Democrats challenge the ‘moderate Republican’ brand in Atlanta suburbs

Democrats have spent years chipping away at Republican dominance in Atlanta’s close-in suburbs.

Now they’re targeting some of the toughest voters left to crack: Georgians who will vote Democratic at the top of the ticket but still back Republicans for the state Legislature.

Two of their top recruits, Adam Cleveland and Beth Fuller, offered a glimpse last weekend of how they plan to make that case.

At a fundraiser at an Alpharetta diner, Cleveland and Fuller repeatedly argued that voters should judge GOP incumbents not by their brands, but by their party’s policies.

Cleveland, a lawyer challenging Republican state Rep. Scott Hilton, framed Georgia’s 2019 anti-abortion law as an example of GOP power run amok.

“Our Republican colleagues lack the most important tool necessary for a fix,” Cleveland said. “The right tool for this job is a spine.”

Fuller, running against GOP state Rep. Deborah Silcox, came at the argument through public health, relying on her background as a contractor for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She described losing her job amid federal cutbacks and watching the agency where she worked for a decade come under attack.

“The Legislature right now are moving us backwards. It’s time to move forward and to do that, we have to vote Democratic,” she said.

The strategy comes with a complication.

Silcox was one of the few House Republicans who voted against Georgia’s 2019 anti-abortion law. Hilton wasn’t serving in the Legislature when it passed.

So Democrats can’t simply cast either Republican as an architect of the law, even if they’ve supported many of Gov. Brian Kemp’s other priorities.

Instead, they’re making a broader argument that if suburban voters oppose the Republican agenda, they should hold the incumbents responsible for keeping the GOP in power.

“Their opponents are telling the world they’re moderates,” state Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, said of the Republican incumbents. “I don’t believe that. They sure don’t act like it with their votes. They sure don’t act like it with their policies.”

Things to know

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Good morning! The midterms are in 63 days. You have until Oct. 5 to register to vote. Here are three things to know for today:

Ground game

Credit: Natrice Miller for the AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller for the AJC

Rick Jackson is putting some big numbers behind his ground game.

The Republican nominee for governor said this morning his campaign has made 1.3 million voter-contact calls, knocked on 330,000 doors and sent 2.2 million nonautomated text messages since the general election began.

Now Jackson is layering a statewide coalition structure on top of that operation, naming 59 Georgians to leadership roles spanning 14 congressional districts and 13 constituency groups.

The effort is chaired by Nick Ayers, a veteran GOP mover-and-shaker with close ties to President Donald Trump. Longtime GOP activist Ginger Howard is a co-chair.

The broader roster includes current and former lawmakers, sheriffs, business leaders, veterans and party activists.

Among them are former U.S. Reps. Tom Price and Lynn Westmoreland; former Georgia Senate leaders Eric Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Butch Miller; and Joan Carr, the wife of Attorney General Chris Carr.

“This team is dedicated to helping to make sure that no matter their ZIP code or passions, Georgia voters are organized, energized, and turned out to vote and defeat Keisha Lance Bottoms this November,” the campaign said.

Price hikes

Credit: Ariel Hart/AJC

Credit: Ariel Hart/AJC

People who purchase health insurance from Georgia Access are on track to see average prices hikes of 22% next year when open enrollment begins this fall, according to new data obtained by the Georgia Recorder.

Those increases are on top of the already higher prices people had to pay this year after Congress allowed pandemic-era subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to expire. Georgia saw a 27% decrease in enrollment just a few months after those subsidies expired.

The Georgia Recorder noted these price hikes are not final. Final numbers are expected before open enrollment begins Nov. 1.

Listen up

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast, Greg Bluestein and Patricia Murphy examine growing scrutiny of Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins over extremist views expressed by people in his orbit.

You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

Ossoff’s prison bill

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

A bill championed by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff after an investigation of sexual assaults of staff at federal prisons is now headed to Trump to be signed into law.

The legislation requires the Department of Justice to adopt national standards to prevent the sexual harassment and assault of Bureau of Prisons staff members by inmates. Ossoff and U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., teamed up on the Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act in response to a February 2023 report that stated 40% of 7,000 BOP employees surveyed said they had been sexually harassed or sexually assaulted.

The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent last year and was approved in the House on Monday by a vote of 376-8. U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, was among the members who opposed the measure.

Ossoff, in a statement after the House vote, said his investigation of civil rights abuses and corruption in federal prisons exposed issues that lawmakers have tried to address first with the Federal Prison Oversight Act and now with the latest bill.

“As the DOJ inspector general and AFGE (workers union) have made clear, we must also grapple with and address the reality of sexual violence targeting correctional officers in federal facilities, in large part targeting female staff,” the Atlanta Democrat said.

Today in Washington

Shoutouts

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Today’s birthday:

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.

Before you go

Credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to continue building a ballroom adjacent to the White House, with a conservative majority ruling that the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacked standing to challenge the project.

That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider information to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.