Sally Yates saw her public profile soar after she defied President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban. Now, Georgia Democratic operatives and politicians are hoping the former acting attorney general will cash in some of that political capital with a gubernatorial run.
Yates received a standing ovation Wednesday night at a panel on race relations in Atlanta during one of her first public appearances since the end of her tumultuous 10-day tenure as the acting attorney general.
“I don’t think you can think of any possible candidates in Georgia and not mention Sally Yates’ name right now,” said Tharon Johnson, who was the national southern regional director for Obama’s 2012 campaign and a former adviser to Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed. “She's a symbol of hope and resistance when it comes to standing up to Donald Trump.”
As acting attorney general, Yates instructed the Department of Justice to not enforce Trump’s controversial executive order banning travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries, for which she was removed from office. She also warned White House counsel Don McGahn that former national security adviser Michael Flynn may have opened himself to blackmail from Russia after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the contents of his phone call with a Russian ambassador.
Yates, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, attended the panel discussion with former attorney general Eric Holder. At one point, Holder yelled, “Holder/Yates 2020” in which an audience member shouted back, “More like Yates/Holder 2020.”
The former acting attorney general, asked by an audience member if she was planning on running for office, said she was “just here in the audience.” She declined to comment for this story.
A source close to Yates who wished to remain anonymous said Yates has not expressed interest in running for office, even in recent conversations.
Yates’ lack of stated interest has not stopped Georgia Democrats from pushing her to mount a run for the governor's office in 2018, especially because some star power could help boost the party's chances in the red state. South Carolina hasn't elected a Democratic governor since 1998.
“Folks are talking about it a good bit down here,” said Seth C. Clark, a Democratic operative who worked on Michelle Nunn's losing 2014 Senate campaign.
“The buzz around here is she is a great candidate that can really make a case to get to the heart of Georgia Democrat’s problem with moderate rural white voters,” he said.
State Sen. Elena Parent of Atlanta, who has introduced a resolution looking to commend Yates in the state senate, called her “a hometown hero” who stood up for the constitution.
“She is a symbol of the anti-Trump resistance sweeping this country, and if this next election is a referendum on Trump, then that's a very good place to be," Parent said.
Republicans in the state slammed Yates for not defending the president’s order, with Sen. David Perdue saying her decision was “irresponsible.”
And the GOP apparatus in the state said it's not concerned about the prospect of a gubernatorial contender who currently has a lot of buzz around her.
"No matter what Democrat decides to run for governor in 2018, the Georgia Republican Party will have the resources, infrastructure, and grassroots army needed to secure victory for our nominee," Ryan Mahoney, a spokesperson for the Georgia Republican party, said.
Gov. Nathan Deal, a former Democrat turned Republican, is unable to seek re-election due to term limits and Democrats are increasingly seeing the state as a possible battleground in the future.
Johnson mentioned Yates’ bipartisan support when she was nominated to be deputy attorney general, her criminal justice record and deep roots in Georgia as qualities that make her a strong potential candidate.
He also said as a woman, she will be attractive to women in Atlanta’s historically Republican suburbs that voted for Clinton, and that she may be able to capitalize on women’s political energy shown in the Women’s March on Washington.
However, M.V. Hood, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia and close observer of state politics, said Democrats are at a disadvantage statewide.
All of the state-wide offices in the state are currently held by Republicans. Republican Senator Johnny Isakson easily defeated Democratic candidate and businessman Jim Barksdale by nearly 14 percentage points in the 2016 Senate race.
In 2014, Democrats ran two candidates seen as up-and-comers in state politics with family names familiar to Georgia voters. Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter's grandson, ran for governor and Nunn, daughter of former U.S. Sam Nunn, ran for U.S. Senate. Both lost by 8 percentage points.
Hood added he had not heard much speculation about Yates, but said there is still a lot of time before the election.
“I think people know who she is right now, they might be aware of who she is, but that may be fading pretty quickly,” Hood said. “The fact she stood up to the Trump administration two years ago, I’m not sure how well that would resonate two years from now.”
As federal prosecutor, Yates led the prosecutions of former Republican Georgia schools superintendent Linda Schrenko and former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell and State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, both Democrats. She also prosecuted Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber.
Clark pointed to Yates’ tenure as a federal prosecutor as an attractive quality for rural moderates. He said the state is increasingly polarized between Atlanta and the rest of the state.
“Her career has highlighted good things on either side of those regional disagreements, and I think that’s how she could appeal to the moderate voters that we’re missing,” Clark said.
There had been some speculation that Yates could run in the special election in Georgia's sixth district for the seat previously held by Tom Price, now the secretary of health and human services. She is not part of the large field in the election to represent the district that covers many of Atlanta's northern suburbs.
Her husband, Comer Yates, unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Georgia's fourth district in 1996 as a centrist Democrat.
Former U.S. Rep. Buddy Darden, who said he was a close friend of Yates, said it was premature to speculate about a possible political future for her. He said a number of law firms in Atlanta would be very interested in hiring her, and if a Democrat were to win in 2020, he expects that she would be considered for a position in the administration.
“She’s never has been an opportunist, and she has never made her decisions based on the politically expedient thing,” Darden said. “She calls it like she sees it.”
Yates has never indicated interest in politics during their many conversations throughout the years, Darden said. But he added she would be a strong candidate if she were interested in running.
“We Democrats down in Georgia are a little desperate, and anyone who achieves prominence or we think is noteworthy, we pay close attention to it,” he said.