Bottoms, Jackson face each other for first, and likely only, time in Georgia governor’s race

Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson clashed Tuesday night over healthcare, crime, data centers and election security in what will likely be the only opportunity for voters to see the two candidates for governor side by side. 

The town hall-style debate, organized by Atlanta News First and Atlanta-based Gray Media, is the only forum where both candidates were expected to face each other. Bottoms challenged Jackson to more debates, but the Republican only agreed to the one meeting. 

But because of the town hall format, Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, and Jackson, a healthcare executive, weren’t allowed to address each other and could only respond to questions from Georgia voters who were undecided before the debate. That didn’t stop either candidate from issuing attacks in their responses, though. 

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Bottoms introduced herself in the town hall as an advocate for Georgians.

“While my opponent is running to enrich himself and be Trump’s favorite governor, I want to be yours, Georgia,” Bottoms said.

Jackson pointed to his personal background growing up in public housing and foster care, something he does often on the campaign trail and in TV ads, before becoming a billionaire.

“I know what it means to struggle. I know what it means to get a second chance, and I’m running for governor to make sure every Georgian has that same opportunity,” Jackson said.

Healthcare, data center and election security were hot issues

The debate did become contentious at times. Bottoms repeated her push to expand Medicaid while accusing Jackson of profiting from the current system through his healthcare companies.

“My opponent has made money off of this broken healthcare system. He has a staffing company that lures staff away from hospitals. It has sent many hospitals into closure because the personnel costs have skyrocketed,” Bottoms said to an undecided voter who said he did not have healthcare coverage.

Jackson was previously against Medicaid expansion but announced last month that he would pursue “intelligent” Medicaid expansion. He said Tuesday night that he would expand Medicaid without losing “$4.5 billion dollars that we’re currently getting for the state,” but he was unclear how Georgia would lose that funding, and a spokesperson for his campaign didn’t immediately respond to a follow-up question seeking clarification. Jackson quickly shifted to his other proposals to make healthcare more affordable, such as cracking down on insurance practices that deny or delay care and negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to bring the cost of prescription down.

“What we need to focus on – not only expanding Medicaid; that doesn’t solve the cost – we need to come up with solutions that actually reduce the cost of healthcare, and that’s what I’m going to do, or I’m not going to run again,” Jackson responded.

Jackson also repeatedly attacked Bottoms on her record as mayor of Atlanta, pointing to inflation and public safety in Atlanta during the pandemic.

“This is the kind of policy that we cannot have in running Georgia, not having people feeling safe to go to work or go to the gas store. There’s no way this should happen as a governor,” he said to a voter who asked how the candidates plan to make living more affordable.

But Bottoms pointed to her plan to provide tax relief, such as eliminating income tax for teachers and cutting taxes associated with car insurance. She also said she wants to allow local governments to have the option to suspend or eliminate sales tax on groceries.

“The average consumer or household has two cars. That would be $140 per year in savings, and also through the homeowners insurance tax that’s currently passed on to consumers, also at around 2.25%. I want to make sure that that is going back into the pockets of consumers,” she said.

Jackson offered his own tax cut pledge, saying that he has “committed to cut the income tax in half the first term, or (he) won’t run again.”

The candidates also sparred over the growth of data centers in Georgia, which has become a defining issue of the race. Bottoms is calling for a statewide pause while pointing to Jackson’s investment in a data center in Texas.  

“If he is an investor in data centers, if he builds data centers, he cannot be trusted on this, but I want a pause on all new construction until we create a path forward that best serves all of Georgia,” Bottoms said.

Jackson pushed back, saying that Bottoms approved multiple data centers in Atlanta while giving them a tax break. But Bottoms said that the only data center she approved as mayor was one at Georgia Tech that “was not a hyperscale data center (and) it was not in the middle of a residential community.”

Debate over data center growth in Georgia heats up race for governor

On the issue of automated license plate readers, Bottoms said that she would support a moratorium on new devices being installed while policies are tightened up. Jackson disagreed with halting new installations, saying it would cause crime to go up, but both candidates agreed that there should be restrictions on their use and that their use can be helpful for law enforcement.

When asked about how they would help Georgians who lost their jobs because of federal funding cuts, Bottoms took the opportunity to tie Jackson to the Trump administration, saying that she is “not running to be his favorite governor.” The Trump-endorsed Jackson, who compared himself often to Trump during the primary and who said repeatedly that he would be Trump’s “favorite governor,” has aligned himself more recently with Gov. Brian Kemp.

“I don’t owe anybody anything. Nobody’s ever told me what to do. My number one priority is Georgians. It’s you, and I will stand up to anybody, just like Brian Kemp has done,” Jackson said.

The candidates also tangled over election security. Bottoms accused Jackson of previously suggesting that the Georgia National Guard would be deployed to monitor Georgia’s midterm election, referring to audio obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But Jackson denied that happened.

“I’ve never suggested that we have the National Guard to come in on this election. Period. That’s just a complete falsehood,” he said.

But Bottoms maintained her stance.

“He said that the National Guard would be called in. You all can pull the tape on that,” she said.

Political observers, partisans offer initial reactions to the debate

Both political parties praised their candidates following the debate, with Georgia Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon saying that “the contrast on the television tonight could not have been more clear.

“In Rick Jackson, Georgia will have a governor who is a problem-solver; a governor who actually has a plan and has the guts to own it,” McKoon said.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey declared a victory for Bottoms, saying that she “dominated the debate stage by outlining her positive vision for Georgia.”

“Keisha held Slick Rick accountable for his long record of rigging the system against Georgians, forcing data centers on communities and pushing the president’s disastrous policies, no matter how much it hurts our families,” Bailey said.

The race between Bottoms and Jackson is virtually tied according to recent polling. Jackson has pulled slightly ahead in a recent poll, but they remain within the margin of error.

University of Georgia political communications professor David Clementson called the debate “relatively tame” compared to the negative advertising and rhetoric that is coming from both campaigns. But he said there were instances of them calling each other liars, which he said “can have the effect of further entrenching partisan viewers.”

Clementson also pointed to their nonverbal communication. He said that Jackson may have connected better with viewers as he looked directly at the camera and used more gestures, but that he also “appeared somewhat jittery and tripped up on his words more.” He said that Bottoms looked away from the camera more and “seemed less animated.”

“Their nice verbal answers were brought down by lousy nonverbals. They both offered empathic answers, sympathetic message content. But with cold delivery, monotonous tone, stiff body language,” he said.

Zachary Peskowitz, a political scientist at Emory University, said that debates don’t usually determine the results of the election. But he said gaffs and mistakes can happen, which could “definitely could be consequential” given the tight margins seen in polling.

“I think you know it could certainly affect some of those voters, and given how close it is, that could be a big part of the story for what happens in November,” Peskowitz said in an interview before the debate.

Early voting for the November election starts Oct. 13.

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Courtesy of Georgia Recorder