The year 2025 in Atlanta and statewide had no shortage of eye-popping storylines.
Whether it was the memorial services for former President Jimmy Carter, the many “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration, the hundreds of bills that passed under the Gold Dome, a surprising effect of Georgia’s abortion law years after its passage, a high-profile immigration raid at a Hyundai plant, the arrest of a Spanish-language journalist, the closure of beloved restaurants, a local teacher going viral for all the right reasons, consequential elections or a shock congressional resignation — this year had it all.
Here are 35 quotes that helped explain 2025.
Jan. 9: “His spirit will always be here. He is our hero. Rosalynn, too. But let’s just face it, it’s just not going to be the same.”
–Philip Kurland, owner of the Plains Trading Post on Main Street in Plains, Georgia. President Jimmy Carter was buried in Plains on Jan. 9. A service also took place several days earlier at the Carter Center in Atlanta.
Jan. 20: “I got chills while listening to his speech. Look at what Donald Trump has gone through. They tried to indict him. They tried to put him in jail. They tried to bankrupt him. They tried to assassinate him, but he’s on that stage.”
–Grassroots conservative Georgia activist Debbie Dooley after watching President Donald Trump get inaugurated for his second term.
Jan. 23: “I couldn’t save him, but we can all save the next one. There shouldn’t be a next one. There won’t be a next one if we stop the sweeps.”
–Darlene Chaney, the cousin of Cornelius Taylor, who was killed by a City of Atlanta construction vehicle that was clearing his homeless encampment in January.
Feb. 5: “This is not just a property to me, it’s a home. And I’m fighting for my home.”
–Malyndia Brown, one of at least two dozen residents who’ve been working to inherit their family homes and have been locked in an ongoing struggle with the Fulton County Assessor’s office.
April 15: “By choosing to prioritize federal funding over fundamental fairness, Georgia is sending a chilling message: that the inclusion and success of all students is negotiable. It is not. We reject the notion that equity is a threat. On the contrary, equity is essential to educational excellence.”
–Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs wrote on Georgia complying with an April directive by the U.S. Department of Education to remove DEI programs in schools.
May 2: “The way that student protesters are being treated, not even at KSU but all across this country, it can feel a little bit scary for a lot of us, that the potential for expelling or arrest is on the table when all we want to do is have our voices be heard.”
–Kennesaw State University student Jameson Harris on how crackdowns on student protesters around the country have created a climate of fear.
May 20: “The concern I have is that the policy environment is not really designed to kind of respond to this new, unprecedented demand.”
–Chris Manganiello, the water policy director for Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, on the huge amounts of water that data centers require
May 30: “They’re on, they’re off, they’re on again. Few forward-looking businesses can be truly successful in such an environment.”
–Emory University economist Tom Smith on how tariff flip-flops have left Georgia small businesses in economic uncertainty this year
June 11: “We are not California or New York. We are Georgia. We don’t make excuses for criminals here. We prosecute them.”
–Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr threatening domestic terrorism charges for anyone who incites violence during June protests against the Trump administration
June 16: “RFRA is not any better now than it was in 2016. But there is great urgency to fight [other] pieces of legislation that cause immediate and irreversible harm.”
–Georgia Equality executive director Jeff Graham on a religious liberty bill that was vetoed nearly a decade ago, and a similar bill that passed in 2025
June 20: “The big moment is, I think as of today, the mining threat from Twin Pines is eliminated.”
–Stacy Funderburke, vice president for the Central Southeast at The Conservation Fund, on how a controversial plan to mine next to Georgia’s beloved Okefenokee Swamp had been halted after six years.
June 30: “To be a queer Black person in the South currently in this climate … we’re not always seen. We didn’t get to choose our names. And so to take back your power and to affirm yourself, I think is so important.”
–Princess Jauan Durbin on legal name change clinics going on in Atlanta amid an anti-LGBTQ political climate
July 8: “Initial findings show that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda.”
–A spokesperson for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on the Trump administration pausing federal grants for afterschool and summer programs, many of which are in Atlanta. The spokesperson did not identify which programs had allegedly been misused.
July 29: “I think it is completely appropriate that the hospital do what they can to save the life of the child. I think this is an unusual circumstance, but I think it highlights the value of innocent human life. I think the hospital is acting appropriately.”
–State Rep. Ed Setzler on a woman declared brain-dead at Emory University Hospital and kept on life support for more than three months because she was pregnant. She was removed from a ventilator in June and died, days after doctors delivered her 1-pound, 13-ounce baby by emergency cesarean section. The case drew national attention to Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, which Setzler authored.
Aug. 11: “Everybody’s aware of what’s going on. We’re all a little worried, but at the same time, we realize we have to stay unified and help each other, support each other and stay strong.”
–Out On Film Festival Director Jim Farmer on how LGBTQ groups are navigating a crackdown on DEI policies and cuts to federal funding sources
Aug. 22: “He had a way of putting others first, often sacrificing his own comfort so someone else could have theirs. And when you needed guidance, he was the one to turn to.”
–DeKalb County police officer Tahlia Cruz on David Rose, a DeKalb officer who died in the line of duty when a gunman attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Aug. 29: “Being here in Atlanta has allowed me to really spread my wings beyond New Orleans. In New Orleans, it’s a very tight-knit community. A lot of people aren’t able to get out of New Orleans, or go beyond. So being in Atlanta, the city has given my family so many opportunities.”
–Hurricane Katrina survivor Christan Carter on moving to Atlanta after the storm 20 years ago this year
Sept. 4: “We live in this day and age where you don’t know what the algorithm is gonna do for your posts, right? What I know is that authenticity always wins. And so what people saw was with genuine interactions, genuine culture that exists here in the school.”
–Clayton County teacher Alfred “Shivy” Brooks after going viral on social media for his video putting a spotlight on Black male educators. Brooks is also the only active educator on the Atlanta Board of Education.
Sept. 10: “Knowing that your foreign nationals are in jeopardy of being detained or arrested, that’s a big concern to countries that have invested heavily, whether that’s Japan, whether it’s Taiwan, whether it’s an EU nation.”
–Andrew Yeo, Korea Chair at the Brookings Institution, on how an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant near Savannah in September has rattled South Korean and other non-U.S. corporations.
Oct. 2: “We’re not in the best spirits, but like I said earlier, he’s alive, and when this sadness passes, I know we [the family] will rise up and this time stronger. We’ll have higher spirits than ever.”
–Oscar Guevara, the brother of Mario Guevara, a metro Atlanta Spanish-language journalist who was deported to El Salvador after being arrested covering an anti-Trump protest.
Oct. 12: “No one is buying it.”
–A longtime CDC employee in Atlanta, who requested anonymity, on the Trump administration saying a coding error caused the incorrect termination of 700 CDC workers.
Oct. 13: “You’re not going to be able to deliver your baby in your community. You’re going to have to drive 30, 40, maybe 60 miles to deliver a baby. Now, what if you were having a stroke, or what if you were having a heart attack?”
–American Nurses Association president Jennifer Mensik Kennedy on the impact of the passage of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.”
Oct. 13: “They should know that I love everybody that ever set foot in here. And we thank you for a beautiful 32 years. God bless you.”
–Eats owner Robert Hatcher, which closed in October.
Oct. 16: “Tyriana’s family trusted the system to protect her. Because of her mental disabilities, she should never have been placed in a dangerous environment like that. Yet, the warnings were ignored, and now this young woman’s life has been forever changed.”
–From a GoFundMe page set up by the family of Tyriana Ledbetter, a woman with mental disabilities had been incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail before allegedly getting attacked by another incarcerated woman in October. The 20-year-old is now on life support.
Oct. 22: “It is unfathomable to me why anyone listens to Georgia Power’s lawyers, staff or witnesses about anything. Their claims about costs and demand growth have no credibility because nothing they said in the past has proven even close to true.”
–Activist and onetime Georgia Public Service Commission candidate Patty Durand during public comment in an October PSC hearing. During a lunch break shortly afterward, Durand allegedly stole Georgia Power documents containing confidential information. She was then arrested outside the hearing room.
Oct. 23: “There’s internal conflict. There’s external conflict. There’s a lot of conflict right now. But now is the time to speak truth to power. To have moral courage. And that’s what we’re trying to do.“
–Peter Berg, senior rabbi at The Temple in Atlanta, on interfaith discussions amid the Israel-Hamas war and ceasefire.
Oct. 29: “We’re losing another vital piece of the puzzle when women in the state of Georgia are already behind on access to obstetric care.”
–Dr. Lara Hart, an assistant obstetrics and gynecology professor at the Medical College of Georgia, on the loss of maternity care in rural Georgia
Nov. 4: “Now the real work begins.”
–Alicia Johnson after ousting Republican incumbent Tim Echols for the District 2 seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities including Georgia Power. Johnson was one of two Democrats to flip seats on the PSC, putting Democrats on the commission for the first time in nearly two decades.
Nov. 4: “To the Atlanta voters, thank you Atlanta. We obviously wouldn’t be here without you standing in the lines, casting your ballot and putting your trust in me to lead this city.”
–Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who was reelected to a second term in office.
Nov. 5: “Companies have had to make some decisions about choosing to go overseas to avoid health care costs or union issues that we face here, threats of strikes at one time, and the strike.”
–Georgia Entertainment CEO Randy Davidson on how film studios which have shot movies in Atlanta are increasingly filming overseas
Nov. 11: “The government’s always represented. They’re going to have an attorney on their side being able to make really complicated arguments.”
–Immigration attorney Matt Boles on access to free attorneys shrinking as immigration detention grows in Georgia
Nov. 20: “It’s the hardest thing ever to see all your hard work all gone in flames… that really broke me.”
–Jonathan Imafidor, a Nigerian-born sculptor whose work was in the South River Art Studios in East Atlanta. A fire ravaged the studio in November.
Nov. 22: “Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for.”
–U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Trump loyalist who resigned after growing disagreements with him during his second term.
Nov. 26: “The case is hereby dismissed in its entirety.”
–Fulton Superior Judge Scott McAfee ordering the dismissal of the historic Georgia criminal case against President Trump and more than a dozen of his allies for their efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election. Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, moved to end it after he assumed the case from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was disqualified by a court in 2024.
Dec. 10: “In 2075 I will be 70 years old. I hope to have children, even grandchildren, by then, and I’m scared for the future I will have to pass on to them.”
–Emory student and activist Ava Trachtenberg on the deal struck between the Georgia Public Service Commission and Georgia Power that would allow the utility to carry out a massive expansion.
