McBath halts Georgia gubernatorial exploratory bid, citing husband's health
'I'm so grateful for everyone who has stood by my family as we undergo this arduous period,' McBath said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. 'I will be spending some time focusing on my husband's health, and I cannot make a decision to run for governor or not at this moment.'
McBath told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it was a 'really difficult decision to make.'
'And right now I can't make the decision on whether or not to run for governor,' McBath added. 'I've always said my priorities should be where I'm supposed to be. And that's helping my husband.'
McBath told the Journal-Constitution that her husband, Curtis McBath, suffered complications from recent cancer surgery.
'His road to ultimate health is going to be a little longer and more difficult than we thought,' she said. 'Right now, I have to organically look at everything and make sure I'm where I'm most needed.'
McBath's campaign didn't immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment but her spokesperson, Jake Orvis, told the AP that she might still run for governor in 2026.
McBath does not plan to step down from Congress, where she's serving her fourth term. McBath has been a vocal advocate for gun laws after her 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was murdered outside a Florida gas station in 2012 during a disagreement over loud music. His killer, Michael David Dunn, who was 45 at the time, was convicted and sentenced to life behind bars for the deadly shooting.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) cannot seek reelection because of term limits. Republican Attorney General Chris Carr launched his campaign for governor in November, and other Georgia Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, have expressed interest.
Democrats reportedly mulling a run include Stacey Abrams, who lost to Kemp in 2018 and 2022; former Atlanta Mayor Kesha Lance Bottoms; and former state Sen. Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Carter.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Time Magazine
21 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Even With Tons of Cash, ICE Faces Obstacles in Hiring New Agents
The new recruitment page on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's website shows a drawing of a white-bearded Uncle Sam pointing to the viewer. 'America has been invaded by criminals and predators,' the page reads. 'We need YOU to get them out.' The pitch emphasizes that a college degree isn't needed, and says recruits could be offered up to a $50,000 signing bonus and $60,000 in student loan repayment. The offers are part of a supercharged recruitment campaign that will take years to meet its goal. Republicans in Congress just allocated $30 billion to ICE to hire 10,000 new officers so it can ramp up deportations. But the Administration's interest in boosting ICE's headcount from 20,000 to 30,000 is bumping up against multiple challenges, including finding applicants who are both qualified and willing to live in parts of the country where ICE is intent on deploying more agents. 'You're talking three years before you see a significant increase of ICE agents on the street, which is the end of the administration,' predicts John Sandweg, who was the acting director of ICE during the Obama administration. To spread the word, ICE is attending job fairs, college campuses and law enforcement recruiting events. Last week, Dean Cain, the 59-year-old actor who played Superman on TV in the 1990s, put his fame behind the recruitment effort, posting a video on X that he had signed up with ICE as an honorary officer. 'I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it. So I joined up.' ICE's stepped-up recruitment effort comes as deportation and arrests are not keeping pace with the Administration's goals of arresting 3,000 immigrants a day and deporting 1 million people in Trump's first year in office. In the first week of its new recruitment campaign, the Department of Homeland Security said it received more than 80,000 applications. There are signs that most of those applicants were not what the agency was looking for. Within days, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that ICE was waiving its age limits for agents, accepting applicants as young as 18 and older than 40. Previously, people applying to ICE could not be younger than 21, and no older than 37 or 40, depending on the position. Trump's top White House advisor on the border, Tom Homan, told reporters on Aug. 6 that ICE wasn't having trouble recruiting, and he defended the decision to eliminate the age limits. 'There are a lot of roles at ICE for people who are over 40,' Homan said. 'Just because someone comes in and they're 55—maybe they can't carry a badge and a gun, they can certainly do administrative duty, they can do targeting on the intelligence team.' At the end of July, ICE sent an email to thousands of retired federal law enforcement agents under the subject line, 'return to mission.' The email promised that retired federal officers could continue to receive their pension payments even as they started taking a new paycheck from ICE. 'ICE is in vital need of reinforcement and your laterally applicable skillset will be pivotal in accomplishing our goals,' the email reads. 'By returning to federal service with ICE, you are providing an honorable, indispensable service to our nation.' Sandweg says it's a 'pretty creative solution' to lure back retired law enforcement officers because they won't need as much training on firearm use and other aspects of the job. But there aren't enough retired agents to fill the thousands of positions they're looking to fill, he says. And for new hires, it takes time to train new deportation officers on how to properly carry a gun and conduct arrests. Such training for ICE agents takes place at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia. That's created a bottleneck because there are only so many instructors and space to train new officers. 'The administration wants boots on the ground as quickly as possible to ramp up arrests and ramp up deportations, but you can't just bring them in off the street,' Sandweg says. 'You've got to hire, background check, once they're on board and cleared for a security clearance, you've got to get them down to FLETC.' To address the bottleneck, DHS is working to create smaller training centers in cities around the country, Secretary Noem said on Aug. 8 during a press conference in Lombard, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. 'We may do a training right here closer to home so they aren't away from their families for so long,' Noem told reporters. ICE's aggressive recruitment efforts are already alarming sheriffs around the country who are concerned that the agency's lucrative offers will peel away local officers already working on the street. But the agency's recruiting challenge goes beyond training. Geography is also an obstacle. Under the Trump Administration, ICE aims to find and arrest more immigrants to deport in cities run by Democrats like New York and Chicago and Los Angeles. It's those same communities where it's harder for ICE to poach law enforcement in the area because local police already pay better, says Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. Moreover, many of ICE's harsh actions in the past few months—showing up at court houses and workplaces to arrest people, often while masked—has further chipped away at the public perception of ICE nationally, but especially in those cities. 'People do not just get attracted to jobs just for the money,' says Chishti. 'There are other factors that come into play—location, people's perception of the status of the job, people's perception of how they are perceived in the job. All those are a bit of a problem for ICE today.'
Newsweek
21 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Democratic Socialism So White? Why Racial Minority Voters Aren't Lining Up for It … Yet
In June, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, a New York State Assembly member, achieved a stunning victory in New York City's ranked-choice Democratic primary for mayor. Following Mamdani's win—what some see as a transcendent moment in national politics—pundits have gone to great lengths trying to decode what democratic socialism, a relative anomaly in America, actually is. Along the way, commentators have scuttled important details, understating or overstating the movement's potential spoils and perils. And here lies Democrats' biggest challenge to selling democratic socialism to voters—especially the party's scorned and thinning racial minority base. Racial minority voters are more risk-averse in their voting behavior than white voters, and Democrats, including Mamdani, simply haven't given them strong reasons to believe in democratic socialism. Yet. As an alternative to free-market capitalism, democratic socialism has long struggled with branding, often perceived as utopian or overly redistributive in nature. But democratic socialism also suffers from a deeper representational problem. Rallies and social media feeds tend to present its most vocal supporters as white urban millennials, upper-crust Gen Zers, and "Bernie Bros," those who ironically would seem to have both the least to gain and least to lose from aligning with democratic socialism. NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference outside of the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on Aug. 7, 2025, in New York City. NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference outside of the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on Aug. 7, 2025, in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Opponents peg democratic socialism as a radical, bohemian ideology that could push the U.S. toward authoritarianism, pointing to socialist governments (sans the "democratic" part) in countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Proponents romanticize democratic socialism, envisaging Nordic countries like Denmark and Sweden where worker-led economies and strong safety nets reign. Nordic countries though are small, culturally monolithic, and overwhelmingly white, raising real questions about whether democratic socialism could flourish in a large, racially and culturally diverse country like the U.S. Until Mamdani's surprising victory, pollsters were unconvinced that democratic socialism reflected a serious movement. To this end, polling data remains limited, rarely capturing the distinction between "socialism" and "democratic socialism," the latter explicitly incorporating democratic processes and checks and balances. A 2022 Pew poll found socialism was viewed favorably by 52 percent of Black, 49 percent of Asian, and 41 percent of Hispanic respondents—compared to just 31 percent of white respondents. It's one thing though to embrace a political ideal, and quite another to vote for candidates who embody it. The main thrust of democratic socialism—economic fairness—resonates with many Americans, but potentially more so with racial minorities due to their history of exclusion from the workforce, housing, and other critical dimensions of the American ecosystem. But how that fairness is achieved remains the sticking point. And given years of opaque and failed promises from Democratic policymakers to level the playing field, many Black voters remain skeptical. Black voters' skepticism though largely centers on the thorny issue of electability, not simply effectiveness, and it's an issue the Democratic political establishment must untangle. For racial minority voters, concerns about electability, particularly when sparked or reinforced by trusted political leaders from their communities, can make them shy away from candidates with bold ideas that speak to their core issues. Elder democratic socialist Bernie Sanders epitomizes this conundrum. During the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, 61 percent of voters in South Carolina, where Democrats are mostly Black, said that South Carolina U.S. Congressman Jim Clyburn's endorsement of Joe Biden was an important part of their decision. South Carolinians' decision proved hugely important in swaying the eventual nomination away from Sanders to Biden. Clyburn, for his part, implied that the Sanders campaign didn't "aggressively" seek his endorsement. That's a misstep democratic socialist candidates can't afford to repeat. But there are broader issues. Barack Obama's naked appeals to greater socioeconomic equity on the presidential campaign trail in 2008 and 2012 invited insinuations—from both Republican critics and even Democrats—that he was flirting with socialism. Obama overcame the critiques; and his presidency, anticlimactically, ended up being thoroughly centrist, very far from a paragon of democratic socialism, let alone socialism. This deeply dismayed not just his progressive supporters, but his Black backers. Like Obama, and unlike Sanders, Mamdani oozes the vital kind of charisma that makes candidates feel relatable and trustworthy. However, unlike President Obama, and very much like Bernie Sanders, Mamdani hasn't initially made big inroads with Black voters, an essential step for any democratic socialist aiming to grow beyond liberal enclaves. There are two lessons to be heeded here. First, Democratic candidates with democratic socialist ideals must have the right messaging to overcome political establishment resistance, something Mamdani is currently pressure-testing. Second, when candidates move away from their own fresh, invigorating democratic socialist ideals, they risk alienating their most loyal and passionate voters. A pivot toward democratic socialism, or even a willingness simply not to obstruct candidates who embrace it, might be the bold gamble Democrats need to take. However, the party must recognize that for its indispensable racial minority voters, the devil you know is better than the one you don't. And as is almost always the case with socialist politics, the devil is in the details. Jerel Ezell is a sociologist and visiting professor at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Sugy Choi is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Nobody's escaping the negative New York vibes
With help from Amira McKee New York voters aren't thrilled with politicians these days, a Siena University poll out this morning found. Nearly every bold-face name in power — Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, Sen. Chuck Schumer — is unpopular with large swaths of the electorate. Andrew Cuomo, attempting a comeback bid, also has sky-high negatives at the state and city level. Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist who defeated Cuomo in a June primary upset, is viewed unfavorably statewide by a plurality of voters. Among New York City voters, Mamdani leads a five-candidate field with 44 percent over the second-place Cuomo at 25 percent, although the Siena pollsters caution that the NYC sample size is small. Republican Curtis Sliwa is in third at 12 percent while Adams, an incumbent in a longshot bid for a second term, receives 7 percent. At least the mayor finished ahead of independent Jim Walden — although that might only be because he was not included in the survey. At the statewide level, Hochul holds a 14-point lead over potential Republican opponent Elise Stefanik, 45 percent to 31 percent. The governor, who runs for reelection next year, previously enjoyed a 23-point advantage over Stefanik in June. The poll underscores that being an incumbent is a tough proposition beyond the horseraces. Adams is viewed unfavorably by 58 percent of New York City voters, with only 30 percent holding a favorable view of him. Voters statewide are split over Hochul: 42 percent view her favorably; 44 percent do not. Schumer, the longest-serving statewide elected official — and arguably the country's most powerful Democrat — is viewed unfavorably by 50 percent of New Yorkers. That makes him only slightly less loathed than President Donald Trump, who has a 56 percent unfavorable rating, with only 37 percent of voters in deep blue New York viewing him favorably. Why so much angst? Hochul's job approval rating, after all, is above water. More than half of voters — 53 percent — approve or strongly approve of how she's handling the office. New Yorkers, though, are apprehensive. Most voters — 45 percent — believe the state is heading in the wrong direction, while only 41 percent believe New York is on the right track. A large majority — 70 percent — believe the fiscal condition of New York is fair or poor. Fifty-three percent of voters are ready to support someone else for governor, with only 35 percent prepared to re-elect the governor. Still, there are silver linings for Hochul. Stefanik, a prominent Trump ally and House member, remains unfamiliar to 46 percent of New Yorkers. That gives the Hochul team an opening to define their potential opponent ahead of next year. 'Stefanik clearly has room to grow with voters — either positively or negatively,' Siena University pollster Steve Greenberg said. The poll of 813 registered voters was conducted from Aug. 4 to Aug. 7. It has a 4.2 percent margin of error. — Nick Reisman HAPPY TUESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE'S KATHY? In New York City making an announcement on education affordability. WHERE'S ERIC? Schedule unavailable as of 10 p.m. Monday. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'Means-testing rent regulation in NYC would lead to the mass displacement of working-class and middle-class New Yorkers in a city that has increasingly become unaffordable to both.' — Rep. Ritchie Torres on X in an apparent criticism of mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo's proposal to means test applicants for rent-stabilized apartments. ABOVE THE FOLD LIMITING TRUMP'S IMPACT: Mamdani's plan for Trump-proofing New York City if he's elected mayor is beginning to take shape as he makes the president a political foil in his general election bid. The Democratic nominee told The Nation in an interview published today that he wants to be proactive by bolstering revenues and beefing up 'sanctuary' city policies. 'You raise revenue, such that you not only are able to protect the city against the worst of the federal cuts that are to come, but also that you are able to pursue an affirmative agenda at the same time,' Mamdani said. 'It is not enough to fight Trump's vision in purely a defensive posture.' He added that he would both enforce and strengthen laws that limit cooperation between federal immigration agents and local law enforcement, contrasting that stance with the record of the current mayor. 'Just think about these policies, which have been spoken of by Eric Adams as if they are an attack on what makes us New Yorkers, when in fact they've been in existence for decades and have been defended prior to him by Republicans and Democrats alike,' Mamdani said. As Trump activates the National Guard to combat crime in Washington and threatens to do the same for New York City and other Democrat-run metropolises, Mamdani is pitching himself as the candidate who is best positioned to protect New Yorkers. Mamdani told reporters Monday at the first stop of his 'Five Boroughs Against Trump' tour that he would use every tool the city has to mitigate the impact of cuts to health care and food aid and the ramping up of deportations. He listed adding 200 attorneys to the Law Department, bringing staffing levels up at other city agencies, investing in legal representation for immigrants and expanding the use of city-funded housing vouchers as other potential Trump-proofing measures in a Mamdani administration. — Emily Ngo CITY HALL: THE LATEST QUALITY OF LIFE EXPANSION: The mayor and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Monday that the NYPD would be expanding quality-of-life enforcement teams throughout Queens. The teams are focused on responding to non-emergency calls and cracking down on offenses like panhandling, unlicensed vending and noise complaints. 'For too long, the kinds of problems that chip away at a block's sense of safety have gone unaddressed: The abandoned car that hasn't moved for months, mopeds weaving through pedestrian sidewalks, vanishing under illegal vendors, loud music blaring deep into the night, homeless encampments lining city streets,' Tisch said at a press briefing. 'These aren't isolated issues and they haven't gone unnoticed.' Since the program launched in April with six pilot sites, 'Q-Teams' have responded to 31,500 calls to 911 and 311, according to the mayor's office. They're now operating in all of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan, with plans to expand the effort to every precinct in Staten Island on Aug. 18. Adams has staked much of his reelection campaign on public safety and the decline in many major felonies, particularly murders, and shootings. However, as POLITICO has reported, the overall picture on crime is more complex. — Joe Anuta More from the city: — Mark Levine, the city's likely next comptroller, is strategizing to protect against Trump while many of his supporters hope he'll also push back on Mamdani. (City & State) — Cuomo wants to kick 'wealthy' out of NYC rent-stabilized apartments. How would that work? (Gothamist) — The one race that Adams is winning is social media content creation. (The New Yorker) NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The Internal Revenue Service's dismantling of a rule that prohibits federal tax-exempt organizations like religious institutions from engaging in direct political activity is getting a state-level response. Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis today will unveil a bill that would enforce a state-level ban on nonprofit, tax-exempt groups from participating in politics. The IRS in July announced religious leaders could endorse political candidates from the pulpit while preserving their tax-exempt status. The move reversed a decades-old federal tax code provision — although it was rarely enforced in recent years. Skoufis' bill would only affect state tax exemptions. — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Hochul insisted her redistricting push won't become a distraction. (City & State) — A bill to end anonymous child abuse reports is heading to Hochul's desk. (Gothamist) — Upstate New York groups demand Hochul stop delaying her decision on a permitless Bitcoin gas plant. (Gothamist) KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION LULL IN HOUSE DEM SUPPORT: Rep. Jerry Nadler endorsed Mamdani after his primary night win. Rep. Adriano Espaillat followed suit a couple weeks later. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez have been in his corner since his primary campaign. But no other New York House delegation members have gotten on board in the past month. Nadler is confident that Mamdani will win big in November. He also expects that some of his House colleagues will change their minds about endorsing the Democratic nominee before then. 'I think he'll get most. We'll see,' Nadler told Playbook on Monday in Manhattan at a Mamdani campaign stop. The top House Democrat, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, has met with Mamdani but offered no endorsement. Rep. Ritchie Torres said he won't endorse in the race. And Reps. Dan Goldman, Greg Meeks, Yvette Clarke and Grace Meng have yet to make a decision. Nadler said he's not pressuring them and won't speak for them. — Emily Ngo More from Congress: — Teamsters pour money into the GOP, shifting away from Dems. (POLITICO) — House Republicans want another megabill. One GOP senator says it could be 'damaging.' (POLITICO) — Jeffries hammers Trump for seizing control of Washington police. (The Hill) NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — The Bruce Springsteen biopic is set to premiere at the New York Film Festival. (Daily News) — Revel will exit the New York City rideshare market and focus on electric-vehicle charging infrastructure. (amNewYork) — Billy Joel's Oyster Bay motorcycle shop is closing as the Piano Man becomes a Florida man. (Newsday) SOCIAL DATA HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The Parkside Group's Evan Stavisky … George Soros (95) … Pursuit's Jukay Hsu … POLITICO's Kyle Blaine … Mike Holtzman … HuffPost's Dave Jamieson … Jeffrey Kontulis … Michael Lame … (WAS MONDAY): Elizabeth Holtzman Missed Monday's New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.
