Raffensperger announces run for Governor; Number of unninsured children growing

Summary

Georgia Today Podcast Summary – September 17, 2025
Host: Orlando Montoya, Georgia Public Broadcasting
Episode Focus:

• Brad Raffensperger announces run for Georgia Governor
• Rising number of uninsured children in Georgia
• Limits of free speech after the Charlie Kirk assassination
• Other key news from Georgia: CDC safety, theft of Beyoncé’s music, agriculture, airport modernization, labor law, trade, and sports

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1. Main Theme & Purpose

Today's episode blends high-profile political developments, public health concerns, workplace free speech issues, and community reporting. The announcement of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's gubernatorial run and an alarming rise in uninsured children headlined the show, complemented by nuanced discussion of recent firings over social media posts after the killing of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. Raffensperger Announces Run for Governor

[00:37 - 01:47]

• Brad Raffensperger, current Secretary of State, declared his Republican candidacy for governor, emphasizing his conservative credentials and tough decision-making history.
  • Quote: “I'm a conservative Republican and I'm prepared to make the tough decisions. I follow the law and the Constitution and I'll always do the right thing for Georgia no matter what.”
    —Brad Raffensperger [01:02]
• Platform priorities: Jobs, cutting property taxes, education reform (parental control).
• Gears up for a competitive Republican primary against Burt Jones, Chris Carr, Ken Yasker, and Clark Dean.
• The Democratic primary heats up with ex-Lt. Gov. Jeff Duncan (former Republican) making his first campaign appearance after announcing his party switch.
  • Duncan stresses his record resisting Donald Trump and his involvement with VP Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign.
  • Quote: “I've worked as hard as anybody in this state and... against pushing back against Donald Trump and his toxic visceral leadership style...”
    —Jeff Duncan [02:06]

B. CDC Safety, Anti-Vaccine Violence, and Disinformation

[02:36 - 03:38]

• Former CDC leaders Susan Menarez and Deborah Houry expressed alarm over a violent shooting incident at CDC headquarters, linked to anti-vaccine disinformation in the wake of leadership under Health Secretary RFK Jr.
  • Bullets fired led to trauma among staff, fear for personal safety, and withdrawal from public vaccine advocacy.
  • Quote: “Each bullet was meant for a person and each of my staff were very traumatized afterwards... many won't speak about vaccines now...”
    —Susan Menarez [03:17]
• Senators Warnock and Ossoff demand heightened CDC security measures.

C. Uninsured Children Rising in Georgia

[04:18 - 04:58]

• 48,000 Georgia children lost health insurance from 2022–2024, linked mainly to "Medicaid unwinding".
• Upcoming federal Medicaid cuts and possible loss of ACA subsidies may worsen the trend.
• Fear among immigrant families, especially regarding deportation, discourages seeking healthcare, worsening coverage among non-white kids.
  • Quote: “We've already heard many anecdotes about children not going to well child or sick visits and other medical appointments. As a consequence of this fear, already.”
    —Susan Menarez [04:49]
• Non-white children face greater risk of losing coverage.

D. Free Speech, Social Media, and Employment Law Post-Charlie Kirk Assassination

[07:32 - 15:03]

• Several Georgia employers disciplined or terminated workers over controversial social media posts regarding Charlie Kirk's killing.
• Analysis by Emory Law Prof. Deepa Das Acevedo revealed:
  • Private-sector employees generally lack First Amendment protection at work.
    • Quote: “Employees in the private workforce... do not, generally speaking, have federal First Amendment rights at work.”
      —Deepa Das Acevedo [08:34]
  • Public sector workers have some protections, but most Georgia workers are vulnerable to employer discipline for out-of-work speech.
  • Academic freedom is not a legally enforceable right—it's mostly an industry expectation [10:08 - 10:48].
  • Employers should clearly define and communicate standards for acceptable speech, especially before crises arise [11:15].
  • Political vs. unacceptable (e.g., racist, ableist) speech: The legal difference hinges on worker classification and context, not just the category of speech [12:31].
  • If speech discipline overlaps with discrimination against protected classes (race, sex, religion), litigation is possible, but usually not for political speech alone [13:37].
  • Advice for Social Media:
    • Quote: “What you put out there in a moment, in the heat of the moment, is going to stay out there... Find a friend and do it in person, don't do it online.”
      —Deepa Das Acevedo [14:21]

E. Additional Stories

• Beyoncé Music Theft ([05:06]):
  • Arrest in July for rental car break-in; unreleased music stolen on thumb drive, not recovered.
• Georgia Agriculture & Weather ([06:18 - 06:46]):
  • Drought threatens peanut harvest; lack of rain impacts crop yields and harvest conditions.
• Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Expansion ([07:00]):
  • Mayor Dickens inaugurates new gates in a $1.3B airport project, promising more space and efficiency.
• Hurricane Helene Aftermath ([15:38]):
  • Farm survey reveals widespread power outages, emergency services failures, and water shortages after 2024 storm; calls for more rural disaster resilience.
• US-Mexico Airline Partnership ([15:38]):
  • Delta and Aeromexico ordered to end joint operations due to trade disputes and alleged unfair Mexican aviation policies.
• WNBA Playoffs ([15:38]):
  • Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever face a playoff series-decider in Atlanta.

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3. Notable Quotes

• “I'm a conservative Republican and I'm prepared to make the tough decisions. I follow the law and the Constitution and I'll always do the right thing for Georgia no matter what.”
  —Brad Raffensperger [01:02]

• “I've worked as hard as anybody in this state and been as loud as anybody… against pushing back against Donald Trump and his toxic visceral leadership style that's corroding every nook and cranny of this entire country.”
  —Jeff Duncan [02:06]

• “Each bullet was meant for a person and each of my staff were very traumatized afterwards… many won't speak about vaccines now and remove their names off of papers…”
  —Susan Menarez [03:17]

• “Employees in the private workforce… do not, generally speaking, have federal First Amendment rights at work.”
  —Deepa Das Acevedo [08:34]

• “What you put out there in a moment, in the heat of the moment, is going to stay out there long after you have calmed down or your perspective has shifted… Find a friend and do it in person, don't do it online.”
  —Deepa Das Acevedo [14:21]

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4. Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:37] Raffensperger gubernatorial announcement
• [02:06] Jeff Duncan discusses his campaign and break with Trump
• [03:17] CDC leadership on anti-vaccine shooting and staff trauma
• [04:18] Coverage loss among Georgia children explained
• [08:34] Free speech rights in Georgia workplaces
• [10:08] Academic freedom’s shaky legal footing
• [11:15] Advice to employers on handling free speech
• [14:21] Personal advice for using social media during tense times

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5. Tone & Language

The episode balances factual, in-depth reporting with explanatory interviews, reflecting the urgent and serious tone of Georgia’s shifting political and social landscape.

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6. Summary Takeaways

• 2026 gubernatorial races in Georgia are poised to be fiercely contested on both sides.
• The number of uninsured children in Georgia is rising, driven by policy changes and deepening disparities.
• Recent high-profile social unrest highlights that free speech at work—even outside work hours—has significant limits for most Georgians, underscoring the importance of careful, intentional engagement on social media.
• Georgia faces persistent challenges, from natural disasters and public health security to infrastructure and labor disputes.

Listeners leave with a nuanced picture of the state's political, social, and legal climate as Georgia heads into a heated election year.

Transcript

[Orlando Montoya]

Hello and welcome to the Georgia Today Podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announces his run for governor. Recent numbers from the U.S. census shows the number of children without health insurance in Georgia has gone up. And in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, some Georgians are learning the limits of free speech.

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

Employees in the private workforce, whether they're in Georgia or elsewhere in the country, do not, generally speaking, have federal First Amendment rights.

[Orlando Montoya]

Today is Wednesday, September 17th. I'm Orlando Montoya and this is Georgia Today. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is running for governor. He announced his bid for Georgia's top office in a video released today and where he highlighted his legal fights against former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

[Brad Raffensperger]

I'm a conservative Republican and I'm prepared to make the tough decisions. I follow the law and the Constitution and I'll always do the right thing for Georgia no matter what.

[Orlando Montoya]

Raffensperger says. His platform centers around bringing good paying jobs, reducing property taxes and putting parents in charge of education. He'll face lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr, veteran Ken Yasker and real estate executive Clark Dean in the Republican primary next year. Running for governor as a Democrat, former Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Duncan made his first campaign appearance today in Atlanta after announcing his candidacy on Tuesday. GPB Sarah Kalis reports.

[Sarah Kalis]

Duncan, who officially became a Democrat in August, greeted voters and small business owners at Black Coffee Atlanta, a black owned cafe. He says he is prepared to answer skeptical voters about his Democratic values and pointed to his involvement in former Vice President Kamala Harris campaign in 2024.

[Brad Raffensperger]

I've worked as hard as anybody in this state and been as loud as anybody in this state and that includes anybody in this race against pushing back against Donald Trump and his toxic visceral leadership style that's corroding every nook and cranny of this entire country.

[Sarah Kalis]

Duncan served as lieutenant governor from 2019 to 2023 but did not seek reelection for a second term. Duncan enters an already crowded field that includes five other Democrats. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kalis in Atlanta.

[Orlando Montoya]

Two top former officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today described For US Senators, an Atlanta based agency rocked by changes under Health Secret Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And his anti vaccine advisers fired CDC Director Susan Menarez and former CDC Chief medical officer Deborah Houry warned the US Is becoming a dangerous place under the new administration. Auri recalled the shooting at the agency on August 8 when hundreds of bullets were fired at the building. Authorities accused the gunman of being motivated by anti vaccine disinformation.

[Susan Menarez]

Each bullet was meant for a person and each of my staff were very traumatized afterwards. I had staff that were covering their kids in the daycare parking lot. I have many that won't speak about vaccines now and remove their names off of papers they don't wish to present publicly anymore because they feel they were personally targeted because of misinformation.

[Orlando Montoya]

Georgia U.S. senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff this week said they sent the CDC's acting director a letter demanding the agency's plans to ensure a safe and secure environment as its employees return to work. Recent numbers from the U.S. census Bureau show the rate of American adults and children who are uninsured has remained largely the same. But a closer look indicates Georgia is among states where the number of uninsured kids has gone up and federal cuts could exacerbate the issue. GPB's Sophie Gratis has more on the trends.

[Sophie Gratis]

Between 2022 and 2024, 48,000 kids in Georgia lost health insurance. Medicaid unwinding played a big role in that. In coming years, Georgia will lose millions in federal spending on its Medicaid program, which could see more kids lose coverage. Then there's the Affordable Care Act. A national increase of kids covered by marketplace plans will likely end with an expected expiration of subsidies to Joan Alker, with Georgetown center for Children and Families says a fear of being deported is also causing families to avoid health care.

[Susan Menarez]

We've already heard many anecdotes about children not going to well child or sick visits and other medical appointments. As a consequence of this fear, already.

[Sophie Gratis]

Non white kids are more likely to be uninsured. For GPB News, I'm Sophie Gradas.

[Orlando Montoya]

Police have made an arrest in a July auto break in that two people touring with Beyonce said resulted in the theft of the singer's unreleased music. Atlanta police said on Tuesday that the suspect is in custody. Jail records do not list an attorney for the suspect, Kelvin Evans. He's charged with entering an automobile with the intent to commit theft. A dancer and choreographer traveling with Beyonce for her Atlanta concerts told police on July 8 that someone broke into their rental vehicle and stole two suitcases. Police said stolen items included a thumb drive containing Beyonce's unreleased music, but nothing has been recovered. All right, let's talk a little bit about the weather. I've been enjoying it lately. It's been perfect out there temperature wise and temperatures are average for September after an unseasonably cool August. But as I'm sure you've noticed, it's been very dry, and that could mean trouble for Georgia's peanut farmers. GPB's Chase McGee has that story.

[Chase McGee]

Some of the earliest leaves are falling across the state, and a lot of Georgia's commodity crops have been harvested. But peanuts are different, and University of Georgia agricultural climatologist Pam Knox says that could spell trouble as dry conditions move closer to a drought.

[Pam Knox]

For one thing, they need rain to fill the pods because you don't want to have the pods half full of nuts. But if it's really dry, the ground tends to get really hard, and then it's hard to get those peanuts up out of the ground because the ground gets crusty, she says.

[Chase McGee]

One thing that could break up a drought is a fall tropical storm, and while the forecast is quiet right now, all the conditions are right for severe storms later in the month. For GPB news, I'm Chase McGee.

[Orlando Montoya]

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens cut the ribbon this morning to celebrate the completion of the second phase of a Concourse D modernization project at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Five new passenger gates will open tomorrow, and Dickens said passengers will be surprised by the transformation of the space. ATL's passengers will walk along into this larger area, larger gate areas, upgraded restrooms.

[Interviewer]

And spaces that move people more efficiently.

[Orlando Montoya]

The concourse renovation and widening are part of a $1.3 billion project to be completed in 2029. Some Georgia workers are learning the limits of free speech as they face discipline for social media comments in the wake of the fatal shooting of right wing influencer Charlie Kirk. Cobb County Schools, Children's Health Care of Atlanta, Delta Airlines and a piano bar. Savannah Smiles are among Georgia employers that have either fired or placed on leave employees because of comments related to Kirk's stunning death last week. Here to talk about the intersection of free speech, employment law and social media is Emory Law professor Deepa Das Acevedo. Thanks for speaking with me.

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

Thanks so much for having me, Orlando.

[Orlando Montoya]

First of all, broadly speaking and briefly, where does the law in Georgia come.

[Interviewer]

Down between protecting an employee's freedom of.

[Orlando Montoya]

Expression and protecting a company's reputational integrity?

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

So one thing that is important to remember as a baseline is that employees in the private workforce, whether they're in Georgia or elsewhere in the country, do not, generally speaking, have federal First Amendment rights at work. So you can be fired for something that you said on socials, at a football game and so on. There might be some limitations on that, but we don't really have any of those limitations strongly applicable in Georgia?

[Interviewer]

Is there any difference between categories of workers in relation to the rights they have? For instance, perhaps back of the house dishwasher versus corporate leader or public versus private workers?

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

What matters more for analyzing employment rights, including speech rights at work, isn't so much whether you hold a particular role, but the type of worker you're classified as being. So are you an employee or are you an independent contractor? That makes a difference, legally speaking. And one of the differences that you mentioned matters a lot. Are you a public sector employee or are you a private sector employee? Public sector employees, people who work for some branch of the government or some state actor, do have some free speech rights at work, but private sector employees don't.

[Interviewer]

What about academics? We always hear about academic freedom, but it's shaky.

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

Well, this is getting close to home. But academic freedom, generally speaking, is not considered a legally enforceable right. It's an industry norm. It is something that universities, as employers and scholars, faculty as employees, believe is necessary in order for professors to do the work that they were hired to do. But it's not the same thing as saying that you have a constitutional or statutory right to engage in certain types of work and that you can bring a lawsuit if you were fired for engaging in those types of permissible.

[Interviewer]

GPB has not seen the social media posts in question by the employees of Cobb County Schools, Children's Health Care of Atlanta or the other employers that I mentioned earlier, but they're clearly unacceptable to the employers. How can companies and organizations define unacceptable speech and train workers to understand what's expected of them, especially in politically sensitive.

[Orlando Montoya]

And emotionally charged situations?

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

I think it's really important for employers first to have their own idea of what they consider acceptable boundaries of speech, particularly when employees are speaking in a private capacity. If you don't have a sense of that as an employer, you can't possibly communicate that effectively to your workforce. So first, employers need to kind of settle on what they are willing to tolerate and what they feel feel is too dangerous to their business for them to be able to tolerate once they've done that. I think it is important to have clear, consistent communication and training for employees in advance. This is not something that you want to be solving after the fact. This is a kind of shared norm that you want to establish within the workplace in advance of specific incidents happening, because we never know when something's going to come up.

[Orlando Montoya]

Is there any difference in rights workers.

[Interviewer]

Have between unacceptable speech, that is celebrating someone's death, racist comments, comments mocking a person's disability or religion compared to merely political speech, that is I like Trump, I like Biden. Are there protections for political speech?

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

The answer is yes and no. For the most part, though, the answer for people who work in the private sector is not really. The content of the speech does not matter so much as the fact that you are, again, either a public sector worker or a private sector worker, or you fall into certain types of classification. Because at the end of the day, what one person considers political speech that isn't clearly unacceptable and speech that is clearly unacceptable is a subjective decision.

[Interviewer]

I know an employer cannot fire you because of race, religion, sex, and similarly protected classes, but as you said, they can fire you for political speech. So what about when sort of political topics touch on those protected classes, for instance, like immigration or gender equality or civil rights? Can an employer's discipline in that context be litigated as harassment?

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

There's certainly the potential that if a speech act intersects with some other grounds for termination, that's, that's not legally acceptable, like adverse employment consequence, being disciplined or being fired because of your race, because of your national origin, and so on. There is certainly the possibility that the employee could litigate that decision. But what's really doing the work there is that other thing. It's not the speech act per se.

[Interviewer]

So bottom line, what's your best advice for social media behavior right now given these divided, tense, and politically fraught moment that we're in?

[Deepa Das Acevedo]

What this moment is telling us is that once again, social media is something not to be afraid of, but to be used carefully and intentionally. What you put out there in a moment, in the heat of the moment is going to stay out there long after you have calmed down or your perspective has shifted. You can't take that back. And so I think that in a moment of extreme strife, extreme hardship, if you feel like you need to, you know, share a thought, express an emotion, find a friend and do it in person, don't do it online.

[Orlando Montoya]

That's Emory Law Professor Deepa Das Acevedo.

[Interviewer]

Thanks for weighing in on this topic.

[Marielle Segarra]

It's rare to find a podcast that can actually change your life, but when the show's called Life Kit, that's kind of the whole point. I'm Marielle Segarra. Three times a week on the Life Kit podcast, we guide you through a topic we could all use help with, from personal development to healthy living to managing your dinero with takeaways so you can start living what you learn right away. Escucha El lifekit podcast from NPR.

[Orlando Montoya]

A new report highlights weaknesses in Georgia's response to last year's devastating hurricane Helene. The Georgia foundation for Agriculture released the report on Monday. Based on a survey of 147 farmers from 44 counties in Helene's path. The report details widespread system failures, delayed recovery and unmet needs across agricultural communities. Among its key findings, 88% of respondents were without power for at least five days, 60% couldn't connect with 911 and 71% lost access to water for livestock and crops. The foundation says the report underscores the need for ongoing investments in disaster recovery, rural infrastructure and long term resilience. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is ordering Atlanta based Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico to dissolve their longtime partnership because of his concerns that Mexico isn't being fair to US Airlines. Duffy said today he's revoking the antitrust immunity that allowed the airlines to price and schedule their flights jointly and share revenue. He says it doesn't make sense to maintain that arrangement as long as Mexico is giving its domestic airlines and an unfair advantage through limits it placed on passenger and cargo flights into Mexico City several years ago. The airlines said they're disappointed but haven't decided whether to challenge the order. The airline dispute is another front in the broader trade war between the US And Mexico. In Georgia sports, the Atlanta Dream and the Indiana Fever will face off in a winner take all Game three of the first round of the WNBA playoffs on Thursday. The Fever beat the Dream 7760 on Tuesday night. The victory tied the best of three series at one. Game three will take place in Atlanta, which hasn't won a playoff series since 2016. Indiana's last series win came in 2015. And that's it for today's episode of Georgia Today. I invite you to visit gpb.orgnews where you'll find many of the stories that you hear on Georgia Today. We also have a Facebook and Instagram page that you can keep up with GPB news on social media. Send feedback to georgia todaypb.org we welcome your comments and take a moment right now to hit subscribe on the subscribe podcast if you haven't done so already. It'll help you and it'll help us as well. Once again, thank you for joining us on this episode. I'm Orlando Montoya and I'll be back again tomorrow with more Georgia Today.