Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) posted on social media to celebrate the return of the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game to Atlanta in 2025, noting the professional athletic organization changed its mind regarding Georgia’s 2021 voting law.
The MLB announced the Atlanta Braves will hold the 2025 All-Star Game at Truist Park in a statement posted to social media on Thursday. Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred stated that the Braves are “a model of success on the field,” and predicted that “Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta” will offer “a world class experience” to baseball fans in 2025.
The @Braves have been selected to host the 2025 @MLB All-Star Game, which will be the 95th Midsummer Classic. pic.twitter.com/Yk2tmy8hR4
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) November 16, 2023
Absent from the statement and social media post was any mention of the MLB’s decision to pull out of Atlanta in 2021, prompted by Democratic claims that SB 202, Georgia Election Integrity Act of 2021 was discriminatory. SB 202 was passed and signed into law by Kemp in 2021.
“Georgia’s voting laws haven’t changed, but it’s good to see the MLB’s misguided understanding of them has,” wrote Kemp in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The governor added, “We look forward to welcoming the All-Star Game to Georgia.”
Georgia’s voting laws haven’t changed, but it’s good to see the MLB’s misguided understanding of them has.
We look forward to welcoming the All-Star Game to Georgia.
Go Braves! https://t.co/MGtOeg99rI
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) November 16, 2023
While the Biden administration’s lawsuit against the Georgia law remains ongoing, U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ruled against the Department of Justice in its request for a preliminary injunction in October, determining will continue to be enforced, and the plaintiffs are unlikely to prove their discrimination claims at trial.
Specifically, the judge ruled plaintiffs are unlikely to prove that decreasing the number of ballot drop boxes and limiting the amount of food and drink available to those waiting in line “has a disparate impact on black people” in Georgia.
Polling conducted after the 2022 elections by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs was cited by Boulee. It revealed a 95.5 satisfaction rate among Georgia’s black voters who did not report issues while voting.
Additionally, while many claimed the law would disenfranchise voters and lower the number of votes cast, Georgia reported 300,000 more ballots cast in the 2022 midterm elections compared to 2018.
Calls for the All-Star Game to return to Atlanta increased in 2022 when Georgia House Speaker David Ralston wrote a letter urging Manfred to “announce a future All-Star Game in Atlanta.” Ralston wrote that SB 202 “made voting more accessible and secure,” adding that the “[f]alse claims to the contrary” were “proven wrong” and it was “[t]ime to make this right.”
More than a year after MLB pulled out of Atlanta, it was reported in 2022 that at least 20 franchises associated with the group “have promoted or funded groups that advocate for youth sex changes,” including five franchises “which prompted or funded groups that administer chemical or surgical sex changes to youths.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Brian Kemp” by Brian Kemp.
