← Georgia Today
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Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, Democrats win blowout victories in two races for Georgia's Public Service Commission. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is re elected. And Georgia food banks are stepping up during the government shutdown. But demand exceeds supply.
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I would need seven warehouses like this full of food.
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Today is Wednesday, November 5th. I'm Peter Biello and this is GEORGIA Today. Democrats won blowout victories yesterday in two races for the Georgia Public Service Commission. GPB's Sarah Kalis reports.
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Democrats Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson ousted incumbent Republicans Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols. Both Johnson and Hubbard won by double digits. Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey says Georgians are ready for new leadership.
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And the people of Georgia come out.
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Very strongly and said you not putting up with it anymore. And we're ready to turn the page.
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The Public Service Commission regulates utilities across the state, including Georgia Power and what consumers pay for electricity. Commissioners have approved rate hikes for the utility six times in the last two years. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kalis.
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Let's take a closer look at those Public Service Commission races. The Democrats campaigned hard on the rising cost of utility bills. Is that what this was all about? Audrey Haynes, professor with the School of Public and International affairs at uga, joins me now. Thank you very much for speaking with me.
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Good to be here.
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So those two Public Service Commission races in which the Democrats beat the Republican incumbents, from your perspective, was it really all about high utility bills?
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In many ways, that is the answer to the question. So high utility bills cost people a lot more money. And truthfully, both sides were talking about those costs. And it's actually a pretty complex issue because in Georgia, the public, the Public Service Commission regulates Georgia Power, but it actually doesn't regulate the cost of the EMCs, for example. And in our state, EMCs have held costs steady and in some cases have actually decreased costs. So, you know, people who are paying attention to the issues are wondering, why is my electricity high? And my friend who lives over in this area of Georgia, which is why are they not paying higher rates? So that had opened up a lot of interesting issues. And part of the reason we know that is because Georgia Power has had to deal with the cost of building plant Vogel it's actually a very complex energy situation in Georgia. But if we look at what the exit polls were saying in our state, they were actually talking about the high cost of electricity. And that is what motivated many of them to turn out in the Polls.
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You mentioned Plant Vogel. That's the nuclear plant in East Georgia. So based on what you're saying, would we see a higher turnout in favor of the incumbents in places that are served by EMCs, which may not have seen as big a rate jump?
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Well, you know, that's interesting because really, I was looking at the data today and the places where you expect there to be really red or really blue turnout. You had results that kind of matched up to partisan teams. But what people may not be looking at the map would show you that there are a lot of places that are a little pink, a little orange. A lot of them ended up voting for the Democratic candidate. Now, it might not have been huge margins. They might have won by 200 to 800 votes, but you did see a shift. So in a way, there was a lot more of a blue map in Georgia than you would have seen in just the 2024 election.
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How much do you think policy mattered here? Were voters, in your view at all concerned about electing commissioners who may have been thinking differently than the incumbents on clean energy, for example?
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Well, that's an interesting point because Tim Echols, who was one of those incumbents, has been on the commission for quite some time. Tim Eccles was somebody who, on policy might look like some Democrats do, talking about EVs and talking about clean energy and so on. But as. As the election got a little bit more heated, a lot of the talking points that Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson were talking about were more sort of those conservative talking points that you hear in national elections. People were throwing around words like dei, which really do not seem to go along with the policy concerns and the things that the Public Service Commission do. So maybe by the time people started paying attention to the race, they were hearing things that may not have moved them, and they were really concerned with change overall.
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Do you think this teaches Democrats in Georgia anything about how to win other races in the state?
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You know, the bread and butter issue of the Democrats has often been about the working public, the working class, making sure that people can achieve at least the basics of the American dream, which is a home or education, a decent job, healthcare. And now in November, with the shutdown, it's about to be Thanksgiving in America. Christmas is around the corner, but instead, your electricity rate is higher, your healthcare premiums just went up, whether you were in the market or not in the market, whether you have Obamacare or not, whether. And you're about to hear from neighbors who are saying that they don't have enough money to eat. The SNAP benefits are gone because the government is shut down. I mean, there is a lot of surround sound information on in the general public about how things are not going very well. What they're going through right now is making them feel like things are not great at all and who are you going to blame? And in the most case in political science, you don't need a PhD for this. You blame the people who are in charge.
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We'll have to leave it there. Audrey Haynes, professor with the School of Public and International affairs at uga, thank you so much for your analysis. We really do appreciate it.
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You're welcome.
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In other closely watched races, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens handily won another four year term in office, fending off three challengers at an election night watch party. Dickens thanked his supporters and reflected on his first term successes, pointing to lower homicide rates and affordable housing construction, among other priorities. This second term will be an opportunity to double down on the work that we've started. Dickens won the race with more than 80% of the vote. Voters and scores of other Georgia cities elected mayors and city council members and decided whether they should tax themselves for education and other purposes. We have more on the major races@gpb.org News Investigation the DeKalb County Police Department is investigating an incident in which a police officer allegedly harassed a transgender woman who had used the women's restroom at a public library. Sasha Swinson says after using the restroom last month at Tucker Reed H. Kofer Library, a police officer allegedly told her next time she needed to use the men's room or the family restroom. The officer allegedly told her she was not a woman. Both Tucker and DeKalb county have ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity. Swinson says police need to know that she and other transgender people aren't breaking the law in these instances. If this is a way for people in the police department to become more informed and more educated, so hopefully this doesn't happen to the next person and I'll be very pleased that something good has come out of this. The DeKalb County Police Department has not responded to GPB's request for comment. Macon Bibb county is giving $150,000 to the Middle Georgia Community Food bank to help ease the challenge of feeding people during the federal government shutdown. GPB's Grant Blankenship has more Middle Georgia.
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Community Food bank CEO Kathy McCollum says even in normal times, about one in three kids in Macon struggles to find food. And so during a press conference at the Food bank warehouse, she said to cope with the pause and snap on.
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Top of that, I would need seven warehouses like this full of food.
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McCollum says food donations are okay. If you want to help. Just remember they take extra time for staff to sort of and what you give may be food people with health issues can't eat.
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So the fastest way for us to be able to help is to be able to take dollars that are donated to us, spend that at wholesale prices on large quantities of food, which is.
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Exactly what McCollum says she'll do with the money. From Macon, Bibb County For GPB News, I'm Grant Blankenship in Macon.
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The Second Harvest of South Georgia Food bank in Valdosta has begun sharing food with children who had been enrolled in and were counting on meals from Head Start programs. Those meals have been paused by the government shutdown. The organization is sharing food with about 250 children in Ware, Atkinson, Coffee and Clinch counties. Each kit from Second Harvest will give kids enough food for five breakfasts and five lunches. The food bank also distributed kits at Moody Air Force base, where about 200 military families received the help. And that's it for this edition of Georgia today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit gpb.org news and if you haven't hit subscribe on this podcast, take a moment right now and keep us current in your podcast feed. If you've got feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Send it to us by email. The address is Georgia todaypb.org I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.