With General Assembly over, now comes a defining moment for Ga. — the election in 2022

The high points under the Gold Dome this year were high and the low points were low — but items moving this session illustrated how ready politicians are for what will likely be a very defining 2022 election in Georgia.

That election won’t just define how purple Georgia really is, but may also show which faction will dominate the power structure in the Republican Party.

The specter of former President Donald Trump’s influence still holds a good bit of sway in Georgia. The battle between the far right staunchly pro-trump faction or the center-to-moderate-right faction of the party will likely come to a head in 2022.

Trump’s already weighed in and endorsed staunch supporter U.S. Rep. Jody Hice to take on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The current SOS earned the ire of the former president most notably for releasing a recording of a phone call where Trump allegedly told Raffensperger to find enough votes to win the state.

That’s just one of the intra-party challenges to key leadership positions in Georgia we’ll see in the coming year — and that’s not even talking about what the Democrats are lining up.

We’ll see how the Democratic Party fares in state House and Senate elections where the metro Atlanta and urban population factor is taken out of the equation, but statewide offices may be up for grabs.

Presumably in preparation for challengers, the Gop-led state legislature passed a bill that potentially has the added effect of solidifying the powerbase within the party.

Senate Bill 221 passed the House 9669 largely along party lines. Democrats said the bill will remove the restrictions that keep lobbyists from giving money while trying to persuade lawmakers to pass, or kill, legislation.

For years, that’s been a no no during session. In a happier time — many years ago — the General Assembly decided it looked bad for a lawmaker to receive funds from a group at the same time they were considering legislation affecting that group.

They were wise. When a lawmaker is taking contributions from a group, it looks like a payoff, even if it isn’t.

The new bill creates leadership committees which can take unlimited amounts of funding from lobbyists and special interest groups during the session. Those funds will be able to be used to coordinate and fund political campaigns.

For the record, the bill was sponsored by our Chickamauga neighbor Sen. Jeff Mullis and championed by a neighbor to the south, House Majority Whip Trey Kelley of Cedartown.

“It gives our caucuses the ability to function like the parties do now,” Kelley said.

The passage of this bill makes the aforementioned rifts even more interesting. Unless a lawmaker’s votes jibe with the party leadership’s desires, then that lawmaker could see themselves without, or with much less, funding.

We don’t need our legislature to model itself after the hyperpartisan war continuing to play out in Washington, D.C.

Here’s a reminder: Those parties have kept America in a gridlock through bickering when real work needed to be done.

Unless either party can form and hold a supermajority in the U.S. Congress — something that only benefits that party, not America — working together is the only way to affect real policy to benefit our country.

The only way real work will be done is through compromise.

Georgia is already knee deep in partisan muck with the two largest political parties ramping up as almost never before. We don’t need to reinforce failed national practices in our state.

Take the Major League Baseball Allstar game pullout as an answer to the new election law passage as a foreshadow of things to come. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again — pointless political fights turn into very real economic collateral damage.

Partisanship conflicts only benefit political parties, not Georgia

Thank you for reading.