ATLANTA — The only major debate between Republican candidates for Georgia governor brimmed with personal attacks and appeals to President Donald Trump’s followers and offered less to guide voters on policy directions.
The debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club and aired by Georgia Public Broadcasting took place Monday as Georgians started heading to the polls for early voting ahead of the May 19 primary.
The two leading candidates, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson, pummeled each other over their campaign fundraising and personal ethics. Other candidates piled on.
Jones and Jackson praised Trump, as did Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
That left Attorney General Chris Carr to cut a trail toward the moderate voters that he said were a growing factor in elections. He pledged to promote literacy and affordable housing and spoke of mental health as a “root cause” of poverty, saying he would address it with a regional approach.
Jackson styled himself a self-made wealthy entrepreneur raised in a broken home, who went on to create a company worth billions that employs thousands. Jones introduced himself as a sixth generation Georgian and the only candidate on the sound set endorsed by Trump.
Raffensperger defended himself as several candidates raised concerns about the state’s voting system, which he oversees. He responded by blaming the Legislature and with disciplined pivots to attacks against Keisha Lance Bottoms, as if he had already won the primary and were debating her.
Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, is a leading gubernatorial contender on the Democratic side.
Four other lesser-known candidates struggled for airtime.
Clark Dean introduced himself as a Harvard-trained biomedical engineer and the only Eagle Scout on the set. He said he would use artificial intelligence to streamline Georgia government.
Gregg Kirkpatrick said he invented two dozen medical devices that generated jobs and profits while reducing the cost of health care. He said his business leadership had prepared him to govern.
Tom Williams said he worked 35 years at Robbins Air Force Base supporting the military with electronics and software.
And Ken Yasger said he enlisted in the Army Rangers, was deployed to Afghanistan, and was the only Republican gubernatorial candidate who had been shot at by the Taliban. Now a bartender on Tybee Island, he positioned himself as a man of the people, saying he chose to run for office after watching an elderly man with a walker come up short while trying to buy bread and a half dozen eggs.
Jones and Jackson have burned through millions of dollars lobbing attack advertisements at each other. Yasger asked Jones how he could possibly relate to normal people after spending that kind of money like that.
Jones responded that he would prefer not to have had to spend that money, saying he did not start the fight.
Late last year, a mysterious group paid for attack ads against Jones, before Jackson started firing off his own attacks.
When the moderator asked Jackson point blank if he had been behind the anonymous group, Jackson said “absolutely not.”
Jones and Jackson would spend much of the debate firing volleys at each other over the source of their money. At one point, Jackson enlisted Carr, who said he would have launched an investigation into Jones’ activities if he himself were not a candidate.
Jones attacked Jackson on immigration, trying to put distance between Jackson and Trump.
“You claim to be tough on illegal deportation, but you’ve got illegals working in your backyard as we speak right now,” Jones said.
Jackson responded that he would deport “criminal illegals” as governor.
Jones pressed him: “You don’t have any illegals working for you right now? Or in the past?”
Jackson’s answer: “I don’t know.” He said he had hired thousands of people and had obeyed the law.
Jones closed by reminding viewers that Trump had endorsed him, saying it was because the president knew him and trusted him.
Earlier, Raffensperger had praised the president’s strategy for “reshoring” jobs, saying that as governor he would help retrain the next generation for jobs in advanced manufacturing. He also took another jab at Bottoms, saying she had allowed crime to go unchecked in Atlanta.
Jackson said that he was too wealthy to be bought by special interests, that he was a philanthropist and that he wanted to be governor so he could help people, like another wealthy man who won office.
“President Trump’s business focus inspired me to run,” Jackson said. “Georgia needs business leadership, focus on results, not politics. I’ll be just like him, with a Southern tone.”
Carr appealed to moderate voters by saying that Democrats are not the enemy. They are merely an opponent to be defeated in November.
“And let me tell you who’s not going to win. It’s not going to be the candidate that raises his or her hand and says, ‘I got the most money or I got one endorsement’,” he said, adding that the winner will be the Republican who appeals “to the ever-growing independent voter in this state.”