Ups, Downs and In-betweens
Duncan Backs Biden: Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican sharply critical of former President Donald Trump, has officially endorsed President Joe Biden’s bid for a second term in the upcoming November election. Duncan served as lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023 and declined to run for a second term.
“The GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden,” Duncan wrote in an editorial published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Duncan, a frequent CNN commentator, has been active in GOP 2.0, which describes itself as an “independent movement to bring a fresh and reasoned approach to create Republican majorities.” He is the author of GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America’s Conservative Party.
In his endorsement, Duncan acknowledged concerns about Biden’s age and his progressive stances. But he concluded: “Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.”
No Surprises: Two key figures in the election interference case against Trump easily won their May primary races. Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to fill a vacancy, won a full term in his nonpartisan race. Fulton DA Fani Willis triumphed over her Democratic opponent; she faces Republican Courtney Kramer, who worked in the Trump Administration, in the November general election.
Sixth District Congressional Democrat Rep. Lucy McBath won her race handily, as did 13th District Rep. David Scott, a fellow Democrat whose district was redrawn.
Incumbent Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson defeated former Congressman John Barrow, who had campaigned on protecting women’s reproductive rights.
Atlanta Grows Again: The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the city of Atlanta has once again surpassed the half-million population mark, with 510,800 residents recorded in July 2023, after adding 12,000 new residents in the previous year. Like other cities, Atlanta lost population during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2023 population figure for the 11-county Metro Atlanta area was more than 6.3 million, making it the sixth largest in the country.
Photo credit: Corey Raymond Hanson
Postal Service Problems: A letter from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff confirmed what many Georgians already knew. The postal service’s performance of late has been less than stellar – way less. And improvements are slow to come.
“The Postal Service is in the middle of a major new investment in our operations,” DeJoy wrote. “Unfortunately, the initiation of the Atlanta RPDC [Regional Processing and Distribution Center] led to a significant drop in performance, which was unanticipated.”
The letter came after Ossoff and others peppered DeJoy with questions at an April hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The week prior to the hearing, only 36% of mail in the Georgia District was delivered in a timely fashion. “I’ve got constituents with prescriptions that aren’t being delivered. I’ve got constituents who can’t pay their rent and their mortgage,” Ossoff told DeJoy, adding that he didn’t think the postmaster general was fit for his job.
DeJoy’s letter came after Ossoff gave him a deadline for a response. In the letter, the postmaster outlined steps he has taken to address the challenges, including “dispatching more than 100 personnel drawn from across the organization” to work on-site to identify and correct problems; revising transportation schedules; and “shifting cross-country volume away from the RPDC until service stabilizes.”
He indicated that timely mail delivery improved to 64% in the month between the Senate hearing and his letter.
Pay Hikes: Raises for state employees included in the $36.1 billion FY25 budget passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Kemp take effect July 1. They include $2,500 for public school teachers; $3,000 for state law enforcement officers and child welfare workers; and 4% for state employees and public university employees making less than $70,000.
Pritchard Out at GOP: The Georgia Republican Party ousted Brian K. Pritchard from his first vice chairman position, following a judge’s ruling that he voted illegally nine times while he was on probation for felony check forgery. The AJC reported that Pritchard, a conservative radio host who has claimed that the 2020 presidential race results were fraudulent, has said he thought his probation was complete. He was fined $5,000 by an administrative law judge for violating state election laws.
