Georgia’s Legislative Deadline and the 2026 Election Countdown

As Georgia nears Crossover Day, bills like the controversial HB268—pushed misleadingly as a student safety measure—face a final push before moving between legislative chambers by April 4, 2025. Rep. David Clark’s support shocks critics, who demand it be stopped. Meanwhile, the 2026 election looms: Gov. Brian Kemp’s potential U.S. Senate run against Jon Ossoff holds the GOP field in limbo, with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones ready to announce a gubernatorial bid and Sen. Steve Gooch eyeing Lt. Gov. once the session ends. Rep. Rich McCormick, rattled by a tense town hall and AJC scrutiny, floats cautious budget cuts, hinting at Senate ambitions. Burt Jones, a Trump ally, is urged to mirror MAGA policies, but the "DOGE" red tape bill is called a shallow stunt.The 2026 race promises chaos depending on Kemp’s next move.

We are coming up on crossover day. The bills will move to the opposite chamber to reach an agreement. IF they can’t reach an agreement they can create a committee to find a resolution, and once the language is finalized the house and senate vote on the legislation. This is the last weekend to stop changing and amend bills before crossing chambers.
HB268 the false heading is the safety and well being of students in communities it has to be stopped completely. It is shocking that David Clark is on this committee and is supporting this bill. It is a NO on this bill.
There will be some announcements this week. There is supposed to be an announcement today. In GA we have one US Senate seat and then all the constitutional offices. For the US Senate seat everyone is on hold for Brian Kemp to make a decision. As soon as the gavel goes down on the session ending, you will see Burt Jones announce he is running for governor of GA. You will probably see Steve Gooch running for Lt Governor. But everyone is going to juggle their campaigns depending on Kemp’s run for the US Senate seat. If Kemp runs he boxes things out.
Rich McCormick doesn’t handle pressure well or when you push on him. He gets a heated exchange at town hall. Why is the AJC going after him? Rumors are that he may want to run for US Senate. The AJC will not cross Jon Ossoff. McCormick runs to the AJC podcast and what he does… he thinks that budget cuts are imperative but he'd like to see more caution in the way they are being handled. He wants to have impact studies on each department… he wants more bureaucracy. This is the guy that endorsed Ron DeSantis. McCormick goes to the AJC to try to recover from the disastrous town hall.
The GOP field to challenge democrat Jon Ossoff is frozen until Kemp announces his next step. A decision he’’ makes sometime after the legislative session that ends on April 4.
The 2026 election will get very interesting.
Burt Jones is the Lt Gov of GA. He is the top MAGA of GA. Anytime Trump comes to GA, Burt Jones greets him. NOw will all the outreach and shout outs that Trump gives to Burt JOnes. Burt should be looking at everything that Trump is releasing and should copy it. The GA red tape bill rebranded as DOGE wins new support and critics. This is a stunt, they are not looking at cutting the bureaucracy. They will grab DOGE and look as though they are implementing MAGA until it gets time for elections. SB189 removed the QR codes, and just 2 weeks ago Raffensperger said we don’t need to buy the scanners when the contract is up in a couple of years. Then they want to throw you the bone that we are getting out of ERIC… will we? And when Trump brings Kemp to DC for the governors meeting and tells all the governors that we need to go to paper ballots and one day voting… it doesn’t come to GA.