James_September-October_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 81
numbers some pollsters were floating early on. But
this election will set the watermark for future ones
to come.
DIFFERENT DEMOCRATS & THE FUTURE GOP
Let me also note that the state Democratic Party isn’t the party of former Gov. Joe Frank Harris of
the early 1980s. I know most of you don’t know who
I’m talking about. But read about him. He was a
soft-spoken, true gentleman with moderate-to-conservative political views. I doubt sincerely that
most modern Democratic voters would agree with
much of his philosophy.
The GOP isn’t the party of former U.S. Sen. Mack
Mattingly, also of the early 1980s. It’s a good chance
a lot of you know little about Mattingly, Georgia’s
first Republican U.S. senator directly elected by its
citizens. Like Harris, Mattingly was a polite, business-like conservative— more in the style of the
Reagan years.
But today’s firebrand Trump-style Republicans
need to get down on their knees and thank Mattingly, Newt Gingrich and the late Paul Coverdell for
having the courage to foster GOP growth in Georgia.
Add to that Sonny Perdue. Against all odds in 2002
he took on and defeated a brilliant former Gov. Roy
Barnes, who may have been a bit too smart and
ahead of the times for his own good. Perdue literally
set the standard for a great Republican governor.
That brings me back to 2026. Will this be a “Sonny Perdue” in reverse kind of year? Because when a
party loses the Governor’s Mansion, the rest of state
government falls within a short number of years.
One last thought. While Brian Kemp could be the
last Republican governor, it won’t be his fault. Kemp,
other than the year of his butting of heads with
Trump, remains a popular governor— even in areas
of metro Atlanta that probably won’t vote for another Republican. Perhaps the greatest irony with Kemp
is that, should he be succeeded by a Democrat, he
may well go down in history as the only full-blown
Republican governor. Both Perdue and Nathan Deal,
who also proved a popular governor, were Democrat
elected officials who abandoned their party as it
moved to the left. That’s not a knock because they
built the party as they joined it.
With regard to these upcoming Senate and gubernatorial contests, there are two major questions. Will
Jon Ossoff win big enough to become Georgia’s next
Jimmy Carter— a presidential candidate in the making? And will Brian Kemp leave West Paces Ferry
with the distinction of being Georgia’s only Republican governor to never have a “D” by his name?
As I end my career soon, my crystal ball is all
fogged up! Like I said, sometimes I don’t see things!
S E PT E M B E R/O C TO BER 2026
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