During a sweltering afternoon in Savannah on Saturday, Sen. Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms addressed a crowd of more than 1,000 supporters. It was the first joint rally since both candidates learned who they would face in the fall.
In the governor’s race, Bottoms is running against billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson, whom she wasted no time dubbing “Slick Rick.”
Jackson has cultivated a reputation for ostentatious wealth, frequently arriving at campaign events via private jet. His campaign has already spent more than $100 million to defeat Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the Republican primary.
However, Bottoms argued that much of that fortune was built on public money. She pointed to a nearly $1 billion contract awarded to Jackson’s company, Jackson Healthcare, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Rick Jackson has been making a profit off the people of Georgia. His fortune is filled in part with your tax dollars,” she said.
She contrasted Jackson’s windfall with the reality facing hundreds of thousands of Georgians who cannot access healthcare. Georgia remains one of only ten states that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act—a stance Jackson has said he shares with current Gov. Brian Kemp (R).
Bottoms has made healthcare access the centerpiece of her campaign, with a particular focus on rural communities that have been hit hardest by the coverage gap. During a May event in Warner Robins alongside Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D)—whose state has seen dramatic results from Medicaid expansion—Bottoms pledged that her first 100 days in office would be devoted to preparing state agencies to expand the program.
“There is not a community in this state that has gone unscathed because we haven’t expanded Medicaid,” she said.
An anti-corruption campaign
Ossoff trained similar fire on his opponent, Congressman Mike Collins (R-Ga.), whom he will face in the Senate race this fall. He spent several minutes walking through the ongoing US House investigation into Collins, who is accused of misusing taxpayer funds to pay his former chief of staff’s girlfriend as a congressional intern, despite the fact that she allegedly never came to work.
The attacks came as part of the broader anti-corruption message that has become Ossoff’s signature line of attack against both political parties.
“American politics is coin operated. Money goes in and favors come out,” he said.
But Ossoff made clear he believes the Trump administration has taken corruption to a different level entirely.
They have “taken American corruption to spectacular new heights,” he said.
He lingered on a recent deal between the United States and Kazakhstan that could give Trump’s sons access to tungsten—a rare mineral critical to defense manufacturing—with the potential for tens of millions of dollars in profit. The deal would also funnel more than $1 billion in government funding to Kaz Resources, the company involved that has links to Trump’s children.
“They are literally the elites they pretend to hate,” he said.
‘One American house.’
Both Ossoff and Bottoms ended their speeches with a message of unity. Ossoff said that whether someone is a Democrat, a Republican, or “none of the above,” they all believe that politicians should not use their office to become rich.
He invoked his mentor, the late Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.), who urged him to remember that “we all live in one American house.” The phrase carried weight in Savannah, a city with deep roots in the civil rights movement Lewis helped to define.
Bottoms emphasized that all Georgians want the same things: access to healthcare, education, and well-paying jobs. From now until November, her campaign will be laser focused on convincing Georgians that she will be better positioned to deliver on those desires than her opponent.
“Rick Jackson may have the money, but the people still have the power,” she said.
