Georgia governor's debate highlights voters's top concerns

Amna Nawaz:

While much of the focus this midterm season is on congressional races, there are also 36 states across the country holding elections for governor.

Geoff Bennett:

One of those is Georgia, a purple state where former Democratic Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican businessman Rick Jackson held their first and only televised debate last night.

Our Liz Landers is in Atlanta, where she attended a watch party for that debate. And she joins us now.

So, Liz, tell us more about these candidates and the issues they discussed in last night's debate.

Liz Landers:

Well, this governor's race is between this billionaire businessman, Rick Jackson, and the one-term mayor here former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta.

And Jackson is up a little bit in the polls right now. But this debate last night was an opportunity for Georgia voters to present questions directly to these candidates. And we heard a lot of the same issues that we have been talking about at the national level, affordability issues, Flock cameras, which are omnipresent here in Atlanta, also data centers, wage growth, and Medicaid expansion.

Throughout the debate, Bottoms tried to tie Jackson to President Trump. Here is one of those instances.

Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate: My opponent has said he wants to beat Trump's favorite governor. He wants to be Trump with a Southern tone. He said there's not a single policy that he disagrees with Trump on.

Rick Jackson (R), Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate: 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.

Liz Landers:

Jackson, for his part, did not mention President Trump by name, instead likening himself to the current Republican governor, Brian Kemp.

He has, though, been endorsed by President Trump, but you are not hearing him talk about that much on the campaign trail now.

Geoff Bennett:

And how were people reacting at the watch party you attended?

Liz Landers:

This was a Republican watch party for the Fulton County GOP. Of course, everybody there was a big Rick Jackson fan and supporter. And I asked people what they liked about him. They said that they love his background as a businessman, think that he can bring more business opportunities, lower taxes here to Georgia, and also that he's not a politician, a seasoned politician.

I asked them if they wanted to see President Trump come down here and try to help the Republican ticket. And most of the people that I talked to this watch party thought that President Trump would bring out the base here in Georgia right now.

Rick Jackson is blanketing the airwaves. And if you have been watching TV in the Atlanta area, like we have in the last day or so, Geoff, you're seeing how much money he is spending. He has a huge money advantage also going into this general.

Geoff Bennett:

So let's zoom out a bit. What's the state of play nationally in the other governor's races?

Liz Landers:

Right now, there are currently 26 Republican governors and 24 Democratic governors, but both sides see opportunities to pick up and flip certain races.

Democrats think that they can pick up and flip Iowa, whereas Republicans are favored to win Kansas right now. And beyond that, though, Democrats are seriously playing in states that have not really been on their radar for a number of years, including Ohio and Alaska.

Geoff Bennett:

And, of course, there's Texas, a red state that Democrats are feeling more optimistic about today than they were just a few weeks ago. Tell us more about that.

Liz Landers:

Yes, we just got news today that the Democratic Governors Association and also the Democratic governor of Illinois, the billionaire, J.B. Pritzker, are giving a million dollars each to Gina Hinojosa, who is the Democratic candidate there running against Governor Greg Abbott.

And in a recent Siena poll, this had Hinojosa with a slight lead. This would be a huge coup for Democrats if they were able to flip that governor's mansion there in Texas. Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas, Geoff, since 1994.

Geoff Bennett:

Liz Landers in Atlanta for us tonight.

Liz, our thanks to you, as always.

Liz Landers:

Of course.