Politics
The brief but busy reign of Sen. George Helmy is coming to an end
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the state’s rancorous GOP gubernatorial runoff, aligning the popular governor with President Donald Trump on their preferred candidate.
Kemp’s last-minute public blessing of Jones on Sunday night comes just days before the Tuesday election and marks his clearest effort yet to shape the race to succeed him in the governor’s mansion, after months of staying on the sidelines of one of Georgia’s highest-profile political contests.
It’s also a new point of agreement between Kemp and Trump, who just hours earlier sided against the governor’s handpicked candidate in the Georgia Senate runoff.
The endorsement could boost Jones as he faces off against Rick Jackson, who has poured millions of his own money into the race, making it among the most expensive gubernatorial primaries on record.
Kemp said Jones “has been a strong, trusted ally in those victories for the people of our state” in a post on X. “Burt knows how to get things done as governor because that’s what he has done as a state senator and as your Lt. Governor,” he wrote.
Kemp did not mention Jackson in his endorsement post, but he took aim at the Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has faced questions over her rocky tenure as Atlanta’s mayor but ultimately clinched a resounding victory in the May Democratic primary.
The governor was the subject of ads from both Jones and Jackson in the final days of the GOP runoff. An ad implying Jackson had Kemp’s endorsement “definitely didn’t help Rick,” one person familiar with the governor’s thinking said.
Tuesday’s runoff between Jones and Jackson has become a test of Trump — and now Kemp’s — political influence in the perennial battleground, fueled by an unprecedented influx of campaign spending. Jackson has spent $100 million of his own money, and has seen a rise in the polls. A recent Cygnal Political analysis showed Jackson with a 12-point lead, while a recent CivicLens Research survey found Jones ahead by roughly 10 points, foreshadowing a close battle to the finish.
Jones finished first in the primary last month with 38 percent, while Jackson earned 32 percent of the vote.
Arriving in the U.S. from Belgium to cover the World Cup, one overarching controversy stood out from the Iran war, visas and commercial exploitation: Should Blue Light News call the sport football or soccer?
Our style guide entry — “The worldwide sport should be referred to as football in Europe and soccer in the U.S. In European copy, refer to American football for the different U.S. sport played in the NFL” — didn’t end the debate.
Ultimately, America won the internal argument (quelle surprise!) and we’ll be calling it soccer for the next five weeks, despite FIFA’s name literally having the word football in it.
Lucky, really, that it’s not the Fédération Internationale de “Soccer“ Association — as that would have sparked some confusion about which FISA exactly we were talking about in the newsroom this summer. Surveillance, section 702 and Bill Pulte? Or the low block, gegenpressing and Gianni Infantino?
DALLAS — Andrew Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s point person on the 2026 World Cup, said allowing Iran’s national team to enter the U.S. a day before its matches is an example of the administration being nice.
“We want them to be able to compete,” Giuliani said in an interview Sunday in Dallas. “Even just coming in the day before the match, I think is another example of the goodwill gesture to the team.” He said 31 Iranian players and the team’s coaches have received visas and that the arrangements “should not affect the integrity of the team.”
The comments come after Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, told Blue Light News that Iran’s presence in the U.S. for the World Cup should be read as a positive gesture from his country, as Tehran and Washington inch toward an agreement on ending the war that began in late February.
The Iranian team is traveling to the U.S. today from Tijuana, Mexico, where it moved its pre-tournament training camp from Tucson, Arizona, in light of the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Giuliani described the move as the “best solution for all parties involved,” noting that Tijuana remains a short flight from host cities including Los Angeles and Seattle, where Iran will play its group stage matches.
“That was a discussion from the top of [the] U.S. government, and with FIFA as well,” Giuliani said.The possibility of a politically charged matchup remains on the horizon: If the U.S. and Iran both place second in their respective groups, they will play each other on July 3 in the round of 32 in Dallas.
While defending Trump’s recent military actions against Iran, Giuliani also framed the tournament as a potential opportunity for sports diplomacy.
“This is a great moment, I think, for freedom-loving Iranians [and] freedom-loving Iranian Americans to be able to celebrate their soccer team coming to the United States and enjoy that, and look for the freedoms that can exist in Iran, right?” Giuliani said. “This can be one of those moments when you talk about sports diplomacy.”
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship9 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words