Meet Harry James Fighting For SW GA. Plus, The Ethics Crisis in Congress, Campus GOTV efforts, & Why Canvassing Always Wins the Day

In partnership with

The free newsletter making HR less lonely

The best HR advice comes from people who’ve been in the trenches.

That’s what this newsletter delivers.

I Hate it Here is your insider’s guide to surviving and thriving in HR, from someone who’s been there. It’s not about theory or buzzwords — it’s about practical, real-world advice for navigating everything from tricky managers to messy policies.

Every newsletter is written by Hebba Youssef — a Chief People Officer who’s seen it all and is here to share what actually works (and what doesn’t). We’re talking real talk, real strategies, and real support — all with a side of humor to keep you sane.

Because HR shouldn’t feel like a thankless job. And you shouldn’t feel alone in it.

Sign Up Free

📢 Normally we're asking you to chip in financially. This week's a change of pace, we need your time instead. Ethan Wolfe is running to flip HD-151 in the Chattahoochee Valley, and campaigns like his run on more than money, they run on people. You don't have to live anywhere near SW Georgia to help. Phone banking and writing postcards can be done from anywhere, and each one matters to a campaign this size. Whatever time you've got, an hour or a whole Saturday, all help is welcome.

Meet Our Other Fighter in SW GA, Harry James 

When we introduced you to Ethan Wolfe in southwest Georgia's HD-151, we told you he was fighting for a community that deserved more. Today we want you to meet another person doing exactly the same thing, one district over: Harry James, our candidate for Georgia State House District 154.

In the May 2026 Democratic primary, Harry received 5,179 votes. Gerald Greene, the incumbent, received 3,956 votes in the Republican primary. In a district Greene has held for decades, Harry James outpaced him by more than 1200 votes.

To quote Buffalo Springfield, “Something’s happening here.”

But in this case, what it is – is pretty clear. This is a district that voted for Jon Ossoff in 2020, Raphael Warnock in 2022, and Kamala Harris in 2024. The Democratic base is here. It has shown up for statewide candidates cycle after cycle.

And now Harry takes up the mantle, in a district that covers nine counties along the Alabama line, Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Early, Miller, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, along with parts of Dougherty County. This district is deep rural Black Belt country, where the gap between what families have and what they deserve is wide and growing.

For years, Harry has been quietly doing the work. Building relationships across every county in the district, connecting with community leaders, pastors, and neighbors, and laying the groundwork for a campaign rooted in something more durable than yard signs: trust. He knows this district, both as a small business owner and as a neighbor. He’s seen firsthand what a lack of investment does to a rural community over time.

Harry's campaign is focused on access to healthcare, addressing the cost of living crisis, working as a State Rep. to highlight Federal housing programs like the USDA Rural Housing Service, and focusing on economic development that brings real jobs to communities in southwest Georgia, which has been passed over for too long.

Southwest Georgia knows Harry James. He has spent years building the kind of trust that does not come from a campaign mailer. On November 3rd, he is asking the district he has always called home to send him to Atlanta to fight for it.

If you can, please donate to Harry's campaign through his ActBlue page, found here: Harry James — Donate via ActBlue 

Southwest Georgia has two fighters this cycle. Help us send them both to Atlanta.

How Many Bad Apples…

This question has loomed large this primary season. On Monday, North Carolina Republicans nominated State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom to replace Congressman Chuck Edwards on the ballot in NC-11. Edwards dropped his reelection bid last week after the House Ethics Committee found "substantial reason to believe" he violated House rules on sexual harassment toward two staffers. He denies wrongdoing.

Problem solved, right? Found the bad apple, tossed it out.

Except Edwards isn't an isolated case in this Congress. In April, Texas Congressman Tony Gonzales resigned after admitting to an affair with a former staffer, who later died by suicide. Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles is under House Ethics Committee investigation over campaign finance discrepancies involving a $320,000 loan he admitted he never actually made. Florida Congressman Cory Mills is facing both a Justice Department criminal investigation and a separate House Ethics probe into sexual misconduct, campaign finance violations, and dating violence. Ohio Congressman Max Miller is under House Ethics Committee investigation after his ex-wife accused him of physically abusing her and their toddler.

Five sitting or recently departed House Republicans, five separate ethics processes, all active at the same time. That's not one bad apple. That's a pattern.

To be fair, California Democrat Eric Swalwell resigned that same day, facing his own allegations of sexual misconduct, including an accusation of rape, which he denies. But his House colleagues moved fast. He was gone within days. Edwards, Ogles, Mills, and Miller are all still sitting members of Congress, months into investigations that haven't cost any of them their seat.

When it's one person, you can write it off as one person's failure. When it's five, in one Congress, all facing formal investigation at once, the question stops being about individual character and starts being about what the institution tolerates, and for how long, before it does anything about it.

You don't fix a pattern by pointing at one apple. You have to ask who's in charge of the orchard. 

Power to the People: The Kitchen-Table Fight for Georgia's Utility Board

The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) rarely dominates headlines, but it holds immense power over how much you pay for electricity, gas, and basic utilities. For nearly two decades, the commission operated entirely without a Democratic voice. In a massive breakthrough last year, Georgia voters elected Dr. Alicia Johnson, the first African American woman to serve on the commission, alongside clean energy expert, Peter Hubbard.

Momentum continues with two critical seats up for grabs this November. Incumbent Peter Hubbard is running to retain his District 3 seat against Republican challenger, Fitz Johnson. Meanwhile, consumer advocate, Shelia Edwards is carrying the banner for District 5 in a closely watched multi-candidate race.

While the PSC has traditionally flown under the voter radar, it is climbing to the top of the priority list due to a sudden surge in industrial energy demands. Georgia has rapidly become one of the nation's premier hubs for massive artificial intelligence data centers. To feed this growth, regulators recently permitted Georgia Power to dramatically scale up electricity generation capacity.

The central issue for voters this November is simple: who pays the bill? If energy projections fall short, everyday families could be forced to absorb the overhead costs through higher monthly utility bills.

Democratic candidates are running on consumer protection. Peter Hubbard is pushing for rigorous cost analyses to shield local residents from unfair rate hikes, while Sheila Edwards has vowed to hold large corporations accountable, ensuring data centers pay their fair share. This election isn't about abstract politics; it is about practical accountability and keeping hard-earned money in the pockets of everyday Georgians.

Campus Involvement With the Upcoming Election at UGA

This Monday marks the start of the fall semester at the University of Georgia. Over 30,000 students are set to return to Athens for a fall full of learning, football, late night study sessions, tailgates, and The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” blasting on repeat. But beyond the surface level happenings typical of an SEC campus, students at UGA will return to school as a pivotal demographic for the 2026 midterm elections. 

The University of Georgia is incredibly unique in its political profile. For one, it is a large university in a swing state, giving its students’ votes national significance. Additionally, unlike other big schools in swing states such as the University of Michigan or the University of Arizona, UGA’s student body is politically diverse. 

According to a 2025 survey, roughly 39% of UGA students identify as liberal while about 32% identify as conservative. Compare that to the University of Michigan where 64% of students identify as liberal and only 13% identify as conservative.

Taken together, UGA’s student body is politically diverse and large enough to impact national politics, while functioning as a “mini swing state,” making the university a political battleground in and of itself.

As a proud bulldog myself, it's possible that I’m overstating the impact of our student body’s voice. However, the votes cast by UGA students this November may very well decide who the next Governor of Georgia will be, which party will control Congress, and what the future of our nation may look like.

The significance of UGA’s votes in the upcoming elections is sure to lead to spirited debate and mass student involvement. Already, student led political organizations are making their presence on campus known.

Yet, despite the modest liberal leaning of the UGA student body, conservative organizations have seen more success than their liberal counterparts. UGA is home to the largest College Republicans chapter in the nation. Additionally, UGA’s chapter of Turning Point USA, the national organization founded by Charlie Kirk, hosted Erika Kirk and Vice President J.D. Vance last spring (though the crowd was sparse).

The Young Democrats of UGA and Dawgs for Ossoff are well established, active campus organizations, and important partners in reaching students. Even so, there's real room to grow. UGA's student body leans more liberal than conservative, which means the ceiling for Democratic organizing on campus is higher than what's currently being tapped. That's less a critique of any one group and more an opportunity, there's a bigger audience out there than current turnout reflects, and it's on all of us to reach them. 

The dynamic of unbalanced influence across party lines adds another dimension to the unique political landscape of UGA. To recap: the University of Georgia is a large state school in a swing state with an incredibly politically diverse student body – and though UGA’s student body leans ever so slightly to the left, right wing organizations have much more influence on the broader campus community.

Given the importance of UGA in the upcoming elections, there is no more important time than now for Democratic organizations on campus to energize and mobilize their untapped support base. For too long, conservative organizations have often been louder in campus political conversations, despite being outnumbered by liberal students.

It's time for campus discourse to match the real attitudes of students. It's time for Democrats on the University of Georgia's campus to make their voices heard and their votes count.

Why Canvassing Always Wins the Day

As someone who’s spent their summer hours canvassing for Georgia’s candidates, I understand this isn’t an easy and effortless task.. But I often wonder why canvassing became such an established practice in campaigns and grassroots organizing, and how effective it actually is, backed not only by spirit but also by numbers.

As it turns out, this practice dates back to the earlier days of our nation. During the era of local political machines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, grassroots canvassing was largely the province of local party organizations. Political machines specialized in mobilizing voters through networks of party workers and local supporters, and at their peak, controlled political organizations in many major American cities. With a heavy local focus, canvassing for presidential candidates was often a by-product of efforts to elect local candidates on the party ticket. National party organizations, on the other hand, were relatively hollow and had little involvement in grassroots activities.

During the mid-20th century, however, progressive reforms weakened many patronage systems, and locally driven canvassing began to atrophy. For decades, parties and candidates shifted their resources toward media advertising instead. In 1992, grassroots mobilization reached a historical low point, with only 18% of the electorate reporting that they had been contacted by a political party.

Starting with the 2000 presidential election, attention to the “ground war,” or direct and personal efforts to mobilize voters, rebounded significantly. By 2008, voter contacts had risen to more than 40% of the electorate. During this period, mobilization also became increasingly driven by national parties and more professionalized, as Electoral College math dictated resources be concentrated in battleground states. Parties began using voter databases to micro-target groups, allowing campaigns to prioritize voters based on factors such as their likelihood of voting, past political engagement, and location.

Understanding the historical context of canvassing has allowed me to see the time I have spent knocking on doors in a new light. Georgia is one of the country's most competitive battleground states, where small shifts in turnout can have significant outcomes. And there is evidence that face-to-face campaigning can make a measurable difference. A field study published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics found that door-to-door campaigning by a candidate increased that candidate’s vote share by 3 percentage points and the vote margin by 6 percentage points in a two-candidate race.

Knowing this, the hours I spent walking from door to door feel a little different. One conversation with a voter can feel insignificant, especially after dozens of unanswered doors. But campaigns are built on accumulation. One conversation becomes dozens, dozens become hundreds, and eventually those contacts can translate into measurable changes in who turns out and who wins.

That may be why canvassing has survived despite more than a century of changes in American politics. The technology surrounding campaigns has changed dramatically, from political machines to voter databases and digital targeting, but the basic principle has remained remarkably simple. Even as campaigns evolve, political change still begins with people talking to people.

- Chloe, Intern, The 2030 Project

Face to Face: Ossoff and Collins Set for High-Stakes October Debate

On Thursday, October 8th, Senator Jon Ossoff and Representative Mike Collins will face off in a televised, statewide U.S. Senate debate hosted by Gray Media at Assembly Atlanta. With the general election entering its final stretch, this matchup is shaping up to be one of the most critical, closely watched contests in the nation, with the balance of power in Washington hanging on the outcome.

The debate carries a unique historical weight for Senator Ossoff. Six years ago, during his historic 2020 Senate runoff campaign, Republican incumbent David Perdue refused to take the stage. Ossoff famously spent the broadcast answering questions next to an empty podium, arguing that Georgia voters deserved a leader who wasn't afraid to look them in the eye and defend his record.

The dynamics in 2026 are entirely different. Now the incumbent, Ossoff is a seasoned legislator defending his seat, while Congressman Collins has eagerly agreed to confront him directly.

Money will form the massive backdrop of this stage. While Ossoff maintains a commanding grassroots advantage—raising an astonishing $20 million last quarter to enter the fall with $42 million cash-on-hand—national Republican organizations are pouring unprecedented funds into the state to close the gap.

Collins enters the fall heavily bolstered by national special interests. The Senate Leadership Fund has pledged a massive $44 million blitz to defeat Ossoff, backed by a strong endorsement from the Club for Growth PAC. To push back against this tidal wave of national GOP spending, the Democratic Senate Majority PAC has countered with an initial $20 million television reservation.

This October debate represents a rare, unscripted moment where voters can look past the super PAC television ads and partisan campaign speeches. In 2020, Ossoff debated an empty podium to demand accountability for Georgia. This October, voters will finally get the face-to-face contrast they were denied six years ago, providing a clear choice for the future of our state.

1,000,000 Men Use This. You Probably Know One.

Most men don't think about their skin until eye bags, dark spots, and wrinkles show up at once. Particle Face Cream is a groundbreaking men's formula that fights all three, while also restoring firmness and hydrating deeply. No complicated routine. Trusted by over a million men. 30-day money-back guarantee. 20% off with code BH20.

Get 20% Off Today