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Why It Matters The Georgia Ports Authority has ended its lobbying relationship with inSession Strategies LLC, capping a four-year engagement that generated $480,000 in fees for the firm. The LDA termination lobbying disclosure, filed for first quarter 2026, marks the end of a relationship that began in 2022 and was focused almost entirely on federal appropriations for the authority's harbor and river projects.

Across inSession's current book of business, the authority ranked as a mid-tier client. In first quarter 2026, the firm reported $593,500 in total disclosed fees across roughly two dozen clients. OpenPolicy Inc. led at $60,000 across two filings, followed by the State of Georgia at $52,500 and Alliance for a Stronger FDA and RAI Services Co. Inc. each at $50,000. The Georgia Ports Authority's $30,000 placed it in the middle of the pack.

Worth noting: inSession was simultaneously lobbying for the State of Georgia at $52,500 per quarter which meant the firm held two Georgia government-related clients at once. Together, those two clients represented $82,500 in First Quarter 2026 fees.

Did the Authority Hire Anyone Else?

The authority was not relying on inSession alone. Alongside the inSession engagement, Cassidy & Associates Inc. was retained throughout 2025 at $40,000 per quarter — a higher rate than inSession — covering budget and appropriations, government issues, marine and maritime, trade, and transportation. Lobbyist Charles Brittingham II handled the Cassidy work across all four quarters of 2025.

The available lobbying disclosure filing data does not show a new firm being retained by the authority to replace inSession's role going into 2026. Cassidy's most recent filings cover through fourth quarter 2025, and no new registration for the authority has appeared in the dataset for 2026.

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Broader Context

The Georgia Port Authority lobbying work at inSession was focused squarely on federal appropriations. Filings from 2022 through early 2025 consistently described the work as supporting "enactment of authorization and appropriations legislation relating to the activities of Georgia Ports Authority river and harbors projects," with some filings also referencing executive branch actions to facilitate port development.

That's not an abstract policy priority. The authority is in the middle of a multi-billion dollar infrastructure expansion — five new big-ship berths planned for Savannah, a fourth berth in Brunswick, and a $4.5 billion self-financed capital plan running through 2030. Federal funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is central to making that work. The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project alone cost roughly $973 million, with approximately 75 percent funded federally.

In September 2025, the House passed the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026, which included $65.7 million through the Army Corps for modification and maintenance of the Ports of Brunswick and Savannah. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) was the key champion. As of the First Quarter 2026 filing period, the bill had not yet been signed into law, meaning Senate advocacy remained live.

The Panama Canal Hearing

In one instance of congressional attention touching the authority, Federal Maritime Commission representative Daniel B. Maffei cited the Georgia Ports Authority during a January 28, 2025 Senate hearing titled "Fees and Foreign Influence: Examining the Panama Canal and Its Impact on U.S. Trade and National Security." Maffei used the authority as an analogy for how a state-level port authority can operate with independence while remaining ultimately accountable to its state government. The mention was contextual rather than critical, and there is no indication in the available data that it contributed to the lobbying client termination.

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The Bottom Line

The Georgia Port Authority lobbying work at inSession ran through a single lobbyist: Ben Ayres. Ayres served as a Legislative Assistant in the personal office of Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) from October 2019 through February 2020, spanning portions of the 114th, 115th, and 116th Congresses. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Georgia.

His profile fit the client well — a Georgia Republican with Senate experience, working on behalf of a Georgia state authority seeking federal appropriations in a Republican-controlled Congress. The follow the money lobbying picture here is relatively straightforward: a state port authority paying a lobbyist with Georgia Republican Senate ties to work the appropriations process.

With the LDA termination lobbying filing now on record, the authority's federal presence in 2026 depends on whether Cassidy & Associates files a new registration for the current year — something that has not yet appeared in the available data. Cassidy's Charles Brittingham II covered the broader issue portfolio in 2025, including trade and transportation alongside appropriations, suggesting the authority may be consolidating its federal work rather than expanding it.

The authority's infrastructure agenda isn't going away. With the FY2026 appropriations bill still pending in the Senate and a $4.5 billion capital plan running through the end of the decade, the question of who is carrying the authority's water on Capitol Hill in 2026 remains open.

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