Georgia

To avoid Ukraine 2.0, the US must support the Georgian people

Published

1 year ago

December 7, 2024

To avoid Ukraine 2.0, the US must support the Georgian people

Teenagers, parents, footballers, politicians and even the president have taken to the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia every night to express their objection to the October parliamentary elections and the Georgian government’s recent announcement it was suspending the country’s European Union accession. Old folks are out there too.

In one video, young men kindly surround a “babushka” to prevent her from getting pummeled by water cannons. Black-clad “robo cops” without any identifying insignia are brutally attacking peaceful protesters, kicking their heads in when they are already on the ground and unconscious.

These security forces have a particular appetite for journalists, such that several of my friends are in the hospital with broken noses and concussions.

I moved to Georgia in 2014, at a time when democracy was having a moment. There had been a peaceful transfer of power from Mikheil Saakashvili’s regime to the Georgian Dream coalition. Democratic reforms were being implemented. The country established a ministry dedicated to integration into the EU and NATO. It was a safe haven for democratic activists from autocratic regimes.

Now it has itself become an autocracy.

Democracy was always Georgia’s primary asset. The West’s relationship with the country was forged on shared values, not oil or trade. Without democracy, Georgia’s partnership is of limited value. It is time for the U.S. and EU to dispense with the “concerned” embassy statements and lay down some consequences.

The first whiffs of democratic decline came not too long after I moved there. It started as it often does with illiberal measures, fueled by robust Kremlin information operations, targeting those in the country who are gay, transgender or ethnic minorities. The Georgia Dream coalition soon fell apart, with the more reform-minded parties leaving.

Key judicial reforms failed to pass, and attacks on media increased. A pivotal sign of decline was when the Georgia Dream party allowed Sergei Gavrilov, a member of Russia’s parliament, to speak from the podium in Georgia’s parliament. Protests erupted, followed by a violent police response.

Rather than unify Georgians around their Western allies and shared democratic values, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to Georgia Dream leaders insulting American and European diplomats, lawmakers, and officials, labeling them the “global war party” and accusing them of pushing Georgia into a “second front” with Russia.

Georgia has since become a sanctions-evasion route for Russia, including for repurposed machinery supporting the war, and Georgia Dream has resumed flights to and from Moscow. The Georgian people, however, took to the streets to support their brothers and sisters in Ukraine, and Ukrainian flags hang from apartments across the capital.

In addition to cozying up to Moscow, Georgia Dream has forged new partnerships with China, Iran and other autocratic regimes.

This year, the government turned its focus on the strongest democratic element in Georgia — civil society — and passed a Russia-modeled “foreign agents law” to restrict their activities. In addition, Georgia Dream passed an anti-gay “propaganda” law that restricts free assembly and speech and an “offshore assets” law to enable the country’s de facto leader oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili to more opaquely move his wealth. To tilt the electoral playing field, the party refused to follow the law on appointing the head of the election commission — installing a loyalist instead — and ignored required EU electoral reforms.

Before the polls opened on Oct. 26, the integrity of the elections was already in doubt. The campaign period was riddled with intimidation, vote buying, and raids of and legal threats against civil society and election monitoring organizations. Georgia Dream and the Kremlin — in lockstep — scared voters with threats of war if they voted for the opposition. And Georgia Dream campaigned on the promise to have Nuremberg trials for its critics and ban all opposition parties.

I’ve observed elections around the world for decades, and many elections in Georgia, and election day was filled with serious irregularities — multiple voting, ballot stuffing, lack of secrecy, intimidation and statistical impossibilities (like 107 percent of men voting in certain districts). The results also did not match the findings of reputable international exit polls, which showed an opposition victory. While we will never know exactly how much of the result was affected by the violations, we can say with certainty that the elections failed to meet democratic standards.

Georgia Dream officially sat parliament last week. This was an illegal act, as there are election cases pending in the constitutional court and the president is required to approve (she refused). One of Georgia Dream’s first actions was to abort plans to join the EU, despite overwhelming public support for EU membership.

These leaders have made their intentions crystal clear. They have flipped the script as to who are the country’s friends and foes. The U.S. must respond accordingly and defend the Georgian people by not recognizing the election results (and illegal parliament) and demanding an independent (not Georgian) investigation of electoral complaints. Financial sanctions and travel bans should be enacted against Ivanishvili, his affiliates, and Georgia Dream leaders as well as the security forces attacking citizens. The U.S. should call upon Georgian officials, diplomats and police to follow the constitution and refuse Georgia Dream’s orders. The EU has significant leverage and should use it, namely by ending visa free travel for Georgia Dream’s leadership.

While we must isolate Georgia Dream, we cannot abandon the Georgian people. U.S. and EU support for civil society and independent media should be increased. And we must continue to stand in solidarity with peaceful protestors. After all, they’ve been successful before — in 2003, the people’s Rose Revolution restored democracy and threw off the shackles of a corrupt regime.

Laura Thornton lived 25 years overseas working for democracy-promotion organizations from Thailand and Cambodia to Georgia. She is senior director for global democracy at the McCain Institute.

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Georgia

Georgia woman charged in abortion case granted bond as questions grow over murder charge

Published

7 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

Georgia woman charged in abortion case granted bond as questions grow over murder charge

A Georgia woman facing a rare murder charge tied to an alleged abortion has been granted bond.

Alexia Moore, 31, was granted bond Monday by a judge in Camden County, according to the Georgia Public Defender Council. The court set bond at $1 on the malice murder charge and $2,000 total for two drug-related charges.

Prosecutors agreed Moore was entitled to bond and to an amount she could reasonably pay, the public defender’s office said.

Moore had been jailed since early March after police accused her of taking pills to end a pregnancy in violation of Georgia law, which bans most abortions after about six weeks.

Authorities allege Moore was about 22 to 24 weeks pregnant when she went to a hospital in late December, reporting abdominal pain. According to an arrest warrant, she told medical staff she had taken misoprostol, a drug commonly used in medication abortions, along with oxycodone. Investigators said the fetus was delivered alive and survived for about an hour.

The case has drawn national attention because it could be one of the first times a woman in Georgia is prosecuted for murder in connection with ending a pregnancy since the state’s 2019 abortion law took effect.

In a statement, the Georgia Public Defender Council said the bond decision reflects the importance of due process.

“Today’s decision is a reminder that justice is not served by accusation alone,” the agency said. “Our system works best when courts carefully weigh the facts, uphold constitutional protections, and safeguard the rights of every person.”

Moore also faces charges of possessing controlled substances, including oxycodone and misoprostol.

The case comes as states across the country navigate legal questions following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which allowed states like Georgia to enforce stricter abortion laws.

Moore’s attorneys have also filed motions seeking a speedy trial as the case moves forward.

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Georgia

Georgia school weapons detector bill clears Senate committee vote

Published

19 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Georgia school weapons detector bill clears Senate committee vote

ATLANTA – A proposal to mandate weapons-detection systems at every public school entrance in Georgia is one step closer to becoming law following an emotional hearing at the State Capitol on Monday.

What we know:

The State Senate Public Safety Committee on Monday unanimously approved House Bill 1023. The move comes in response to the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School that killed two students and two teachers.

“A place of nightmare”

What they’re saying:

The committee heard harrowing testimony from Apalachee High School students who survived the gunfire.

Daria Lezczynska, a junior, and Sasha Contreras, a senior, are members of “Change for Chee,” a group advocating for increased school safety measures.

READ APALACHEE SHOOTING COVERAGE HERE

“The place where we used to feel safe, turned into a place of nightmare,” Lezczynska said through tears.

She told the committee that the gunfire erupted directly outside her classroom.

“The fear, the blood and the chaos that is burned into my memory,” she said.

Contreras, who was locked down inside the school with her mother during the attack, remembered a teacher who was gunned down that day.

“I left feeling happy, not knowing it would be that last time,” she said. “No child should step into school anxious about coming out alive.”

A proactive step

The legislation, originally introduced by Georgia House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, seeks to create a physical barrier against firearms entering school buildings.

“Ensuring that weapons cannot come into our public schools is a first step to make sure that students are safe,” Efstration said. “Georgia students deserve to know that they’re going to be safe at school. Parents need to know when they drop their kids off at school in the morning, they’re going to be able to pick them up safe at the end of the day.”

The student advocates believe the technology would have changed the outcome at Apalachee, where investigators say a student killed four people and injured seven others.

“If there had been weapons-detection systems in every place at every entry of the school on that day, that rifle never would have reached our hallways,” Lezczynska said, calling the proposal a “very good bill.”

Contreras added that the unanimous committee vote was a necessary step forward.

“This is a proactive measure that I think is necessary,” she said. “I’m glad that people today stepped up and were able to pass it.”

What’s next:

The bill now moves to the full Georgia Senate. Lawmakers have just over a week to pass the measure before the legislative session concludes.

The Source: This is a FOX 5 original report where Christopher King gathered information from Georgia State Capitol legislative proceedings, the text of House Bill 1023, and public testimony from students and state representatives.

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Georgia

Republicans fear this Democrat in Georgia Senate race: ‘This guy’s no slouch’

Published

1 day ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Republicans fear this Democrat in Georgia Senate race: ‘This guy’s no slouch’

Liz Goodwin
| The Washington Post

Rep. Buddy Carter warned a crowd of Republicans in Roberta, Georgia, in January that he faced an uphill battle in November to unseat Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in the purple state, if he becomes the Republican nominee.

“Look, this guy’s no slouch,” the Georgia congressman said, according to a recording of the remarks obtained by The Washington Post. “He’s pretty sharp, he’s articulate, he’s young, he’s handsome, he talks well. You better have somebody who can go toe to toe with him.”

Publicly, Republicans in the state and in Washington continue to list Georgia as their top pickup opportunity in the Senate as they defend their 53-seat majority in a midterm year in which their party faces fierce political headwinds. Donald Trump won the state by more than two percentage points in 2024, and Republicans have painted Ossoff as too liberal for Georgia.

But behind closed doors, Republicans have tamped down their hopes of unseating the 39-year-old powerhouse fundraiser as he seeks another term. They’re lamenting their bitterly divided primary field made worse by a recruiting failure when popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp declined to run for the seat. Carter, Rep. Mike Collins and Derek Dooley, a former college football coach endorsed by Kemp, are the main competitors in the May 19 GOP primary.

Collins – a close Trump ally with a blisteringly MAGA social media presence that could alienate moderate voters – leads in most polls of the Republican primary. The Cook Political Report rates the general election as a toss-up.

“I’m not feeling bullish about it,” said one Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to provide a more candid assessment. “[Ossoff] has wisely avoided the temptation of going on cable news for six years and playing to the base for social media likes. … I think he’s going to reap the benefits of that.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican retiring from his North Carolina seat this year, said Ossoff has done “a good job presenting as a moderate candidate,” although Tillis does not believe he actually is moderate.

Republicans risked ceding crucial independent and moderate Republican voters to Ossoff if they nominate a more hard-right candidate, Tillis said.

“If these people want a purity test and they put somebody forth that’s the darling of the MAGA base, but doesn’t resonate with unaffiliated [voters] and right of center fiscal Republicans, that’s a recipe for losing,” said Tillis, whose neighboring state shares similar political characteristics to Georgia.

The skinny former House staffer who won his Senate seat in a runoff election in 2021 did not always inspire the same fear from his opponents. Republicans believed Ossoff, then a political neophyte, had ridden the coattails of Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Georgia), a charismatic preacher he shared the ticket with, and also benefited from an odd election season in which Trump depressed Republican turnout by falsely claiming widespread voter fraud. Just a couple of years earlier, Ossoff had lost a House special election that took place shortly after Trump was first sworn in, disappointing Democrats across the country.

“The first time I ever saw him was when he was running in that Georgia 6 special election and I was like, ‘Oh God, just what we need: Another former staffer,’” recalled Caitlin Legacki, a Democratic strategist. “But he has got game.”

When he got to Washington, Ossoff built a Senate office that prioritized responsiveness to constituents and a hyper focus on local Georgia issues. Inspired by the late Republican senator Johnny Isakson, Ossoff said he wanted his office to provide excellent constituent services to any Georgian, regardless of their political affiliation. In 2025, he joined the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, allowing him to steer more money to projects back home.

“I don’t crave attention. I’m not doing this for the spotlight,” Ossoff said in a brief interview in the Capitol. “I want to do a great job for the state.”

Attention is exactly what the senator has been getting, however, as he’s broken from his hyper-local focus in recent months to deliver stinging attacks on Trump and his administration that have won him admiration from national Democrats. A speech he gave in suburban Atlanta excoriating Trump for empowering a wealthy “Epstein class” to rule the country while slashing public services went viral. And in recent remarks at a Black church, Ossoff lashed out at the Trump administration’s actions as evil, criticizing Republicans from a biblical perspective.

“There’s a wickedness to the program,” he said earlier this year. “I don’t know, pastor, where it is in scripture that it says deny care to the sick, take from those with the least to give to those with the most, violate the house of worship to hunt down the refugee. Where in the scripture are those lessons taught?”

The rhetoric is not the standard, careful stump speeches many vulnerable lawmakers up for reelection in purple or red states stick to to avoid missteps or alienating middle-of-the-road voters. And it could add another element of risk to his strategy of winning over moderate voters in the state.

It’s also sparked speculation that he has an eye on a future presidential run that may be taking precedence over his reelection bid. But Ossoff’s fans believe his fiery approach makes him seem more authentic to voters in Georgia, who wouldn’t buy an election-year makeover from the senator.

“One of the biggest mistakes that vulnerable members make is that in an election year they all of a sudden start tacking to the middle, and that’s just transparently obvious to all the voters,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime former Barack Obama aide who now co-hosts the “Pod Save America” podcast popular among liberals. “He’s standing strong.”

Pfeiffer called Ossoff “one of the best communicators in the Democratic Party.”

At a recent event Ossoff held in Savannah, several fans in the audience said they hoped Ossoff would consider a presidential run in the future.

“In his recent speeches, he’s sounded very presidential,” noted Ray Mosley, a Bulloch County commissioner.

But Ossoff brushed off that speculation as a “curse,” and said he is remaining focused on what he believes will be a bruising race in the state.

“The Republican field is a mess, but I’m running every day like I’m behind and I expect this to be an extremely close and competitive race,” he said.

Republicans are planning to pour millions into the race, and have already attacked him in ads on illegal immigration and for “chaos” at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, blaming the long security lines on his votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security.

They believe Ossoff has not broken enough from Democrats on key votes to adequately distance himself from the party in a purple state that voted for Trump just over a year ago. Ossoff broke with Democrats to support the Laken Riley Act on final passage, which expanded detention for immigrants accused of some crimes. (The bill is named after a college student in Georgia who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant.) But he usually votes with his party.

“His record is Joe Biden’s record,” said Rep. Brian Jack (R-Georgia), who added Georgians found Biden toxic. “I’m not sure what legislation he could advocate for that wasn’t a Biden priority.”

Ossoff is known to be extremely deliberative about votes – to the point of hand-wringing – and discusses legislation extensively with colleagues before making a decision.

“He’s incredibly methodical, but also thoughtful about the impact that the policies we pass or don’t pass have on the people he represents,” said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), another swing state politician who campaigned with Ossoff in Georgia earlier this year.

Shortly after Trump’s election in 2024, Ossoff voted for a Sen. Bernie Sanders-backed resolution to block some arms transfers to Israel as the war in Gaza had devolved into a humanitarian crisis. Just 19 members of the Democratic caucus backed the resolution, and Ossoff faced a fierce backlash back home for his vote.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the leader of the liberal Jewish group J Street, said he spoke with Ossoff ahead of the vote, and that the senator was under intense pressure to vote against the resolution. “He knew what he was getting himself into and he took a principled stand,” Ben-Ami said of the Jewish senator. Now, Ben-Ami said, as public opinion has turned against Israel’s actions in the war, “time has proven him right and the wind has shifted.”

Republicans in Georgia hope that the MAGA base will show up for whichever Republican emerges from their primary in the fall. “We won the state of Georgia for President Trump, proving that it is indeed a red state,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia) said. “We just need to do the same thing for whoever our Senate candidate is going to be.”

Ossoff and his allies say he has the support of a coalition that extends beyond the Democratic base, however. Trump’s approval rating was only 43 percent in Georgia in a 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.

“In order to win in Georgia, you need a coalition,” Warnock said. “The Democratic faithful, the base and reasonable people in the middle who want to see us focus not so much on the politics and more on the everyday concerns of ordinary people. That’s what Jon Ossoff is doing.”

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