DPG 2024 GOP Legislative Session Report Card: Culture Wars

While Georgia Republicans have earned failing marks on health care, jobs, education and elections during the 2024 Legislative Session, they have earned an A+ for far exceeding expectations as outstanding culture warriors. 

This session, instead of tackling the issues that matter to Georgians, Republicans pushed culture war issues like banning the American Library Association from Georgia and rolling back protections for LGBTQ Georgians under the guise of ‘religious freedom’.

While Democrats stood up for Georgians and blocked many of these measures, Senate Republicans successfully hijacked a bill intended to protect the mental health of student athletes and converted it into a culture war Frankenbill. The new bill bans trans students from school sports teams; asks school libraries to report to parents any books their students check out; and restricts sex education – an attack on education, libraries, and LGBTQ youth designed to pander to Republicans’ far-right base.

Republicans also reminded Georgians where their priorities lie by passing legislation providing a tax giveaway on guns and ammo, though they haven’t found the time to renew the 2017 tax holiday on school supplies.

The time and taxpayer dollars that Georgia Republicans wasted fighting politically-motivated culture wars could have been used to fully expand Medicaid and provide health coverage to more than 400,000 people.

For putting partisan political attacks ahead of the needs of the people they’re elected to serve, Gov. Brian Kemp and his legislative enablers earned an A+ on culture wars.