Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson met face-to-face Tuesday night in what is expected to be the only debate of Georgia’s race for governor.
The event, hosted by Atlanta News First and moderated by anchor Rick Folbaum, broke from the traditional debate format. Instead of answering questions from a panel of journalists, the candidates fielded questions directly from undecided voters on healthcare access, affordability, veterans affairs, data centers, and more.
With recent polling showing a razor-thin race and Election Day less than a month away, the stakes were high for both candidates.
Bottoms leans on familiar priorities
Bottoms, the Democratic nominee, stuck closely to the policies that have long defined her campaign, including expanding Medicaid and pausing data center expansion across the state.
When one voter pressed the candidates on why Georgia has left federal dollars on the table in money that could have expanded healthcare access, Bottoms called Medicaid expansion a “day one priority.”
Georgia remains one of a handful of states that have not adopted full Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, and Bottoms has called the state’s previous efforts at partial expansion an “epic failure.”
Jackson shifts on key issues
Jackson, the Republican nominee and founder of Jackson Healthcare, struck a noticeably different tone than he has previously on the campaign trail. When asked the same question as Bottoms about Georgians’ struggle to access healthcare, he said he would pursue Medicaid expansion.
“I am going to expand Medicaid to cover everybody,” he said, despite having repeatedly said he opposed full expansion.
The remark likely referred to his proposal for “intelligent Medicaid expansion,” a narrower plan that would include work requirements, a meaningful distinction from the full expansion Bottoms supports.
Jackson also appeared to walk back his embrace of President Donald Trump. Though he once pledged to be “Trump’s favorite governor,” he sought to distance himself from the president Tuesday, saying he opposes federal interference in elections.
The shift follows New Republic reporting that his campaign had scrubbed every mention of Trump from its website.
Jackson also denied ever saying that Gov. Brian Kemp was “going to get the National Guard” to watch over the midterms, a remark previously reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Data center debacle
In perhaps the most contentious moment of the night, Bottoms and Jackson clashed over their opposing plans for data centers, which have become a flashpoint in Georgia amid concerns about electricity demand, water use, and rising utility bills.
Jackson again argued that local communities, not state officials, should control development decisions. He has said such projects should not be approved behind closed doors and that the residents affected deserve a real say in the outcome.
That position sits uneasily alongside his own business dealings: Residents of Bowie County, Texas, say their opposition to Jackson’s data center project there has been ignored.
Bottoms took a far more sweeping approach, calling for a pause on all new data center construction in Georgia. But the proposal left a key question unanswered: When reporters asked after the event how long the pause would last, she said she did not know.
One night, one stage
Tuesday’s town hall will likely be voters’ only chance to see the two candidates side by side before Nov. 3.
Jackson has declined every other invitation, including the Atlanta Press Club debate, making him the first candidate for governor to skip it in more than 30 years.
Bottoms has argued that one debate is not enough, saying she is ready to face Jackson in Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. Jackson’s campaign has countered that it accepted the Atlanta News First invitation first and accused Bottoms of stalling.
The contrast continued after the cameras turned off. Jackson declined to take questions from reporters following the event, while Bottoms answered questions from multiple outlets.
Whether Tuesday’s exchange moves undecided voters remains to be seen. Bottoms and Jackson are vying to succeed Kemp, who is term-limited, in one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the country. For many Georgians, this single evening may be the clearest side-by-side look they get at the choice in front of them.
