Brian Kemp’s legislative agenda remains a mystery as session looms

Election-year legislative sessions are always different. But the one gaveling in next week feels stranger than most.

Two Democratic House lawmakers — Karen Bennett, who resigned, and Sharon Henderson, who hasn’t — were recently charged with pandemic-era unemployment fraud. Rumors are rampant under the Gold Dome that more could soon be announced.

Then there’s the mystery of Gov. Brian Kemp’s last push.

No one is quite sure what his priorities will be. Not the media. Not legislative leaders. Not even some of his allies can say with confidence what Kemp plans to push in his final legislative session.

The silence is deliberate. And unusually airtight.

Speculation is swirling. Some lawmakers think Kemp could use his last lap to tap Georgia’s massive surplus for a sweep of construction projects. Others are bracing for a surprise priority that hasn’t yet leaked.

What’s missing is the usual tell. By this point most years, Kemp has already telegraphed his marquee goal. Last session, for instance, there was no doubt litigation overhaul topped his list. This year? Nothing of the sort.

Even key political players say they’re in the dark. And many expect to stay that way until next week.

Kemp’s aides say they’re planning a big reveal during two big speeches next week: his Eggs & Issues remarks on Wednesday, followed a day later by the State of the State address.

Friday news quiz

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Good morning! How well did you follow the news this week? Find out by taking our quiz. You’ll find the answers at the end of the newsletter.

Gov. Brian Kemp set a special election for March 10 to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress. How many times could voters in Georgia’s 14th Congressional district be asked vote in 2026?

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones backed a plan this week to eventually eliminate Georgia’s individual income tax, which generates about $16 billion per year. How would the plan replace that lost revenue?

Marjorie Taylor Greene left Congress on Monday. She appeared on “The View” on Wednesday. What next step is she considering?

House Speaker Jon Burns backed a new tax proposal this week. What would it do?

Shadowy ads

Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Pummeled by a more than $8 million ad campaign funded by shadowy sources, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is hitting back against the Republican rival he’s linked to the blitz.

Jones’ campaign for governor has blamed political consultants who would rather see Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in office. And this week he unloaded a digital spot featuring a wave of Democrats praising the elections chief, who has denied any involvement in the attack ads.

It’s a striking tactic, and one rarely seen in a GOP primary: using Democratic voices to elevate a Republican rival for refusing President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Union promise

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Keisha Lance Bottoms pledged to appoint a dockworkers’ union member to the Georgia Ports Authority board should she be elected governor.

The Atlanta Democrat made the promise in Savannah on Thursday during a meeting with International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1414 President Paul Mosley, the AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer reports.

“The Port of Savannah is the second largest economic engine in the state. I don’t know any entity that is more vital to that success than the union,” Bottoms said ahead of Thursday night’s televised candidate forum in Savannah. “Not having that voice at the table would be a huge miss for the next governor.”

Georgia’s governor appoints the 13 directors of the authority’s board. Appointees serve four-year staggered terms. Gov. Brian Kemp made his most recent appointments in July.

The authority board has not included a longshoreman in recent memory. Contacted about Bottoms’ pledge, a ports authority official declined comment.

The ILA unions are a significant voting block along the coast, with more than 2,000 members working in port authority terminals in Savannah and Brunswick. Mosley’s Local 1414 is the largest, with more than 1,600 members.

Bottoms toured the Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City Terminal following the meeting. The facility is the third busiest cargo container port in the United States.

Minnesota reactions

Credit: Adam Beam/AJC

Credit: Adam Beam/AJC

The New York Times has called the killing of a Minnesota woman by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer a “political Rorschach test,” as many Republican leaders have declared the officer acted in self-defense while Democrats say the woman was murdered.

That’s the dynamic at play in Georgia’s race for attorney general, as Democratic candidate Bob Trammell said the ICE officer “should be criminally investigated, charged and arrested.” Democrat Tanya Miller, a state representative from Atlanta, said “people want to know that powerful federal agencies are not operating above the law.”

Meanwhile, Republican candidate Brian Strickland, a state senator from McDonough, said that “interfering with law enforcement puts lives at risk,” adding that “those on the left who demonize law enforcement are emboldening this dangerous behavior.”

Then there’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican candidate for governor, who offered a more measured response when asked about the incident after a speech at the Roswell Rotary Club on Thursday.

Raffensperger said he wanted to “get all the information” before making a broader comment about what happened, adding that “it’s tragic when anyone loses their life.”

Asked how he would handle a similar situation if he were governor, Raffensperger said he would “want to make sure that, as it relates to law enforcement, that they have the very best training.”

“You see an awful lot of situations, and making sure you handle those, you know, how they should be handled,” he said.

Special election

Credit: Courtesy photo

Credit: Courtesy photo

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is investing in LeMario Brown’s bid to flip a middle Georgia Senate seat vacated by Republican John F. Kennedy, who is running for lieutenant governor.

“We think this race is one to watch, and it’s a sign that we’re playing everywhere,” Sam Paisley, communications director for the DLCC, exclusively told our AJC colleague Michelle Baruchman.

In 2024, then-Vice President Kamala Harris got about 38% of the vote in the district. Brown would need to outperform Harris by about 12 percentage points to capture the seat in the Jan. 20 special election.

But Democrats are growing cautiously optimistic they can flip the seat, and are encouraged by early voting numbers that favor Brown, the only Democrat in the race.

The Republican candidates are:

Still waiting

It’s been more than three weeks since the Trump administration sued Georgia for access to its unredacted voter file. But Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office still hasn’t been officially served with the lawsuit.

A source familiar with the case who was not authorized to speak about the lawsuit said a U.S. marshal has tried a few times to serve the secretary of state’s office in Macon. But the office doesn’t have a lawyer there, so it hasn’t been officially received.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

Raffensperger has said his office complied with the Justice Department’s request for information. But they redacted voters’ personal information, as required by state law. The Justice Department sued to get the unredacted information.

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Today in Washington

Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

Happenings:

Obamacare subsidies

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would extend expiring health insurance subsidies for three more years.

Seventeen Republicans voted with Democrats in favor of the bill, although none of them were from Georgia.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, an Atlanta Democrat, has made the issue central to his reelection campaign, calling out his Republican opponents for refusing to support extending the tax credits. That includes U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, who both voted against the bill.

Carter issued a statement after the vote that said extending the subsidies is the wrong way to address real issues.

“Throwing more money at a broken system, riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse, without addressing the root cause of skyrocketing costs does nothing but bail out Big Insurance and illegal immigrants,” the St. Simons Island Republican said.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where it is unlikely to be approved in its current form. But a bipartisan group of senators is working on an alternative proposal in hopes of coming up with a plan that can pass both chambers.

Shoutouts

Credit: Courtesy photo

Credit: Courtesy photo

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Before you go

Credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Answers to this week’s news quiz:

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

This article has been updated to correct the spelling of LeMario Brown’s name.