By Jill Nolin | Editor
Happy Saturday! There’s just a little more than one week left until Election Day.
Early voting check-in: As of yesterday, nearly 1.6 ballots had been cast. This coming week is the last week of early voting.
What do the ballot measures actually do? Many of you have already voted, but if you haven’t, we offer this look at the three constitutional amendments on the ballot. Should farmers who own up to 4,000 acres of land qualify for a tax relief program? Should all probate judges be nonpartisan? And should Georgia take a step toward designating funding to modernize 911 systems across the state?
A flurry of campaign stops: We’re running around these days trying to keep up with the frenzied pace of campaigning as we enter the homestretch of the election. We’ll have coverage of some of the big names rolling through Georgia this weekend.
Listen in: Recorder reporter Alander Rocha was part of a reporter roundtable about the hottest gubernatorial and legislative races in the country. It’s the latest episode from the Stories from the States podcast. You can check it out here or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Hope you have a great weekend.
Candidates for Georgia Attorney General (left to right) Tanya Miller and Brian Strickland had a fiery exchange at the Atlanta Press Club general election debates on Oct. 12, 2026, when Miller pressed Strickland on a data center project proposed on his family farm land that he now says is “dead.” Pool photo via J Glenn Photography
2026 ELECTION
By Alander Rocha
Georgia candidates up and down the ballot are campaigning on an issue that has struck a nerve across the political spectrum: data centers.
A wave of data center projects across Georgia has been met with outrage in many communities in the last year or so, causing state lawmakers from both parties to push a flurry of legislative solutions during the 2026 legislative session. But in the end, none of the bills passed.
Since then, Georgia has become the leading state for data centers. Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who is term-limited and leaving office after this year, has welcomed the facilities, saying at a data center-related event in Washington this summer that “we cannot let China win this race, and that’s what some people want,” referencing the race between the U.S. and China to develop increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models.
Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, speaks at a press conference with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in DeKalb County on the first day of early voting on Oct. 13, 2026. Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder
2026 ELECTION
By Ariel Hart
Keisha Lance Bottoms stood outside the DeKalb County elections headquarters facing more than 20 reporters and news cameras as early voting got underway earlier this month. Flanked by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who had just voted for her, Bottoms rattled off the reasons Georgians should vote for her, too. She didn’t mention Medicaid expansion, the driving force for Democrats in Georgia state races since 2010.
Under questioning by a reporter, Bottoms quickly retrieved the issue, reiterating what she’s said before on the campaign trail: Medicaid expansion is a core issue of hers. But the moment was telling. Has Medicaid expansion lost its fire as a Democratic campaign issue?
“Medicaid still remains a top priority in this state,” Bottoms insisted. “It continues to be a priority and will be a day-one priority for me to prepare our state agencies for that expansion.”
Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee for Georgia governor, speaks at a Donald Trump rally near Marietta, Georgia. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
2026 ELECTION
By Alander Rocha
Republican candidate for governor Rick Jackson will join President Donald Trump at a second rally this month after all.
Jackson’s campaign said on Monday that he would skip Trump’s upcoming Saturday rally in middle Georgia, opting instead to act as “a force multiplier” at an event with Gov. Brian Kemp in suburban Atlanta as the race, which polling averages indicate is a virtual tie, enters the final stretch.
By Friday afternoon, the campaign changed course, saying that Jackson will now do both as Republicans try to boost turnout.
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OTHER GEORGIA NEWS
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