By Jill Nolin | Editor
“We are still going to vote Democrat for the Public Service Commission, [and] most likely Republican for everything else. We’re still mad about them giving all those increases to Georgia Power, and we just feel that all those people need to be changed out and need to be led by another party, so maybe they’ll do something different to help us.” - Nancy Lubeck, a Twiggs County resident who identifies as a lifelong Republican.
From left, Republican Georgia Public Service Commission candidates Bobby Mehan and Josh Tolbert participate in an Atlanta Press Club debate on March 31, 2026. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
ENERGY
By Alander Rocha
The race for two Georgia Public Service Commission seats this November is becoming a test on whether pocketbook issues and concerns about unchecked data center growth can overcome traditional party lines.
Voters are paying more attention to these once little-known, down-ballot races after the commission signed off on a series of Georgia Power rate increases in recent years.
Kaelah Oberdorf, 24, had a medication abortion in 2023 when she discovered she was pregnant while still recovering from the debilitating postpartum depression she had after giving birth to her daughter. Oberdorf said she was in an emotionally abusive relationship and didn’t want her daughter or herself to be tied to that partner for life. (Courtesy of Kaelah Oberdorf)
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
Access to telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone is threatened by an ongoing lawsuit in Louisiana. That state government has sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, trying to strike down the agency’s 2023 rule allowing the medication to be dispensed without an in-person visit.
Researchers, advocates and survivors of domestic violence say it’s vital to keep telehealth access available for people in abusive relationships who need discreet abortion options. The Louisiana lawsuit, however, argues in part that mifepristone has been weaponized against pregnant women in abusive relationships and shouldn’t be available by telehealth.
Montanans stand in line to register to vote at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller/Daily Montanan)
VOTING RIGHTS
By Jonathan Shorman
The U.S. Senate rejected the SAVE America Act on Thursday, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose voting restrictions ahead of the November midterm elections.
Senators voted 48-50 against advancing an amendment that would have incorporated Trump’s top legislative priority into an immigration-focused spending bill. The vote offered the clearest sign yet that despite pressure from the president, a handful of Republican senators continue to resist advancing the bill, which critics say would unleash immense chaos ahead of elections this fall.
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ICYMI FROM THE RECORDER
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