Tag: politics

Welcome to Atlanta where the players play, and we ride in the fast lane of the American news highway. We don’t mean to brag, but when it comes to politics, Atlanta is pretty much the center of the universe: Politicians love us (or love to hate us), our celebs get voters to turn out (for what), and, most importantly, we’re the capital of Georgia, which has emerged as one of the biggest battleground states in the 2024 presidential election. Here’s a look at Atlanta’s headline-making moments over the last four years.

As Democrats attempt to flip the state for a second presidential election, many don’t know that the Democratic Party once dominated politics in Georgia, though in a very different form. For most of the 20th century, much of the South embraced the party, whose ideological identity—like that of its foil, the Republicans—was forged by the deepest conflicts in American history. It was progressive Republicans who pushed for an end to slavery, while Democrats espoused a conservative commitment to the status quo. But over the last 100 years, the nation’s two major political parties have effectively swapped sides. Here’s how it happened.

The 2020 presidential election started out normally enough for Fulton County poll workers. Angie Jones, a site manager, began her day at her voting location at five a.m. But before she prepared the Dominion voting machines or organized standing areas for poll watchers, Jones joined the entire poll worker team—assistant managers, clerks, and technicians alike—to recite and sign their respective state oaths. This ritual is done before every election, big and small, to promise that poll workers will “truly, impartially, and faithfully perform” their duties. “In 2020, the general election went smoothly for us, and nothing stood out as unusual,” Jones says. “[But] after we closed at seven p.m. and Donald Trump was losing Georgia, the focus was on us.”

A disorienting array of demonstrators scattered across Midtown Thursday to protest, celebrate, and, for the most part, boisterously ignore the biggest show in town—the first debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in this tumultuous election cycle.

These are Atlanta's 500 most powerful leaders. We spent months consulting experts and sorting through nominations to get a list of the city's most influential people—from artists to chefs to philanthropists to sports coaches and corporate CEOs. In this section, we focus on civic leaders, government and politics, transportation, and utilities.

If the word “redistricting” is giving you deja vu, you’re remembering correctly. Georgia just drew new district maps in 2021, but in October, a federal judge threw out those maps, calling them racially discriminatory, and instructed Georgia lawmakers to draw new ones. On Wednesday, the legislature convened for a special session to draw the new district maps. To help you understand what’s happening, here are some of your redistricting questions, answered.

From sports to comedy, politics to music, the Atlanta podcast scene is booming. Here’s what happening in the local podcast scene, including new productions and the latest on recurring favorites.

Once again, Georgia is at the center of the biggest story in American politics, after former President Donald Trump and 18 others were indicted in an alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. This is the fourth indictment for Trump this year—here is what is unique about the Fulton County case, including that it could be televised and a conviction here would be more difficult to pardon.

Bill Nigut is the highly regarded former host of Georgia Public Broadcast (GPB) political talk show Political Rewind, and the new role comes at an interesting time. In June, GPB announced Political Rewind was set to sunset at the end of June, disappointing longtime listeners. This fall, he returns to airwaves to co-host the Politically Georgia podcast alongside the AJC’s award-winning reporters, Greg Bluestein, Patricia Murphy, and Tia Mitchell.

The District Attorneys Oversight Commission is in, school vouchers are out. Here’s a look at which laws passed, which didn’t, and who’s salty about it