Latest news with #BrianKemp
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump team 'pissed off' with Kemp over candidate pick in Georgia's Senate GOP primary battle
President Donald Trump's political team and top advisers to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia apparently aren't on the same page when it comes to the key southeastern battleground state's Republican Senate primary. The race is crucial for Republicans aiming to expand their Senate majority, as Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is running for re-election in a state that Trump narrowly carried in last year's election, is viewed by the GOP as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in next year's midterm elections. Kemp, a popular two-term conservative governor whom Trump had heavily criticized in the past, was courted by national Republicans to take on Ossoff. But Kemp, who is term-limited, announced earlier this year that he would pass on a 2026 Senate run. Sources in Trump's political orbit and Republican sources in Georgia confirm to Fox News that there was an agreement between the president's political operation and Kemp's political team that they would work together to find a candidate that they could all unify behind to take on Ossoff in the Senate race. First On Fox: Trump House Ally To Launch Senate Bid Next Week In Key Battleground State Those sources also confirm that Kemp and Trump – the ultimate kingmaker in GOP politics – met two weeks ago to discuss the Senate race in Georgia. Read On The Fox News App But when the governor floated the name of former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, a source close to the president's political team said "they were told to stand down, because Trump's team wasn't ready to move forward on anybody." And when Kemp and his team did move forward with Dooley, it upset Trump's advisers, who, according to sources, were "already pretty annoyed" that Kemp had passed earlier this year on taking on Ossoff in the Senate race. Popular Gop Governor Passes On Senate Bid In 2026 "We had a deal to work together," a top political source in the Trump orbit told Fox News on Friday. "Kemp went out on his own – which has frustrated and pissed off Trump orbit." The source added that "the best option for the GOP in Georgia was and is Brian Kemp. Unfortunately, he has chosen the path of the weak, and – instead of leading – has decided to circumvent and self-anoint a candidate no one has heard of and the president hasn't met." "The operation that delivered the win in Georgia was the Trump organization – not a faux operation – it's hard to see it rallying behind the blind ambition of someone more interested in 2028 than in 2026," the source said, in a not-so-veiled reference to Kemp's potential interest in seeking the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. But a source close to the governor told Fox News that it's factually not true that they were told to stand down on Dooley. And the source added that Kemp meant what he said that he wants to work with the president and his team and remains that way. Kemp's political team first floated the Dooley trial balloon about two months ago. A longtime Georgia-based Republican strategist said the reaction in the Peach State among Republicans "was very negative." Dooley, who is the son of former longtime University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, is close with Kemp, who is a longtime friend. And Dooley has hired two top Kemp political advisers to help with his potential Senate campaign. A Republican source in Georgia says a decision by Dooley on whether he'll run could come as early as next week. Republican Rep. Mike Collins, a Trump ally and supporter in the House, will announce his candidacy for the Senate next week, sources with knowledge told Fox News Digital on Friday. Republican Rep. Buddy Carter, who for a decade has represented a district in coastal Georgia, launched a Senate campaign in the spring. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King also announced a run, but ended his bid on Thursday. Trump and Kemp have a turbulent political history. Trump backed the then-Georgia secretary of state in his successful 2018 campaign for governor. But during the two years after his 2020 election defeat to former President Joe Biden, which included a razor-thin loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state. Trump toned down the criticism in 2022 after Kemp crushed Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue in the state's GOP gubernatorial primary, as Kemp successfully cruised to re-election to a second term as governor. Kemp Speaks Out After Trump Flips And Praises The Georgia Governor But last summer, amid the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally in Atlanta just blocks from the Georgia State Capitol. Trump blamed the governor not only for failing to overturn the 2020 vote count but also for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the former president for his attempts to reverse the results. Trump quickly changed his tune on Kemp days later, and praised the governor in a social media post "for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country." Kemp, in a Fox News Digital interview a few days later, downplayed Trump's tirade against him, calling it a "small distraction that's in the past." As Dooley moves closer to launching a campaign, Collins is just days from declaring his candidacy. Collins, a businessman who founded a trucking company, is in his second term representing Georgia's 10th Congressional District, which includes a large swath of urban, suburban, and rural areas between Atlanta and Augusta. The conservative lawmaker, who's the son of the late Republican Rep. Mac Collins of Georgia, has been moving closer to launching a Senate campaign for weeks. Collins was an early backer of the president, supporting him as Trump first ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 cycle. Collins at the beginning of this year reintroduced the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that undocumented immigrants charged with burglary or theft be detained. It's named after a Georgia nursing student killed by a man who had illegally entered the U.S. The case grabbed national attention. The bill, which quickly passed the Republican-controlled House and Senate, became the first legislation signed into law by Trump as he started his second tour of duty in the White House. A Republican source said that Collins has a "great relationship" with the president and his political team. And a Georgia-based Republican consultant told Fox News that "the lane that Mike is going to run in is the America First fighter who's been with President Trump. Carter is also courting a Trump endorsement in the GOP article source: Trump team 'pissed off' with Kemp over candidate pick in Georgia's Senate GOP primary battle
Fox News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump team 'pissed off' with Kemp over candidate pick in Georgia's Senate GOP primary battle
President Donald Trump's political team and top advisers to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia apparently aren't on the same page when it comes to the key southeastern battleground state's Republican Senate primary. The race is crucial for Republicans aiming to expand their Senate majority, as Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is running for re-election in a state that Trump narrowly carried in last year's election, is viewed by the GOP as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in next year's midterm elections. Kemp, a popular two-term conservative governor whom Trump had heavily criticized in the past, was courted by national Republicans to take on Ossoff. But Kemp, who is term-limited, announced earlier this year that he would pass on a 2026 Senate run. Sources in Trump's political orbit and Republican sources in Georgia confirm to Fox News that there was an agreement between the president's political operation and Kemp's political team that they would work together to find a candidate that they could all unify behind to take on Ossoff in the Senate race. Those sources also confirm that Kemp and Trump – the ultimate kingmaker in GOP politics – met two weeks ago to discuss the Senate race in Georgia. But when the governor floated the name of former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, a source close to the president's political team said "they were told to stand down, because Trump's team wasn't ready to move forward on anybody." And when Kemp and his team did move forward with Dooley, it upset Trump's advisers, who, according to sources, were "already pretty annoyed" that Kemp had passed earlier this year on taking on Ossoff in the Senate race. "We had a deal to work together," a top political source in the Trump orbit told Fox News on Friday. "Kemp went out on his own – which has frustrated and pissed off Trump orbit." The source added that "the best option for the GOP in Georgia was and is Brian Kemp. Unfortunately, he has chosen the path of the weak, and – instead of leading – has decided to circumvent and self-anoint a candidate no one has heard of and the president hasn't met." "The operation that delivered the win in Georgia was the Trump organization – not a faux operation – it's hard to see it rallying behind the blind ambition of someone more interested in 2028 than in 2026," the source said, in a not-so-veiled reference to Kemp's potential interest in seeking the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. Kemp's political team first floated the Dooley trial balloon about two months ago. A longtime Georgia-based Republican strategist said the reaction in the Peach State among Republicans "was very negative." Dooley, who is the son of former longtime University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, is close with Kemp, who is a longtime friend. And Dooley has hired two top Kemp political advisers to help with his potential Senate campaign. A Republican source in Georgia says a decision by Dooley on whether he'll run could come as early as next week. Republican Rep. Mike Collins, a Trump ally and supporter in the House, will announce his candidacy for the Senate next week, sources with knowledge told Fox News Digital on Friday. Republican Rep. Buddy Carter, who for a decade has represented a district in coastal Georgia, launched a Senate campaign in the spring. Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King also announced a run, but ended his bid on Thursday. Trump and Kemp have a turbulent political history. Trump backed the then-Georgia secretary of state in his successful 2018 campaign for governor. But during the two years after his 2020 election defeat to former President Joe Biden, which included a razor-thin loss in Georgia, Trump attacked Kemp for failing to overturn the election results in his state. Trump toned down the criticism in 2022 after Kemp crushed Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue in the state's GOP gubernatorial primary, as Kemp successfully cruised to re-election to a second term as governor. But last summer, amid the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump went on a 10-minute tirade against Kemp at a rally in Atlanta just blocks from the Georgia State Capitol. Trump blamed the governor not only for failing to overturn the 2020 vote count but also for not stopping a county prosecutor from indicting the former president for his attempts to reverse the results. Trump quickly changed his tune on Kemp days later, and praised the governor in a social media post "for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country." Kemp, in a Fox News Digital interview a few days later, downplayed Trump's tirade against him, calling it a "small distraction that's in the past." While it's unclear if Dooley will move forward and launch a campaign, Collins is just days from declaring his candidacy. Collins, a businessman who founded a trucking company, is in his second term representing Georgia's 10th Congressional District, which includes a large swath of urban, suburban, and rural areas between Atlanta and Augusta. The conservative lawmaker, who's the son of the late Republican Rep. Mac Collins of Georgia, has been moving closer to launching a Senate campaign for weeks. Collins was an early backer of the president, supporting him as Trump first ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 cycle. Collins at the beginning of this year reintroduced the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that undocumented immigrants charged with burglary or theft be detained. It's named after a Georgia nursing student killed by a man who had illegally entered the U.S. The case grabbed national attention. The bill, which quickly passed the Republican-controlled House and Senate, became the first legislation signed into law by Trump as he started his second tour of duty in the White House. A Republican source said that Collins has a "great relationship" with the president and his political team. And a Georgia-based Republican consultant told Fox News that "the lane that Mike is going to run in is the America First fighter who's been with President Trump. Carter is also courting a Trump endorsement in the GOP primary. Fox News reached out to the governor's political team for comment but had not received a response by the time the story was published.
Newsweek
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Nine Ways To Suppress African American Votes—the Republican Playbook
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Give Republican state legislators their due. They work hard to make it as burdensome as possible for African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and college students to vote in both state and federal elections. To accomplish this, they first have to pretend that voter fraud is widespread. That is hard enough, since the data conclusively show voter fraud to be exceedingly rare. Then, they must claim that their actions are the only way to restore "election integrity." That's even harder, since selectively disenfranchising huge swaths of the eligible voting population would seem to undermine, not promote, election integrity. Finally, they need to pretend that only illegal voters are affected. For that claim, the tens of thousands of disenfranchised U.S. citizens in states like Kansas and Georgia stand awkwardly in the way. Voters hold up their stickers after visiting a polling place to cast their ballots on Nov. 5, 2024, in Austell, Ga. Voters hold up their stickers after visiting a polling place to cast their ballots on Nov. 5, 2024, in Austell, that poll taxes and literacy tests are illegal, suppressing votes is harder still. But Republican legislators have been equal to the task. Here are their nine favorite tricks: 1. Make voter registration harder. Several Republican-controlled states have taken aim at voter registration drives, which account for disproportionately high percentages of Black and Hispanic registrations. A federal appellate court had to strike down a North Carolina law that intentionally targeted would-be Black registrants with "surgical precision." 2. Purge registered voters. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, running (successfully) for governor in 2017, purged 107,000 eligible voters from the rolls. In Ohio, failing to return a postcard from the state can cost you the right to vote. 3. Require photo IDs. Although voter impersonation is exceptionally rare (more Americans are struck by lightning), many states require voters to present photo IDs. This requirement disproportionately affects racial minorities. At least four solid red states accept gun licenses but not university IDs. Not coincidentally, college students vote overwhelmingly for Democrats while Republicans are more than twice as likely as Democrats to own guns. 4. Require documents that prove U.S. citizenship. To vote in federal elections, individuals already must swear under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens. Non-U.S. citizen voting, therefore, is virtually unheard of. Who would risk criminal prosecution, imprisonment, and deportation for the miniscule chance that their one vote would swing an election? Nonetheless, in 2022, Republican bills requiring voters to document their U.S. citizenship were pending in at least 10 state legislatures. The U.S. House has now passed a bill that would require such documentation nationwide. But how do you prove you are a U.S. citizen? More than 21 million Americans—predominantly the poor, African Americans, and young people—lack birth certificates and passports. For married women who have changed their surnames, even birth certificates would be insufficient. Moreover, since most of us don't pack birth certificates or passports when we go to shopping malls, political demonstrations, parks, outdoor concerts, places of worship, or the like, requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship would make voter registration drives impossible. 5. Slash early voting. Democrats vote early in much greater numbers than Republicans. So Republican legislatures have shortened early voting periods in states all across the country; North Carolina and Wisconsin are among the more extreme examples. In a decades-old tradition called Souls to the Polls, Black churchgoers have resisted voter suppression by traveling together to the polls after Sunday services. Republican legislatures in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Georgia have responded by drastically curtailing Sunday voting. 6. Limit ballot drop boxes. Ballot drop boxes avoid long postal delays. They are hard as a rock, safely located, and secure against fraud. Their open hours especially ease the burden on working class voters, particularly those who work nights or irregular shifts. They are used disproportionately by Black voters. But a rash of Republican-led states have banned them entirely or severely shrunk their numbers. In 2020, Texas' Harris County—which was 64 percent Black or Hispanic—had one drop box for its 4.7 million people. 7. Restrict third-party delivery of absentee ballots. Third parties frequently deliver other people's ballots. There is no evidence of widespread abuse, and they are a boon to the elderly and the disabled. Native Americans on tribal reservations sometimes live hours from the polls and lack mail service. Black churches often gather their congregants' ballots and deliver them en masse. Republican-controlled states have responded by imposing particularly severe restrictions. 8. Disenfranchise citizens with criminal convictions. The states vary widely as to which crimes disqualify citizens from voting and when voting rights may be restored. As of 2024, some 4,000,000 U.S. citizens were disenfranchised because of criminal convictions, roughly half of them even after fully serving their criminal sentences. A disproportionate number have been African American; five states, all Republican-controlled, have disenfranchised more than 10 percent of their African American adults because of criminal convictions. 9. Selectively close polling stations. Since 2013, when the Supreme Court effectively gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act, states with hallowed histories of racial discrimination in voting have ravenously reduced the number and hours of their polling stations—disproportionately in counties with large African American populations. Among the results are long lines and major transportation issues for the affected voters. In 2018, the average wait time in precincts where 90 percent of the populations were white was only 5.1 minutes; in contrast, in precincts where over 90 percent of the voters were nonwhite, the average wait time was 32.4 minutes. In some precincts, wait times exceeded five hours. In 2016, these problems induced an estimated 560,000 eligible voters to sit out the election. Republican strategists have also called for closing polling stations on college campuses, especially in swing states with large in-state student populations. This is not democracy. Stephen Legomsky is the John S. Lehmann university professor emeritus at the Washington University School of Law. He is the author of Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press, 2025). Professor Legomsky served in the Obama administration as chief counsel of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and later as senior counselor to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Fox News
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Stacey Abrams doesn't rule out another run for office, says true Christians should espouse progressive views
Failed Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams isn't ruling out a third run for governor of the Peach State, and said in a Tuesday interview that true Christians should have left-leaning views. "I truly have not made any decisions and that is in part because there's an urgency to 2025 that we cannot ignore," Abrams told NPR, concerning whether she'll run again. "My focus right now is on how do we ensure that we have free and fair elections in 2026? There's a lot of hope being pinned on the '26 midterms." Abrams was the minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017, and lost the 2018 Georgia governor's race to current Gov. Brian Kemp. She also lost to him again in a 2022 rematch. She also told NPR that true Christians should be progressive, and that it was her responsibility to help immigrants and the dispossessed. "I watched my parents live those values that education matters, that faith matters, and that helping people matters," Abrams said. "And for me, those are the values that guide me, my faith first and foremost," she added. "I cannot call myself a Christian and not believe that it is my responsibility to help the stranger, to help immigrants, to help the dispossessed. I cannot say that my faith justifies the venom that has been turned against the LGBTQIA community, the way we have demonized the transgender community. I cannot be a woman of faith who has read the Bible and just conveniently pick the passages I like," Abrams continued. Abrams also decried President Donald Trump's decision to deploy the military in Los Angeles, calling it "a violation of every precept of democratic rule under a civilian leader that we have in this country." In June, Trump sent a battalion of 700 U.S. Marines as well as 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to help quell riots protesting ICE immigration enforcement actions that resulted in violence, including the burning of the American flag and the assault on law enforcement officers. What Abrams found especially upsetting, though, was Trump's executive orders on DEI, including "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," directing federal agencies to end all DEI practices and asking the private sector to "end illegal DEI discrimination and preferences." "For me, the most important piece, though, was the number of directives, the executive orders that came out at the very beginning against DEI," Abrams said. "And people dismissed it as, 'Oh, well, this is just stopping quotas,' or 'This was an HR thing,'" she added. "But no, he was intentionally setting up a system of belief that the protection of the vulnerable, that the corrective actions this nation has taken for 249 years, that those things were somehow inherently wrong." "And it was designed to allow for the later attacks that we have seen on all of these different communities. Because if you can demonize at the beginning, it becomes a lot easier to dehumanize when it matters," Abrams said.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
More rolls, more jobs! King's Hawaiian investing $54 million in expanding Georgia facility
The bread seems to be rising in this oven called Georgia. On Thursday, Gov. Brian Kemp's office released news that King's Hawaiian will invest about $54 million in expanding its 150,000-square-foot Oakwood bakery and production plant. How is King's Hawaiian expanding its Georgia factory? The expansion will add a new production line, allowing them to produce additional flavors of King's Hawaiian Pretzel Bites. When will the expansion of King's Hawaiian factory in Georgia be finished? Start-up of the new production line is expected in the second quarter of 2026. Is King's Hawaiian hiring? The expansion will create more than 135 new jobs. The company will be hiring for positions in management, maintenance, food safety, and quality control. Those interested can learn more and apply at There are currently 21 different job listings for the Oakwood facility. Where is King's Hawaiian's Oakwood factory? The King's Hawaiian Oakwood facility is in Flower Branch at 5425 Aloha Way. It's north-east of Duluth about 47 miles from downtown Atlanta. Miguel Legoas is a Deep South Connect Team Reporter for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on Instagram @miguelegoas and email at mlegoas@ This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: King's Hawaiian expanding Georgia facility in Flowery Branch Solve the daily Crossword
