Georgia Democrat Jason Esteves says he's running for governor in 2026

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Georgia Democrat Jason Esteves says he's running for governor in 2026

2025-04-22 01:01 Last Updated At：01:11

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Democrat Jason Esteves announced on Monday that he's running for governor in 2026, entering a field that remains murky for his party after two top potential candidates backed away from a run.

The 41-year-old state senator, also a lawyer and business owner, remains largely unknown outside his state Senate district, which includes parts of Fulton and Cobb counties. An early announcement could help him to raise money and increase his visibility.

He's likely to emphasize his biography, including his young children and his past service as a public school teacher. Esteves has also served as treasurer of the state Democratic Party, giving him a network among Democratic activists.

In a video announcing his candidacy, Esteves sounded a note of opposition to Republican President Donald Trump while saying he would emphasize lowering the cost of living, including housing costs, as well as expanding health care, restoring abortion rights and increasing funding for schools.

“I’m running for Governor to make Georgia the number one place to work, start a business, and raise a family," Esteves said in a statement. "As extreme politicians in Georgia push Trump’s reckless agenda and rig the system for special interests, Georgians pay the price."

Incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited after two terms and can't seek reelection in 2026.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has said she plans to run for governor as a Democrat, but has not yet filed papers to create a campaign. Former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond has also expressed interest, and two-time nominee Stacey Abrams could yet choose to run again.

On the Republican side, Attorney General Chris Carr announced his run for governor last year and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is expected to announce his candidacy soon.

Esteves enters the race as two potential Democratic candidates step back to focus on family health concerns.

Former state Sen. Jason Carter, Democrats’ 2014 nominee and grandson of the late former President Jimmy Carter, said he has no plans to seek the 2026 nomination because of his wife’s cancer diagnosis. Kate Carter has glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. The couple has two teenage sons.

“For all intents and purposes, I can’t imagine making a decision to run because it’s the wrong time for my family,” Carter, 49, told The Associated Press on Monday.

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath announced on March 31 that she was suspending her exploratory bid for governor in 2026, saying she needed to focus on her husband Curtis’ health after complications from cancer surgery. The four-term member of Congress, best known as a gun control advocate, had filed papers on March 5 to raise money for governor.

Carter has been mentioned as a centrist candidate with high name identification who could run as a bridge between the Democrats’ base and voters who might be up for grabs if President Donald Trump’s popularity and the Republican brand take a dip heading into 2026.

An Atlanta attorney who has been out of politics since losing the 2014 governor's race, Carter has drawn renewed attention in recent years as Carter Center board chairman and family spokesperson as his grandparents’ health declined. He eulogized his grandfather in January at the 39th president’s state funeral in Washington and did the same for his grandmother, Rosalynn Carter, at her Atlanta funeral in December 2023.

The younger Carter said he’s “not going to endorse anybody,” but added, “I’m very excited about Jason (Esteves)” and what he can offer voters and the party.

Esteves first won election to the state Senate in 2022 after nine years on the Atlanta school board. He was chair of the board for four years, including part of the time that the distict was heavily impacted by COVID-19. He touts increased graduation rates and higher pay for staff during that time, but some parents were displeased with how long it took the district to resume in-person classes.

While Esteves was leading the board, it also decided not to renew Superintendent Meria Carstarphen's contract, which causes a stir among those who supported Carstarphen's leadership following the school district's cheating scandal.

Esteves and his wife, Ariel, own Flying Biscuit restaurants in Macon and Columbus, Esteves' hometown. He and his wife also own an urgent and primary care clinic. They have two children.

Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

US Forest Service starts clearing homeless camp in Oregon national forest

2025-05-02 06:28 Last Updated At：06:31

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of homeless people who have been living in a national forest in central Oregon for years were being evicted Thursday by the U.S. Forest Service, as it closed the area for a wildfire prevention project that will involve removing smaller trees, clearing debris and setting controlled burns over thousands of acres.

The project has been on the books for years, and the decision to remove the encampment in the Deschutes National Forest comes two months after the Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to increase timber production and forest management projects aimed at reducing wildfire risk. It wasn’t immediately clear if the evictions were a result of that order, but homeless advocates seized on the timing on Thursday, as U.S. Forest Service officers blocked the access road.

“The fact that they are doing this with such vigor shortly after they announced that the forests would be opened up for logging I don’t think is a coincidence," said Jesse Rabinowitz, spokesperson for the National Homelessness Law Center.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, and the service’s Pacific Northwest Region did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

“The closure does not target any specific user group and will restrict all access, including day use and overnight camping, while crews operate heavy machinery, conduct prescribed burns, and clean up hazardous materials,” Deschutes National Forest spokesperson Kaitlyn Webb said in an email. “It’s not safe for the public to be in the area while heavy machinery is operating, trees are being felled, mowing operations are active, and prescribed burning is occurring.”

Campers who had set up trailers, recreational vehicles and tents amidst the ponderosa pines in the Deschutes National Forest scrambled in the darkness Wednesday night to pack up and get their engines working again. Authorities closed the two-lane road in the early hours of Thursday morning, and it wasn’t immediately clear how many people were left in the forest by the afternoon, though some were unable to leave.

The U.S. Forest Service has been working for years on plans to close part of the Deschutes National Forest near Bend for forest restoration and wildfire mitigation. But the number of people living in that part of the forest has grown, with many losing homes during the coronavirus pandemic due to job losses and high housing costs, Rabinowitz said.

President Donald Trump’s administration has acted to roll back environmental safeguards around future logging projects on more than half of U.S. national forests, under an emergency designation that cites dangers from wildfires.

Whether the administration's move will boost lumber supplies as Trump envisioned in an executive order he signed in March remains to be seen. Former President Joe Biden’s administration also sought more logging in public forests to combat fires, which have become more intense amid drier and hotter conditions linked to climate change, yet U.S. Forest Service timber sales stayed relatively flat under his tenure.

The Cabin Butte Vegetation Management Project, a wildfire mitigation treatment on some 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares), is prompting the closures in the Deschutes National Forest.

The goal of the work is to reduce wildfire risk and restore damaged habitats where development encroaches on natural areas near Bend, Deschutes National Forest officials said in a statement. Recreation sites and trails in that area will be closed through April next year.

Multiple U.S. Forest Service officials and vehicles were stationed at the Deschutes National Forest road closure on Thursday. A sign on the metal gate blocking the road said the temporary emergency closure will last at least one year.

Violators could face up six months in jail, fines up to $5,000, or both.

On Wednesday night, Mandy Bryant, who said she had lived in the encampment for about three years, was cleaning up her site and trying to get a trailer to start so she could move it.

“You could feel the heaviness in the air and just the stress and depression that people are feeling,” she told The Associated Press. “We’re up there on the list of groups of people that society doesn’t really care for.”

Four people living in the encampment including Bryant, along with two homeless advocates, filed for a restraining order to stop the closure earlier this month. The claim argued it would cause irreparable harm to more than 100 people who were living there, many of whom have disabilities.

The government responded in court filings that U.S. Forest Service staff in January began notifying homeless people living in the area of the upcoming closure. Original plans for the project were published in 2019 and were authorized by the U.S. Forest Service in 2023, the court filings said.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane denied the restraining order on Tuesday and issued a written opinion on Thursday.

“The public’s significant interest in restoring natural habitats, preventing catastrophic wildfires, and preserving the overall health of Deschutes National Forest is not outweighed by the interest of 150 or so individuals in residing on this particular plot of land," he wrote in his ruling.

Webb, a Deschutes National Forest spokesperson, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the government’s goal is “voluntary compliance,” but Forest Service officers and staff will patrol and “enforce the closure and ensure public safety.”

Rush reported from Portland, Oregon.