Fast start for Kemp and Georgia lawmakers in first week of legislative session

Gov. Brian Kemp at the annual State of the State address at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp delivered his seventh State of the State address at the State Capitol on Thursday. In it he applauded the state’s resilience through natural disasters, the pandemic, economic upheaval and a deadly school shooting and cast Georgia’s approach to health, budgeting and public safety as a model for other states to emulate, declaring “the Georgia Way is indeed the better way.”

On this week’s episode of “Plugged In: A WABE Politics Podcast,” hosts Sam Gringlas and Rahul Bali discuss some of their big takeaways from the speech as Kemp kicks off his second-to-last year in office.

Plus, the legislative session gets underway as lawmakers bring up transgender student-athletes and push to further investigate Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis.