Weekly Update, 3/24/2025
A Focus on the Public Service Commission This Week
By Tom McMahan
I’ve been taking a bit of a break from the usual blah blah blah of news, particularly news associated with the ongoing Clown Show in DC, something I have to do from time to time to try and maintain good mental health. Besides, it’s the college basketball time of the year, and I’ve been enjoying the tournaments, always a nice distraction!
So, I haven’t been doing my usual curating of news sources, and since next week will be the qualifying week for Public Service Commission (PSC) candidates for the special elections this November, I thought I’d do a piece this week on the PSC.
What is the PSC?
The PSC is the state’s elected commission that oversees the regulation of public utilities. It is a constitutional organization, and its five members are elected to staggered 6-year terms. The state is divided into 5 commission districts, but all elections are at-large for the entire state.
Why are PSC elections Being Held This Year?
Two of the five PSC district commission seats are up this year in a non-election year because of court challenges to how the commission districts were drawn. The state legislature extended the current commissioner’s terms past the previous two election cycles until all the court challenges could be dealt with. Currently, all five commission members are Republicans. Districts 2 and 3 (east Georgia and Metro) are up this year. Dade County is in District 4, but we still vote on the other districts too.
Do the Democrats Have Candidates For These Two Races?
As stated, the qualifying week is next week, and word is there are candidates, but none have publicly stated they’re running so far, which is a little curious and concerning to me.
How Can I Educate Myself on Issues Surrounding the PSC?
The best source, and the best advocate for Democratic concerns surrounding the PSC, is from prospective candidate Patty Durand. While Patty is not running in these races (different district), she’s on social media and is a great source of info! Follow Patty on Facebook here; on Instagram here; LinkedIN here; and her website is here. And you can sign up for her great newsletter here! I’m including a link from her last newsletter here - not sure if everyone will be able to view it, but if you can’t, just sign up, it’s free!
What Can We Here in Dade or Rural Counties Do In These Elections?
Well, we can help WIN THEM! These will be low-turnout races. The candidates will not have lots of funds to run a statewide campaign, so our county committees will have to step up! I’m going to optimistically estimate a turnout of 20%. (It could very well be lower than that.) So, our rural counties are going to be VITAL in getting enough of our voters out to vote across the state to win! And with a very low turnout, even if you’re in a Republican county, your Democratic votes can count for a lot more than they usually might.
I’m going to be leading Votebuilder training this year for our Georgia Democratic Rural Council, of which I’m Vice-Chair. I will be summarizing those trainings here in the month’s ahead, and if our rural counties will follow a Get Out the Vote strategy, we can WIN these races!
Look for more info on the Public Service Commission in the weeks and months ahead!