Ups, Downs and In-betweens
Legislative status quo, heated debates, facilities axed, and more.
Holding the Status Quo: The five-day special session called by Gov. Brian Kemp this summer concluded by extending the deadline on how the state casts and counts ballots – to January 1, 2028. The General Assembly passed a measure extending the use of QR codes to count votes that Kemp signed into law in June. That means the current system – which would have become illegal with the original deadline of July 1, 2026 – will stay in place for November’s general elections.
The legislature also rejected Kemp’s call to redraw Georgia’s congressional maps following the Louisiana v. Callais U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April. While maps are typically redrawn every 10 years based on the latest U.S. Census results, the ruling cleared the way for states to change the existing district boundaries mid-decade.
Legislators decided to keep the maps the same through the 2028 election cycle to allow time to see how other pending legal cases and court rulings are resolved. However, Kemp could decide to call legislators back to redraw the maps after the November election.
A Bitter Divide: Another thing that didn’t pass during the five-day special session this summer: a sweeping property tax bill. The proposed legislation would have allowed voters to chime in through local tax referendums to raise retail sales taxes by a penny, which would reduce or even eliminate property taxes on primary residences. The proposal failed by a vote of 95-67, falling short of the two-thirds majority vote required to pass.
Debate during the session was heated, with Republicans saying the change would help homeowners struggling with affordability, and Democrats united in opposition, saying that it would raise taxes on lower- and middle-class Georgians who do not own homes. Expect to hear these arguments again in campaign ads this fall – or even sooner: One Republican digital ad already attacks Democrats as blocking financial relief for hard-pressed homeowners.
History-Making Mayors: Former Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley won a runoff this summer to become the first Black mayor in the city’s 198-year history.
The Columbus City Council approved Hugley to be city manager in 2005, and he spent 20 years in the role until a controversy erupted between him and the council. The members voted 7-3 to terminate him in May 2025, citing operational failures and lapses in departmental oversight. His attorney argued racial and employment discrimination motivated the firing.
Hugley, who ran on a platform of addressing poverty, youth violence, affordable housing and unifying the city, originally led a six-candidate field in the May 19 election with 45% of the vote. He defeated his runoff opponent, Councilor Joanne Cogle, by 997 votes. She was one of the councilors who voted to fire Hugley.
Meanwhile, Dexter Fisher defeated former commissioner and current Clarke County Board of Education member Tim Denson to become Athens-Clarke County’s first Black mayor. Fisher is a county commissioner and former University of Georgia facilities director.
And in Augusta, business owner Steven Kendrick, who also spent more than a decade leading Richmond County’s tax office, defeated incumbent mayor Garnett Johnson in a nonpartisan runoff election in June. Kendrick received 54.3% of the votes to Johnson’s 45.7%. Kendrick ran against Johnson in 2022 but lost that race.
ICE Axes Georgia Centers: The Department of Homeland Security will no longer be pursuing an ICE detention facility in Social Circle and Oakwood. The U.S. government is reportedly pivoting away from purchasing warehouse-style facilities across the country, and that, doubled with strong local opposition by citizens, businesses and governments in both cities, led to the decision.
In March, the Oakwood City Council had unanimously requested a halt to the project, citing lack of infrastructure to support it.
While Social Circle has a population of just over 5,000, the proposed facility would have housed up to 10,000 people, and would have required more water and wastewater processing than the city’s current capacity. The city also filed a federal lawsuit in May against DHS to block the detention center.
Democrat Adrienne White Carden. Photo credit: Contributed
At Capacity: A special election saw Democrat Adrienne White Carden eke out a win with 51% of the vote against Republican Aizaz Shahbaz Shaikh for state Senate District 7 in Gwinnett County. Carden will fulfill the remainder of the term for Nabilah Parkes, who resigned her seat to run for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor before losing that race to state Sen. Josh McLaurin in a June runoff. However, Carden will not run for a full term in November; instead, Shaikh will face Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-Duluth) in the general election to represent District 7. Carden was sworn in on June 26, restoring the state Senate to full capacity.
