GOP rivals trade barbs in race for Georgia governor, which some experts now call flippable

In this week’s roundup, we bring you tales of inter-party kindness and intra-party contempt.

A Democratic runoff candidate for a state Senate seat said he would suspend campaign activities after his GOP opponent suffered a health setback, and it just gets warmer and fuzzier from there.

Also, in the realm of things that should be warm and fuzzy but aren’t: A candidate for governor summoned a pair of muppets to the Capitol to attack his opponent.

And speaking of the governor’s race, Sabato’s Crystal Ball recently moved Georgia’s governor race from “leans Republican” to “toss-up,” which likely means a hard fight with a close result.

And should Americans send members of Congress home after they’ve been in Washington for a while? Georgia could become the latest state to call for a constitutional convention forcing members of Congress to impose term limits on themselves.

Fight over governor’s race turns cartoonish

Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie are known for spreading happiness and knowledge of spelling and counting, but the orange and yellow duo came to the state Capitol Friday to spread negative campaign messaging.

The campaign of gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson brought actors dressed up as the iconic pals, who were decked out in T-shirts advertising a Jackson-backed website, bribeburt.com. Bert made the money gesture with his yellow fingers and handed out fliers to people entering the Capitol while Ernie held up a sign.

Jones has also brought children’s media into the battle for Georgia’s governor, rolling out a website, slickrickjackson.com, depicting the wealthy health care CEO as a cartoon character.

Report: Georgia’s race for governor may be the most flippable

Georgia may represent the best shot Democrats have at flipping a governor’s seat during the 2026 midterm election, according to some analysts.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political analysis newsletter run through the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, updated its ranking for Georgia’s governor’s race Thursday from “leans Republican” to “toss up.” Five other states, including Arizona and Ohio, also saw their rankings change to favor Democrats.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, won his last election in 2022 with 53% of the vote, but has reached his term limit and cannot run for re-election this year. The updated report names Georgia “the clearest Democratic pickup opportunity,” prompting the switch to “toss up” status.

The change also comes less than two months after the newsletter shifted its ranking for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, held by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, from “toss-up” to “leans Democratic.”

Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones of Augusta said the updated rankings were evidence of a strong field of candidates in the race for governor, as well as Democratic policies on kitchen-table issues like data centers, health care and affordability reflecting voters’ priorities.

“We’re actually taking the lead right now on the issues against Republicans, and I think that’s resonating,” he said.

But Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte of Dallas expressed skepticism about the updated rankings, arguing that Georgia Republicans are the ones making progress on issues like affordability.

“There’s a very clear, defining difference between us and the Democratic Party,” he said. “And I think that as we continue to move forward in having this debate in the weeks and months to come, Georgians are going to see, really, who has their best interests.”

Leading state Senate candidate faces health crisis

Campaigning for an April 7 runoff to settle a northwest Georgia Senate race has been put on pause after one candidate underwent emergency surgery and the other responded by suspending campaign activities.

Republican Lanny Thomas “suffered a sudden and unexpected medical situation” on Monday, according to a social media post made by his son, Christian Thomas.

Christian Thomas said his father had undergone emergency surgery and was recovering in the hospital.

Thomas is a former mayor of Trion as well as a public school educator and coach.

Christian Thomas offered more information in an update posted Thursday evening, saying Lanny Thomas did not suffer a heart attack but “experienced a medical emergency that required surgery to make repairs around his heart.”

Christian Thomas said that his father was recovering “at a faster rate than expected” and that “based on guidance from his medical team, that he will be able to fully serve as State Senator if elected.”

Thomas won the most votes in a March 10 primary to represent Senate District 53 with nearly 39% of the vote in the four-person race, short of the 50% threshold to win outright.

The second-place winner was Jack Zibluk, a professor of communication and the only Democrat on the ballot, who won just under 27% of the vote.

Zibluk announced in a statement Tuesday that he would temporarily stop his campaign activities.

“Lanny is a good man, a dedicated educator and public servant, and I look forward to working with him no matter the denouement of our election,” Zibluk said in the statement. “I wish him and his family the best as we look forward to a full recovery.”

In his Thursday post, Christian Thomas said the Committee to Elect Lanny Thomas had encouraged Zibluk to continue campaigning, but he thanked Zibluk for the thought.

“Our family is deeply grateful for the kind gesture from dad’s opponent, Jack Zibluk, in pausing campaign activity. It speaks volumes of his character,” Christian Thomas wrote. “Thank you, Mr. Zibluk, for your kindness during this time.

According to state code, if a candidate in a runoff withdraws, the remaining candidates with the two highest vote totals become the candidates. If a candidate wins an election but is not capable of serving, another special election is called.

Term limits for reps?

Rep. Scott Hilton, a Peachtree Corners Republican, presented Senate Resolution 23 to the House Rules committee on Tuesday as an effort to join a “growing national movement” calling for term limits to be established for the U.S. Congress, the representative said.

If at least 34 state legislatures pass similar resolutions “applying” for a congressional convention to consider amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress is constitutionally obligated to convene one. Currently, 13 state legislatures have passed similar resolutions urging Congress to convene a convention on term limits, with Kansas the latest to do so in March.

A congressional convention under the U.S. Constitution has never been called in American history, though an effort to call a convention to pass an amendment requiring Congress to pass a balanced budget reached 32 states in the 1970s. The convention effort never reached 34 states before the U.S. Congress passed a law that the U.S. Supreme Court later struck down. Hilton said that’s the reason these conventions never happened.

“Common sense tells us that Congress will probably not act on its own to impose term limits on themselves, unless we, the states, make that known,” Hilton said.

But debate on the need for the resolution calling on the U.S. Congress to establish term limits for themselves begged the question: Why would state lawmakers also not establish limits on themselves?

Democratic state Rep. Stacey Evans from Atlanta pointed out that while 13 state legislatures have passed resolutions calling for a convention, 16 states have actually imposed term limits on their lawmakers.

“If that’s the precedent that you want us to follow — what other states are doing — then I would also just ask, why don’t we term-limit ourselves?” Evans asked.

Hilton said that the position of a state lawmaker is not as attractive as a U.S. lawmaker, pointing to the part-time pay and “the additional responsibilities that we have that are unique to a state legislator.” He said that he would be happy to have that conversation as a separate debate, but added that state lawmakers tend to stay in their jobs less time, and that members of congress have less competition with election officials “baked in” their positions.

House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley pushed back, saying that if Georgia wanted to have more competitive congressional districts, the state Legislature could do that. The party in power usually creates political maps that protect their majority.

“The districts that we’ve drawn is what’s baked in, not necessarily a person’s incumbency. I would love to work with you on that,” Hugley said.