Williams resigns as Georgia Dems chair; McBath pauses governor bid
Georgia Democrats are in repair and rebuild mode after Monday's one-two punch of news that the party's chairman was stepping down and one of their strongest stars would pause her gubernatorial bid.
Why it matters: Monday's resignation of U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams as the party's chair and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath's decision to suspend her exploratory committee over family medical issues adds to the minority party's weighty list of to-dos to regain political footing in Georgia.
Catch up quick: Some Democratic Party of Georgia leaders and activists have argued that Williams, who worked double-duty as one of the Atlanta area's representatives in Congress, should step down to allow another Democrat to occupy the role (and raise money for the party) full time.
What they're saying: In her resignation letter as chair, Williams noted she supported the party being led by a full-time official.
She urged supporters to, quoting the late Rep. John Lewis, "not get lost in a sea of despair" as the party prepares for 2026.
"As the first Black woman to chair the DPG, I set out to build a party that wasn't just reactive but proactive, not just present but powerful. That's exactly what we did."
State of play: Georgia Republicans control all levels of state government and have well-positioned incumbents, some of whom have visions of higher office.
Attorney General Chris Carr has already staked out a position, and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R-Jackson) and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger are expected to follow.
The field is less clear for Democrats, who are still building a bench to compete for the most powerful posts in Georgia politics.
Zoom in: McBath, who said she will not step down from her elected seat and has not totally ruled out a run, said she must devote time and energy to her husband and his recovery from cancer surgery complications, according to the AJC.
Other people said to be considering a run include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Michael Thurmond, state Sen. Jason Esteves and Stacey Abrams, who twice ran unsuccessfully against Brian Kemp for the office.
Reality check: Qualifying for statewide and legislative offices is still a year away.
Plus, ongoing uncertainty in Washington, D.C. over inflation, tariffs, foreign affairs and domestic policies could trickle down and benefit Democrats banking on a midterm boost.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
9 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump shows that loyalty is all that matters to him
Last week, the Court of International Trade delivered a blow to Donald Trump's global trade war. It found that the worldwide tariffs Trump unveiled on 'Liberation Day' as well his earlier tariffs pretextually aimed at stopping fentanyl coming in from Mexico and Canada (as if) were beyond his authority. The three-judge panel was surely right about the Liberation Day tariffs and probably right about the fentanyl tariffs, but there's a better case that, while bad policy, the fentanyl tariffs were not unlawful. Please forgive a lengthy excerpt of Trump's response on Truth Social, but it speaks volumes: 'How is it possible for [the CIT judges] to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of 'TRUMP?' What other reason could it be? I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges. I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real 'sleazebag' named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions. … In any event, Leo left The Federalist Society to do his own 'thing.' I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations. This is something that cannot be forgotten!' Let's begin with the fact that Trump cannot conceive of a good explanation for an inconvenient court ruling other than Trump Derangement Syndrome. It's irrelevant that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the 1977 law the administration invoked to impose the relevant tariffs, does not even mention the word 'tariff' or that Congress never envisioned the IEEPA as a tool for launching a trade war with every nation in the world, the 'Penguin Islands' included. Also disregard the fact that the decision was unanimous and only one of the three judges was appointed by Trump (the other two were Reagan and Obama appointees). (The decision has been paused by an appeals court.) Trump is the foremost practitioner of what I call Critical Trump Theory — anything bad for Trump is unfair, illegitimate and proof that sinister forces are rigging the system against him. No wonder then that Trump thinks Leonard Leo, formerly a guiding light at the Federalist Society, the premier conservative legal organization, is a 'sleazebag' and 'bad person.' Note: Leo is neither of those things. But Trump's broadsides at Leo and the Federalist Society are portentous. Because Congress is AWOL, refusing to take the lead on trade (and many other things) as the Constitution envisions, it's fallen to the courts to restrain Trump's multifront efforts to exceed his authority. That's why the White House is cynically denouncing 'unelected' and 'rogue' judges on an almost daily basis and why Trump's political henchman, Stephen Miller, is incessantly ranting about a 'judicial coup.' The supreme, and sometimes seemingly sole, qualification for appointments to the Trump administration has been servile loyalty to Trump. But that ethos is not reserved for the executive branch. Law firms, elite universities and media outlets are being forced to kneel before the president. Why should judges be any different? Trump has a history of suggesting 'my judges' — i.e., his appointees — should be loyal to him. That's why he recently nominated Emil Bove, his former personal criminal lawyer turned political enforcer at the Department of Justice, for a federal judgeship. The significance of Trump's attack on the Federalist Society and Leo, for conservatives, cannot be exaggerated. The legal movement spearheaded by the Federalist Society has been the most successful domestic conservative project of the last century. Scholarly, civic-minded and principled, the Federalist Society spent decades developing ideas and arguments for re-centering the Constitution in American law. But now Trump has issued a fatwah that it, too, must bend the knee and its principles to the needs of one man. The law be damned, ruling against Trump is ingratitude in his mind. Speaking of ingratitude, the irony is that the Federalist Society deserves a lot of credit — or blame — for Trump being elected in the first place. In 2016, the death of Antonin Scalia left a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Many conservatives did not trust Trump to replace him. To reassure them, Trump agreed to pick from a list of potential replacements crafted by the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society. That decision arguably convinced many reluctant conservatives to vote for him. In the decade since, the Heritage Foundation has dutifully reinvented itself in Trump's image. The Federalist Society stayed loyal to its principles, and that's why the Federalist Society is in Trump's crosshairs. @JonahDispatch
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
MAGA Svengali Wants Trump to Pull Ukraine Support Over Surprise Drone Attack
MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon is calling on President Donald Trump to nix support for Ukraine after it carried out a surprise drone attack in Russia that blindsided the White House. The attack inflicted $7 billion in damage on Sunday and destroyed a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet. Ukrainian said the strike had been in the works for over 18 months. Bannon, one of Trump's closest confidants, commended Ukraine for executing the attack. However, he was not pleased that it occurred without Trump's knowledge, as the White House revealed on Monday. 'The White House has to condemn this immediately and pull all support,' Bannon said on his War Room podcast Monday. Bannon said Kyiv should have notified Trump of the escalation. He said the supposed betrayal, which he claims has brought the United States closer to war with Russia, must have consequences for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 'If they did not give us a heads up on this, full stop, no minerals deal—walk away from all of it,' he said. 'They're irresponsible. They're dragging us into a kinetic third world war.' The podcaster, who served as a White House adviser during Trump's first term, went so far as to suggest that Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Kyiv's most prominent backers in Congress, should be arrested if he does not stop traveling overseas and 'stirring it up' in Ukraine. Bannon theorized that Graham, instead of the president, may have given Ukraine the green light to attack deep into Russia. 'Lindsey Graham's over there saying: 'Hey, forget Trump. I got the House and the Senate. We're going to pass it. You're going to see something in a couple of days.' Remember that? He's stirring it up over there,' Bannon said. 'He's telling them they got backing.' Ukraine reportedly carried out its attack by smuggling drones across the Russian border in wooden crates. They were then deployed simultaneously to attack five airbases, including the Belaya airbase in the far-east Irkutsk region, 2,500 miles away from Ukraine. Bannon said he is not convinced that the attack did not involve U.S. intelligence. If Russia reaches a similar conclusion, he fears the three-year-old conflict could soon include America. 'This is a ticking time bomb,' Bannon said. 'And you see what they're going to get us into. Because now we're now, inexorably, we're being drawn into this.' Trump campaigned last year on a promise to end the war between Ukraine and Russia on day one of his presidency. That promise has fallen flat, as have any peace negotiations brokered by U.S. officials. The latest instance of talks falling through occurred on Monday, when a scheduled meeting between Russia and Ukraine to discuss peace in Turkey was brief, with no agreement reached. 'You're supposed to be in Turkey today talking peace,' Bannon said Monday, 'not 3000 miles into Russia, blowing up their strategic bombers.'
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's mega-bill faces rocky ride in Senate
US senators have begun weeks of what is certain to be fierce debate over the mammoth policy package President Donald Trump hopes will seal his legacy, headlined by tax cuts slated to add up to $3 trillion to the nation's debt. The Republican leader celebrated when the House passed his "big, beautiful bill," which partially covers an extension of his 2017 tax relief through budget cuts projected to strip health care from millions of low-income Americans. The Senate now gets to make its own changes, and the upper chamber's version could make or break Republicans' 2026 midterm election prospects -- and define Trump's second term. But the 1,116-page blueprint faces an uphill climb, with moderate Republicans balking at $1.5 trillion in spending cuts while fiscal hawks are blasting the bill as a ticking debt bomb. "We have enough (holdouts) to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit," Senator Ron Johnson, one of half a dozen Republican opponents to the bill, told CNN. Democrats -- whose support is not required if Republicans can maintain a united front -- have focused on the tax cuts mostly benefiting the rich on the backs of a working class already struggling with high prices. The White House says the legislation will spur robust economic growth to neutralize its potential to blow up America's already burgeoning debt pile, which has ballooned to $36.9 trillion. But several independent analyses have found that -- even taking growth into account -- it will add between $2.5 trillion and $3.1 trillion to deficits over the next decade. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, found that the combined effects of tax cuts and cost savings would be a giant transfer of wealth from the poorest 10 percent to the richest 10 percent. Republicans muscled the measure through the House by a single vote on May 22 by a combination of bargaining vote holdouts on policies and deploying Trump himself to twist arms. House Speaker Mike Johnson is now pleading with the Senate not to alter the bill too much, as any tweaks will need to go back to the lower chamber. - Faultlines - The Senate wants to get the bill to Trump's desk by US Independence Day on July 4 -- an ambitious timeline given Republicans' narrow three-vote majority and wide faultlines that have opened over the proposed specifics. Independent analysts expect around seven million beneficiaries of the Medicaid health insurance program will be deprived of coverage due to new proposed eligibility restrictions and work requirements. Polling shows that the vast majority of Americans oppose cutting Medicaid -- including Trump himself, as well as some Republicans in poorer states that rely heavily on federal welfare. Senate moderates are also worried about proposed changes to funding food aid that could deprive up to 3.2 million of vital nutrition support. One thing is almost certain -- Trump himself will get involved at some point, though his negotiation tactics may be more subtle than they were when he threatened "grandstanders" holding up the tax bill in the House. Trump took to his Truth Social website on Monday to decry "so many false statements (that) are being made about 'THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL'" -- and to falsely claim that it would not cut Medicaid. "The only 'cutting' we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, something that should have been done by the Incompetent, Radical Left Democrats for the last four years, but wasn't," he said. One more wrinkle for Trump: tech billionaire Elon Musk -- no longer one of his closest aides but still an influential commentator -- has already broken with the president to criticize the mega-bill. "A bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But I don't know if it can be both," Musk said in a CBS interview criticizing its effect on debt. ft/jgc
