, the two-term senior senator from Georgia, could face a Republican primary challenge in 2014.

Those who doubt the possibility of comebacks (Republicans, for instance) can take heart from the revival of Notre Dame's football fortunes, this morning's number one college team.

Fox News projects Mitt Romney the winner of Georgia.

Fox News projects Mitt Romney the winner in Kentucky and Indiana. Fox also projects Barack Obama the winner of Vermont.

Tbilisi

Polls have closed in Georgia, the small Caucasus Republic that took center stage in the 2008 presidential campaign when Russian troops poured over the border there and threatened to topple the country's pro-American government. With both sides claiming victory, the country of 4.5 million people may…

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports:

James Richardson reports:

In just the last few months, Bidzina Ivanishvili, one of the world's richest men with an estimated $6.5 billion fortune, hired a small army of PR consultants and lobbyists in Washington, including at least 7 of Washington’s most prominent firms. And though Ivanishvili built his business empire in…

If you are a first-time winner of one of the four professional golf tournaments that are considered “majors,” then you will inevitably be asked, “Is this a dream come true?” 

As the polls begin to close on Super Tuesday, Fox News immediately projects that former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has won the Georgia Republican presidential primary. Fox's projection is based on exit polling.

The country of Georgia has been sending troops to Afghanistan to support the NATO-led mission since 2004. Over the past year, over 900 Georgian soldiers have been serving in Helmand province, deployed alongside American, British, and Danish troops in one of the most conflict-laden and contested…

Mitt Romney will not participate in the Republican presidential primary debate on March 1 in Georgia. "Governor Romney will be spending a lot of time campaigning in Georgia and Ohio ahead of Super Tuesday," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul emails. "With eight other states voting on March 6th, we will…

The Atlantic magazine’s website reported what would have been a surprising bit of news. “Condoleezza Rice Blames Georgian Leader for War With Russia,” the headline for Joshua Kucera’s article reads. The sub-headline states: “The former secretary of state contradicts the view, held by many U.S.…

Should we care that Chris Christie is fat?

A new web ad released today by the Romney campaign highlights Mitt Romney's support for right to work laws. In the video, a paper company owner in New Hampshire explains how a union forcing his employees to join would hurt his business. Watch the video below:

Following this write up, Joshua Foust seems to have regained an interest in the reports that Russia is responsible for bombing the American embassy in Georgia. You can read it here, but the long and the short of it: Foust remains skeptical of Georgian claims, he remains skeptical of Eli Lake's…

Last week, Eli Lake reported on a very specific allegation by a senior Georgian official that the Russian GRU was behind a series of bombings in that country, including the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi. The charge was so detailed that it even included the name of the Russian officer who…

Eli Lake has a pretty big scoop today on Russian espionage in Georgia: A bomb targeting the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi has been linked, by Georgian intelligence, to a series of bombings around the country over the last 12 months that all lead back to Russia's GRU.

The other day, on a rainy night in Tbilisi, Georgian opposition leader Nino Burjanadze’s motorcade ran over a cop and sped away:

Bob Kagan remembers Ron Asmus, a freedom fighter, at the Washington Post:

"Georgia faces a stark choice between two mutually exclusive futures." That's how the Center for American Progress (CAP) kicked off a 70-plus page report on the divided former Soviet Union. Suffice to say, that sophomoric assessment is just the opening salvo in a report overflowing with…

Eli Lake reports in today's Washington Times: 

Democrats in Georgia appears to have been reduced to four House districts, three of which are in minority districts in Metro Atlanta. Blue Dogs Jim Marshall of the Eighth District and Sanford Bishop of the Second District seem to have fallen to Republicans Austin Scott and Mike Keown, respectively.…

Georgia Republicans head to the polls today to vote for their party's nominee for the governorship. Former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel, one of Sarah Palin's "Mama Grizzlies," currently leads her primary opponent, former congressman Nathan Deal, 47 percent to 42 percent, according to…

Tomorrow's GOP primary in Georgia could produce another victory for Republican kingmaker (or queenmaker) Sarah Palin. Last week, Palin endorsed Karen Handel, the Republican secretary of state, for governor over longtime insurance commissioner John Oxendine and former congressman Nathan Deal. The…