ATLANTA — In what was likely to be their only debate before Election Day on Nov. 3, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson attacked each other and sometimes agreed on policy during a live encounter hosted by Atlanta News First Tuesday night.
Billed as a “town hall,” the hourlong matchup (minus commercial breaks) between the gubernatorial candidates featured questions from more than a dozen voters.
A couple of them asked about privacy concerns and Flock cameras. Both candidates said there needs to be more accountability.
Several asked about healthcare, and both Bottoms and Jackson said they would expand Medicaid — Bottoms, fully, in the way that 40 states already have; and Jackson differently, in a way that he said would not lose $4.5 billion, without explaining what that meant or how he would do it.
He had only one minute. That was the format, although occasionally the candidates got extra time to rebut an attack by their opponent.
Jackson went after Bottoms for her handling of public safety when she was mayor of Atlanta and the city was roiled by unrest.
Bottoms targeted Jackson’s leadership of his multibillion-dollar healthcare company, claiming it had raided rural hospitals for their doctors.
Jackson did not rebut that. But he did deny her assertion that he owned four data centers, although he told Macon news station 13WMAZ in April that his investment in one in Texas made him knowledgeable about the issue.
(He counterattacked, saying Bottoms had approved a data center when she was mayor. She said it was not a hyperscale data center and that it was at Georgia Tech.)
When a woman who had lost her job due to federal budget cuts asked about restoring funding, Bottoms attacked Jackson for saying during the Republican primary that he would govern like President Donald Trump but “with a Southern tone.” Jackson responded that he would stand up to anyone, “just like” Gov. Brian Kemp.
Jackson did not elaborate, but Kemp resisted Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Bottoms also challenged Jackson about his views on federal intervention in the upcoming election.
After a voter, who happened to be a poll manager, asked about “the divisiveness and concerns around the election process,” Bottoms said she was alarmed by Trump’s rhetoric while Jackson said he thought Kemp had the right approach.
Then, Atlanta News First anchor Rick Folbaum asked a follow-up question that gave an opening to Bottoms. Folbaum asked about a recent request by the Georgia State Election Board for the federal government to declare Georgia’s voting system illegal: “Would you be okay with the Justice Department overseeing and getting involved with Georgia elections?”
Jackson said no, unless Kemp felt it necessary.
Bottoms then asserted Jackson had said the National Guard would be called in during the election. (She also said the State Election Board, which sets the rules for voting, had “gone rogue” and was a “disaster.”)
Jackson denied he had ever suggested the National Guard should intervene, calling Bottoms’ claim “a complete falsehood.”
Folbaum gave Bottoms the last word on that.
“He said that the National Guard would be called in,” Bottoms said. “You all can pull the tape on that. Maybe he’s forgotten that he said it. But he said it.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in August that it had obtained an audio recording from a rally in Columbus. The report said Jackson had talked with an attendee who wanted him to ask Trump for federal troops to monitor the election.
“Well, we’ll get National Guard — Gov. Kemp is going to watch it for us,” Jackson replied.
(The publication embedded the recording in its story and noted that Jackson’s campaign subsequently said Jackson never suggested deploying troops at polling places.)
Despite their differences, the two candidates aligned on several issues. Both would pay teachers more. Both would crack down on insurance companies that inappropriately deny care. Both would cut taxes — Jackson more than Bottoms. And both said retraining workers to give them technical skills was a path to higher pay as costs keep rising.
Jackson illustrated the value of those skills by saying that his plumber drives a Mercedes.
Perhaps owing to the limits on time, both candidates sometimes offered vague policy prescriptions.
To address low pay, Bottoms said she would “strongly encourage” companies to pay more.
To reduce the cost of living, Jackson said “there’s absolutely things that we can do to lower cost,” and then he pivoted to Bottoms’ tenure as mayor, blaming her for inflation.