Politics

December 4, 2020 - North Carolina pharmaceutical entrepreneur Fred Eshelman gave $2.5 million to the Houston-based group to pursue claims of fraud in the presidential election, which he says they failed to take adequate action to substantiate. It's not the first time Eshelman, a big political spender who gives most of his money to outside groups, has been involved in funding ethically questionable efforts.

December 4, 2020 - Conspiracy theories and false allegations about the presidential election are flying around in the Peach State, with all eyes on the two January runoffs that will decide control of the Senate. Here are some of the important recent developments.

December 4, 2020 - Victoria Bowden, 25, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, shares her and other young people's difficult experiences trying to get by during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now a graduate student intern with the Southern Economic Advancement Project, she offers practical ideas for fixing the systems that put young Southerners at risk of heavy debt, poverty, homelessness, and mental illness.

December 3, 2020 - Partly in response to the acclaim for Nikole Hannah-Jones's The 1619 Project on slavery's legacy in the U.S., President Trump recently signed an executive order that seeks to stifle federal agencies, contractors, and grant recipients from talking about systemic racism and sexism. Refusing to be silenced, the African American Policy Forum has launched an effort to overturn it.

December 3, 2020 - First-time voters including young people, former felons, and newly naturalized citizens proved to be a crucial voting bloc in many races nationwide including in Georgia, which a Democratic presidential candidate hadn't won in 28 years. Experts predict that these first-time voters will continue to play an important role in shaping Southern and national politics.

December 1, 2020 - Republican lawmakers in Florida and Washington, D.C., are pushing bills to keep workers or customers who get COVID-19 from holding businesses accountable in court. The GOP wants legal immunity for businesses that comply with government standards. 

November 20, 2020 - Democrats hoped 2020 would be their year to make gains in state legislatures across the South, which would give them greater control over redistricting. But their vision failed to materialize.