The Week In Georgia Politics: Keisha Lance Bottoms Pulls Up On Rick Jackson; Sen. Ossoff Highlights Trump Aide; Entire Dublin School Board Suspended By Governor; 4 Former Atlanta Mayors Speak On City’s Past, Future

The Georgia gubernatorial race exploded into raw personal conflict on Thursday when Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms pulled up on her Republican opponent, billionaire Rick Jackson, outside a downtown business summit.

The high-stakes face-to-face clash occurred on the sidewalk outside the Hilton Atlanta, where both candidates were scheduled to speak at the National Business League Conference. Video of the interaction, which quickly flooded social media, showed Bottoms approaching Jackson to issue a direct warning regarding recent attack ads targeting her husband, Derek Bottoms.

“I’m fair game. Please stay away from my family,” Bottoms told Jackson as the two stood inches apart.

Jackson, a prominent healthcare executive making his first bid for public office, appeared caught off guard. He initially replied, “I hear you,” before offering a brief compliment on Bottoms’ attire and walking away toward the venue.

The personal clash outside the Hilton underscores the immense pressure between two candidates locked in a race that pollsters view as a toss-up. Jackson’s team has poured millions into aggressive television advertisements targeting Keisha Lance Bottoms’ previous tenure as Mayor of Atlanta, focusing on an old controversy involving that Bottoms has described as her husband’s inadvertent use of a city credit card.

Bottoms has maintained the charge was an error that was fully disclosed and repaid to the city years ago.

“When you don’t have a record to stand on, you attack people’s families,” Bottoms said in a statement following the encounter.

Speaking to reporters later, Jackson defended the focus of his campaign’s messaging, arguing that the spending habits of the former mayor and her inner circle remain a matter of public interest.

The Bottoms campaign has countered Jackson’s offensive by training its sights on his corporate background, highlighting lucrative state healthcare contracts awarded to Jackson’s company.

With early voting approaching, voters are likely to see continued fireworks between the two campaigns in this historic electoral showdown.

Ossoff Highlights Trump Aide

Just days before the Bottoms-Jackson confrotnation, incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff drew headlines during an Atlanta campaign rally where he referenced Trump presidential aide Natalie Harp.

Harp, a highly loyal and prominent White House aide to President Donald Trump, normally remains quietly behind the scenes. But in his speech, Ossoff targeted Trump’s work ethic and handling of the war in Iran, stating that the president “doesn’t want to do the job” and instead “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace”. The remark quickly went viral, thrusting Harp into the national spotlight and triggering a fierce back-and-forth between Ossoff and the White House.

Key Details of the Controversy

The White House “Meltdown”: In response to Ossoff’s remarks, the White House launched aggressive personal attacks against the Senator, with spokespersons calling him a “miserable person” and a “cringe-worthy feminine theater kid”. Trump personally mocked Ossoff, comparing him to “Pee-wee Herman”.

The “Flying Palace” Context: Ossoff’s comment referenced a highly criticized incident in Turkey, where Trump secretly left Air Force One to board a smaller aircraft due to security threats from Iran. Harp was among a very select group of aides chosen to fly out with him, while high-ranking cabinet members like Secretary of State Marco Rubio were left on the main plane.

Ossoff’s Defense: Ossoff doubled down on his remarks during media appearances on MS NOW. He argued that White House staffers are tax-funded public officials holding immense power, accusing Harp and other aides of acting as a “security blanket” and sycophants who print out a “daily dose of delusion and flattery” rather than telling Trump what he needs to hear.

Kemp Suspends Entire Dublin School Board

In an unprecedented intervention, Governor Brian Kemp signed an executive order late Monday suspending all seven members of the Dublin City Board of Education. The directive follows months of reported systemic financial mismanagement that has left the local school system drowning in a $20 million deficit and teetering on the edge of losing its accreditation.

The governor’s swift action came immediately after a unanimous 10-0 vote by the Georgia State Board of Education, which recommended the total ouster of the local leadership.

A District in Chaos

The central Georgia school system, which serves approximately 2,300 students, has been plagued by a cascade of fiscal failures. A state investigation revealed the district failed to pay $5.6 million in employer contributions to the State Health Benefit Plan. Furthermore, the Georgia Department of Labor flagged the school system for over $435,000 in unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest.

State officials also noted that the district has failed to submit complete financial audits for four consecutive fiscal years. The deepening crisis had already forced the removals of both the district superintendent and the chief financial officer earlier this year. To stay afloat, the hobbled school system recently shortened its academic calendar and eliminated dozens of staff positions.

The executive order immediately sidelines all seven sitting board members:

• Amanda Smith
• John Bell
• Jeff Davis
• Joanna Glover
• Peggy Johnson
• James Lanier
• Kenny Walters

Under Georgia law, the board members will remain suspended with pay, and they maintain the right to appeal the governor’s decision within the next 60 days.

The Path Forward

To restore governance to the school system, Governor Kemp has empaneled a five-member nominating committee chaired by State Board of Education member Matt Donaldson.

The committee is tasked with vetting local applicants to fill the vacant seats on a temporary basis. Qualified Dublin residents wishing to serve on the temporary board have until 5:00 PM on August 26 to submit letters of intent and resumes. The committee aims to deliver a list of recommended replacements to the governor’s office by September 1.

11 Alive Hosts Atlanta Mayors For Chat About City’s Past, Future—Legacy Of Inclusion And Diversity

11 Alive collectively interviewed four of Atlanta’s five living former mayors last week in a conversation that centered around the city’s past, its future, and it’s legacy of inclusion and diversity.

The panel included Civil Rights legend and former Mayor, Congressman, and United States Ambassador Andrew Young; former Mayor Bill Campbell; former Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Mayor Kasim Reed.

The four all paid homage to the late Maynard Jackson, the city’s first Black Mayor, who served three different terms as the city’s chief executive: First Term 1974–1978; Second Term: 1978–1982; and Third Term 1990–1994. Mayor Jackson is credited as having set the city on a course that helped firmly establish the city’s Black middle class and legacy of Black political dominance.

He is also credited with helping to spur the growth and development of Black entrepreneurship within the city.

Part of Mayor Jackson’s effort relied on the implementation of Affirmative Action initiatives designed to level the playing field for Black vendors and entrepreneurs who had previously been locked out of doing business with the city.

Ambassador Young said Jackson was elected on the idea that, “We had to have everything integrated” and that, “There had to be specific percentages” in order to address generations of government-mandated inequality.

Ambassador Young then pointed out how Jackson and city leaders worked to create opportunities for minorities and lower costs for poor residents during the city’s transition from a post-segregation period.

Former Mayor Campbell then mentioned that today, 11 percent of the businesses operating in the city of Atlanta are owned by Black people, which he said is a credit to the work of the late mayor. “There are more Black businesses in Atlanta than anywhere in America”, Campbell said. “His vision, his dream, has come to fruition, and all of us are beneficiaries of that”.

Ambasador Young then spoke on how the city’s approach to opening the door for racial minorities also benefited women, particularly White women, who the Ambassador said were not well-represented in local business during Mayor Jackson’s earliest days in office.

“We didn’t make it just race. We also emphasized gender”, said Ambassador Young, who said they were no White women in business at the time the airport was being built in the early 1970s.

The Ambassador then told the story of a struggling young White woman who was living in the Midtown-based Techwood projects who applied for and obtained a multi-million dollar contract to repave the parking lot at the airport–thanks to the diversifying efforts of Mayor Jackson and other local leaders such as Ambassador Young.

“There were many people being discriminated against”, Ambassador Young said.

“The power of what we have accomplished is”, former Mayor Reed said, “if you come to Atlanta, you can find it”.

Former Mayor Franklin offered her take that, “Atlanta has come full circle to understand that diversity is our strength”.

Take a look at the interview below.