Buddy Carter campaign ad ignites new GOP Senate clash
Today’s newsletter highlights
- The mystery around Rick Jackson and the group targeting Burt Jones deepens.
- Data centers are seeping into Georgia politics in a big way.
- Cook Political Report predicts Georgia’s U.S. Senate race will “lean Democrat.”
The gloves are off
Georgia’s three-way Republican race to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff just took one of its sharpest turns yet.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter rolled out a new TV ad Monday morning that hugs President Donald Trump while unloading on rival U.S. Rep. Mike Collins over a congressional ethics probe into allegations of misused taxpayer funds.
“While Trump and Buddy Carter were protecting our wallets, Mike Collins was abusing them,” says the narrator. “Collins is under federal investigation for misusing taxpayer funds to benefit himself and his cronies. We just can’t trust or afford Mike Collins.”
Collins has said he will cooperate with the inquiry and expects to be cleared.
It’s the most direct strike yet in a contest that has mostly featured less-bruising tactics between Carter, Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley.
Now the gloves are truly off, as Carter’s campaign hopes illuminating the ethics inquiry erodes Collins’ lead in polls.
That escalation comes as Republicans already fear a messy and expensive primary could weaken the eventual nominee against Ossoff, who has stayed focused on an anticorruption message that helped fuel his 2021 runoff win.
At an Augusta rally Saturday, he mocked the president for feuding with Pope Leo XIV and posting a since-deleted AI generated image of him as a Jesus-like figure, while framing Trump and his allies as hopelessly corrupt.
“The faithless president depicts himself as Christ while he plunges the nation into wars of choice,” Ossoff said, “while he and his family rake in billions from foreign princes, while he plunders our health care to cut taxes for the rich.”
Things to know
Good morning! Here are three things to know for today:
- The latest fundraising reports show Georgia’s incumbent congressional candidates have an edge, with one exception, Tia Mitchell and Isaac Sabetai report.
- Greg Bluestein reports former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has a decision to make. Does she go all in to try and avoid a runoff in the Democratic primary for governor? Or does she coast into a runoff that can be unpredictable?
- Speaking of Bottoms, she will publish a book Tuesday about her life. While it’s labeled a memoir, the AJC’s book critic, Suzanne Van Atten, says it “lacks the self-reflection one has come to expect from the genre.”
Integrity act
The mystery surrounding billionaire Rick Jackson and the outside group attacking Burt Jones just got another intriguing wrinkle.
The same Ohio attorney who signed incorporation papers for Georgians for Integrity — the anonymous dark-money outfit that has poured roughly $19 million into attacks on the lieutenant governor — also filed documents creating Alabama Patients First.
That Alabama group financed negative attacks against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama during a legal fight involving a Montgomery hospital operated by Jackson’s heath care firm.
The attorney, Kimberly Land, didn’t return messages seeking comment about the group, which faces state ethics charges of violating Georgia lobbying and campaign finance laws.
Jackson has continued to deny any role in the negative ad blitz, which commenced weeks before his surprise entry into the race for governor.
“Rick Jackson has nothing to do with Georgians for Integrity,” said the campaign, “and he’s never heard of this lawyer.”
Data center politics
Data centers have been popping up across metro Atlanta for years now. But they’re just now beginning to seep into Georgia politics in a big way.
The issue first found prominence during last year’s special elections for the Public Service Commission as the power-hungry warehouses were blamed for driving up electricity rates. Now, opponents of Jones have criticized him for standing to benefit from a proposal to build data centers on his family’s land in Butts County. And Jackson has invested in a data center project in Texas.
Tonight, Jason Esteves — who is still looking to break through in the crowded Democratic primary for governor — is hosting a data center town hall in DeKalb County.
It’s worth noting how voters respond to data center positions. Early results show politicians are paying attention to voters concerns, but it hasn’t been enough to change things. AJC colleague Drew Kann noted none of the bills introduced in the state Legislature this year aiming to rein in data centers passed.
Vibe check
Cook Political Report now predicts Georgia’s U.S. Senate race will “lean Democrat,” a nod to Ossoff’s momentum as Republicans weather a messy primary.
The political prognosticator had listed Georgia as a “toss-up,” driven in part by Trump’s victory in Georgia during the 2024 presidential election.
“Georgia Republicans we’ve talked to have been souring on their chances in the Peach State,” Jessica Taylor wrote.
That analysis won’t come as a surprise to AJC readers, as our own Greg Bluestein has written extensively about Republican worries heading into the midterm. But it’s another indicator of the state of the race heading into next month’s primary.
Georgia’s status update coincided with shifts in three other U.S. Senate races, all benefiting Democrats:
- North Carolina moved from “toss-up” to “lean Democrat.”
- Nebraska moved from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.”
- Ohio moved from “lean Republican” to “toss-up.”
Last month, the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia also moved Georgia’s U.S. Senate race to “leans Democratic.”
‘Don’t count’
Expect to hear this clip of Trump from two days ago plenty of times from Jones supporters.
“Just so you understand, campaign contributions after I won don’t count,” Trump told a cheering audience at a Turning Point USA rally in Phoenix over the weekend.
That’s a thing because Jackson donated to Trump’s rivals in the past and only gave $1 million to the president in December.
Jackson has said he was “late to the Trump train, but nobody supports him more than I do now.” He recently told the Banks County GOP that he discussed it with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in February.
“He’s forgiven me for doing this. So, I think if he can forgive me, hopefully you can,” Jackson said.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we discuss Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Athens last week and what to make of the size of the crowd. We also answer questions from listeners.
You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify 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.
FISA extension
Congress last week passed a short-term extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, buying themselves two weeks to figure out a long-term solution.
The rub is that House Republicans are split on whether to extend portions of the law without changes, as Trump has requested.
Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus want changes to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens. And Democrats are in no mood to step in the middle of the GOP infighting.
Last week, the House voted down a proposal to extend Section 702 of the FISA law for five years with some changes, but not enough to win over the Freedom Caucus. A “clean” renewal for 18 months was also rejected.
So they settled on an extension of current law through April 30, passed by voice vote in both chambers. Without that stopgap action, the provision would have expired today and left intelligence agencies without key authorizations in place since 2008.
Today in Washington
- Trump has no public events on his schedule.
- The House has evening votes scheduled.
- The Senate will vote on a Trump nomination.
Endorsement watch
State Sen. Blake Tillery’s campaign is touting a major endorsement push in the race for lieutenant governor, announcing support from more than 360 current and former federal, state and local officials across Georgia.
The list includes dozens of sheriffs, lawmakers, county commissioners, mayors, school board members and other local leaders. It also includes U.S. Rep. Rick Allen and former U.S. Reps. Bob Barr, Phil Gingrey, Tom Price and Lynn Westmoreland.
Tillery cast the rollout as evidence his campaign is a “movement.” He faces four current or former state lawmakers in a race widely expected to head to a runoff.
Shoutouts
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
Jimmy Carter’s daughter, Amy Carter, appears to be a fan of rapper Cardi B. She gifted the entertainer, who closed her stadium tour in Atlanta this weekend, a copy of her late father’s book, “White House Diary,” signed by the former president himself.
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.
Correction
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Rosalynn Carter.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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