Morning Digest: The most despised Republican in Georgia might run for Senate

Booted from his own caucus and once banned from the state House floor, Colton Moore is a breed apart

State Sen. Colton Moore (right) is threatening to run for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat (credit: Colton Moore campaign Facebook)

Leading Off

GA-Sen

Republicans breathed a sigh of relief three weeks ago when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she wouldn't run for the Senate next year. But what if they get stuck with someone even worse?

That someone might just be state Sen. Colton Moore, who has called himself Georgia's "most conservative state senator" and said Thursday that he was considering a bid to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

"MTG and several generic Republicans have already dropped out," Colton said in a statement. "The time for a Constitutional candidate is here."

Colton's colleagues in both chambers of the legislature would probably be just fine if he decides to wage a longshot statewide campaign and stops being their problem. That's because Moore, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, was not only booted from the Senate GOP caucus by fellow Republicans. He was also arrested in January when he attempted to defy an order banning him from the floor of the state House.

The Republican caucus in the upper chamber first took action in 2023 after Moore harangued its members for not holding a special session to defund the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who had recently indicted Donald Trump for trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 elections.

Moore did not seem to care that such a session would have only been possible with the support of Democrats or GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, who had rejected the idea. He instead told conservative media outlets that Republican senators' refusal to call a special session might start a "civil war," and he even pretended that Willis was seeking to impose the death penalty on Trump.

A grateful Trump recorded a video commending Moore for "having the courage and conviction to fight the radical left lunatics who are so badly hurting the great state of Georgia," but his colleagues weren't so appreciative.

Two Republican senators said they'd received threats after Moore singled them out on social media, and Republican lawmakers blasted him for "putting his caucus colleagues and their families at risk of personal harm."

Moore also managed to antagonize the GOP majority in the Peach State's lower legislative chamber the following year with his comments on a day devoted to honoring the late Speaker David Ralston.

Moore, who had served one term in the state House not long after graduating college, had clashed with Ralston during his brief tenure and was not interested in praising the deceased leader.

Instead, he took to the Senate floor to resurface reporting that the speaker had used special powers to indefinitely delay criminal cases where he served as a defense attorney by claiming the proceedings would interfere with his legislative duties.

"This body is about to immortalize, in my opinion, one of the most corrupt Georgians we've seen in our lives," said Moore, who had joined with a handful of GOP dissidents in an unsuccessful bid to oust Ralston as speaker.

Jon Burns, who took over as speaker in 2023, responded that Moore had uttered "some of the vilest comments you can make about a good man" and forbade him from returning to the House floor.

Moore ignored that ban in January for Kemp's State of the State address and was filmed falling to the ground after a House staffer tried to physically block him. Moore was then handcuffed and charged with "willful obstruction of law enforcement officers."

"I'll never back down; I'll never give up," the senator said afterward. "They'll have to put a bullet in my head to ever stop me."

The state GOP and the party's Senate caucus—which still does not include Moore as a member—sided with him this time, and Burns said the next day he would lift the ban. But Moore wasn't appeased, and he unsuccessfully urged a judge to arrest the staffer involved in the altercation.

The GOP war on direct democracy

Governors

FL-Gov

Republican state Sen. Jay Collins said Thursday that he was interested in running to replace termed-out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Collins has remained an ardent DeSantis ally at a time when the governor doesn't have many supporters left in state politics. Florida Politics believes he's "positioning himself as the backup option" if former TV anchor Casey DeSantis decides not to run to replace her husband.

Morning Digest: Ron DeSantis uses 'officially nonexistent' clout to tout wife as successor

GA-Gov

While former state Rep. Stacey Abrams hasn't dismissed talk that she could wage a third campaign for governor, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the Democrat "didn't sound like someone itching to get in" in comments she made on Thursday.

Abrams spoke to the media at an event promoting an effort to help Democrats take control of the state House for the first time since the 2004 elections. Abrams, who was the party's gubernatorial nominee in 2018 and 2022, responded to questions about her plans by saying she was "laser-focused" on combating the Trump administration.

RI-Gov

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee has once again found himself facing unwelcome questions about his future after a new poll showed him with a dire 19-71 approval rating. The survey, from the University of New Hampshire, also found McKee with a grim 27-63 score among fellow Democrats ahead of what will almost certainly be a tough primary next year.

Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who narrowly lost the 2022 nomination to McKee, has spent years preparing for another campaign, and local media continues to treat her as an all-but-announced candidate. However, there's more ambiguity about whether Attorney General Peter Neronha will also take on the incumbent.

Neronha, who cannot seek reelection to his current post, told NBC 10 News on Thursday he was "semi-interested" in running for governor, and he separately informed WPRI he’d decide this summer. But while the attorney general suggested in December that he could run for lieutenant governor as a Foulkes ally—the two posts are elected separately—he's now ruled out seeking the No. 2 post.

McKee, for his part, has repeatedly insisted he's running again despite months of speculation to the contrary.

House

CO-08

Following the publication of a devastating story in the Colorado Sun last month reporting that former Rep. Yadira Caraveo had "twice appeared to attempt suicide in situations witnessed by staffers," the ex-congresswoman has released a new internal poll showing her with a lead in next year's Democratic primary.

The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling, finds Caraveo taking 36% of the vote, while state Rep. Manny Rutinel and state Treasurer Dave Young are both tied at 8% apiece. State Rep. Shannon Bird sits at 5% and former teachers union president Amie Baca-Oehlert is at 4%, with the remaining 39% undecided.

Caraveo, Rutinel, and Bird are all campaigning for the right to take on Republican Rep. Gabe Evans in Colorado's swingy 8th District, while Young and Baca-Oehlert are "expected to launch" campaigns this week, reports Colorado Politics.

VA-01

Chesterfield Clerk of Court Amanda Pohl is "planning" to oppose Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, the Virginia Scope's Brandon Jarvis reported Friday.

While Pohl does not appear to have said anything publicly about her interest in seeking the Democratic nomination for Virginia's 1st District, she hasn't hesitated to share her opinions about the incumbent.

Pohl last month blasted Wittman's vote for Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" by tweeting, "@RobWittman promised he wouldn't vote for cuts to programs that protect the most vulnerable and yet, here he is, doing what he said he wouldn't."

Wittman, who was first elected in a 2007 special election, has won each of his reelection campaigns by double digits, including a 56-44 victory last year. However, Democrats have reason to hope that a backlash against Trump could threaten the longtime congressman's career.

Trump, according to calculations by The Downballot, carried this constituency by a modest 52-47 spread last year, which is a small shift to the left from his 52-46 win in 2020. That makes the 1st District, which includes many of Richmond's suburbs as well as the western Chesapeake Bay, the only one of Virginia's 11 congressional districts where Trump's performance dipped between his last two elections.

Wittman's nearly two decades of job security, however, have given him ample time to prepare for a tough battle: The congressman finished March with almost $2 million in the bank to defend himself.

Mayors & County Leaders

New York, NY Mayor

The New York City Campaign Finance Board awarded City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams $2 million in public financing on Friday, giving her access to matching funds with just under a month to go before the June 24 Democratic primary. Adams, who launched her campaign in March, had not been able to air any TV ads, but her campaign said she expects to soon.

The panel also said Friday that, because it believed that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was continuing to improperly coordinate with a super PAC, it would give him only $1.8 million of the $2.4 million he was otherwise eligible for. The body levied a similar fine against Cuomo last month.

That PAC, called Fix The City, has spent far more than any single campaign, but new data from AdImpact shows that it no longer enjoys a near-monopoly on the airwaves.

The group is responsible for $8.1 million of the $16.6 million in total that's been deployed on ads for the primary. The PAC, however, was responsible for 80% of all advertising as recently as three weeks ago and had the airwaves almost entirely to itself in April. That shift came about because several candidates have now gone on the air.

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, according to AdImpact, has spent almost $3 million on commercials, while three others—City Comptroller Brad Lander, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie—have each spent around $2 million. The Cuomo campaign, meanwhile, has yet to run any ads to reinforce its super PAC allies' message.