Brian Kemp has declared victory in the Georgia gubernatorial race, and resigned his post as the state’s top election official to begin his transition amidst accusations of voter suppression. As of this writing, neither the Associated Press, nor CNN, nor NBC News has projected a winner in the race—all list it as “too close to call”—and Kemp’s opponent, Stacey Abrams, has not conceded. Abrams, a Democrat, would be the country’s first black female governor. It’s a very important story, and all those links are worth clicking and reading.
But in other news, many Georgians can now get properly breakfast drunk, so that’s something!
We first reported on the Brunch Bill, also called the Mimosa Mandate, back in April. In short, it allows businesses to start serving alcohol at 11 a.m. on Sundays. It was passed by the legislature earlier this year, but required individual cities and counties to pass referendums saying, “hey, yes, please let me put orange juice in my beer and call it a breakfast cocktail a little earlier than normal please.” On Tuesday, lots of places said just that, among them Atlanta, Roswell, Woodstock, and the counties of Douglas, Forsyth, Hall, and Paulding.
This is an easy bill to giggle about, if only because “breakfast drunk” is such a satisfying turn of phrase. But for restaurant owners in Georgia, the results could make a big difference. Per The Telegraph, the Georgia Restaurant Association predicts that the extra 90 minutes will lead to nearly $500 in revenue, per restaurant, per Sunday.