Hello, I'm donna lowery, host of lawmakers on georgia public broadcasting.

Welcome to the atlanta press club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series from the studios of georgia public broadcasting.

The 2026 debate series was made possible by a grant to the atlanta press club from the arthur m. Blanche family foundation.

This is the special election for congressional district 14.

District 14 is in the northwest corner of georgia going up to the tennessee state line.

Counties in the district include whitfield floyd paulding, , and parts of west cobb.

The winner of this race will complete the term of marjorie taylor greene, who resigned at the start of the year.

18 candidates are running to fill the open seat.

Due to the number of qualifying candidates, the atlanta press club randomly divided candidates into two forums.

This is not a debate, but an opportunity for the candidates to introduce themselves to the voters and to explain where they stand on issues important to the district.

We have two journalists who will be asking the questions.

Rick bum is an anchor with atlanta news first and host of on the record and ignacio perez reports on north georgia for the chattahoochee, the chattanooga times free press.

I'm going to kick off today's forum with the first question, asking each of the candidates to introduce themselves and tell viewers why they should be the next representative for district 14.

Candidates will have 45 seconds to respond to the question.. We will go in alphabetical order, starting with bo brown Good Hey, I'm bo brown.

I'm running to be the advocate for georgia 14.

We don't need another politician in this seat.

We need an everyday regular american who's going to walk the walk and talk the talk.

I'm not going to washington to fit in.

I'm going to washington to re prioritize everything in congress back to the american citizen because the american citizen deserves to be at the top of the agenda and I'm unapologetic about it.

We don't need someone that's going to be trump's supporter and defender because we saw what happened to the last person who was in the seat that did such things.

I'm asking you to vote for me on March 10, Beau Brown for congress com.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eric Cunningham hey my name is eric cunningham and thank you all so much for letting me be here today.

I appreciate it.

I am not a lawyer and I'm not a career politician.

I'm not looking to go to washington dc to become famous or rich or well known or anything like that.

I'm just a person that believes that the 14th district has been overshadowed for far too long.

And I just think it's time for someone like me, just a regular person who works hard every day to go to washington dc and fight for our convictions.

I'm focused on a couple of a bunch of different issues, but things I'm really focused on are economic development for our district.

I want to fight opioids and heroin that are impacting the people of our district.

And I want to support secretary doug collins on revamping the veterans administration.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Tom Gray.

Please introduce yourself yes hello.

My name is tom gray.

I'm a husband, a father, and a grandfather.

And for the last almost 30 years I've been a pastor in our community And I'm running because I see clearly that we are in a battle for the very soul of our country.

I'm running because I understand the nature of the battle.

It's ideological and spiritual, even more than political.

I'm running because I see the path forward clearly.

It's a fresh and disciplined application of the same founding principles that built this, the greatest nation in the history of the world.

And I'm running because I'm uniquely qualified to serve and represent this district in a way that it desperately needs right now and that we'll all be proud of.

Thank you.

Shawn Harris, it's your turn.

Good afternoon.

My name is brigadier general shawn harris, and I'm just honored to be able to be here tonight.

I'm a father, a grandfather farmer and a veteran.. I spent the last 40 years in the military and just retired a few years ago.

I actually went from being a united states marine enlisted, going from being private harris all the way to brigadier general harris.

The reason why I'm running is because I want to represent everybody here in northwest georgia.

As a farmer.

I will fight for our farmers to get the farm bill.

As a veteran, I will make sure that I fight for you and your spouse to ensure you receive the benefits that you have already deserved.

And then lastly, I want to make sure that everybody in this district is represented 100%.

Thank you.

Jonathan Hobbs.

You're next hello my name is jonathan hobbs.

America works when we listen, work together and put people over politics.

On March 10, vote for a fresh voice focused on results for you, , your families, your jobs and our communities.

I'm running to bring practical solutions on jobs, affordability and security, not division.

Jonathan Hobbs.

I'm your neighbor in paulding county.

I practice patent law.

I'm not a politician, but together we can make georgia stronger.

Vote for jobs.

Thank you.

Nikki laa.

It's your turn.

Hey everyone, I'm nikki laa and I'm running because we need accountability and transparency in dc.

I'm tired just like many of you, of sending the same corrupt politicians that protect each other up in dc and get nothing done.

They always make empty promises and we see absolutely no results in our district.

I'm running because we need to stop sending money overseas.

Our taxpayer dollars should not be funding foreign interest and we have to fix our health care issue.

I'm a business owner and a job creator from dalton, and I started in construction.

Now I'm a rancher and I also own a restaurant along with many other opportunities in north georgia.

I'm asking for your vote March 10, Nicky Lama.

Thank you.

Colton Moore hello my name is colton moore.

I'm a fifth generation resident of the 14th congressional district.

I'm running for congress to make sure that our next representative doesn't just blend in with the curtains, that we actually have a true fighter who represents a biblical worldview and the constitution.

In my time in the georgia legislature, no one has ever fought harder against corruption than I have.. The first to call out the fraud in 2020.

I led the charge against bonnie willis after she arrested president trump.

And I'll continue to bring that same fight to washington if you will send me there.

To find out more information about me, you can go to Colton more com.

I greatly appreciate your vote and your influence.

Thank you, jenna term seed.

You get the final introduction.

My name is jenna turnip seed.

I am a 20 year retired army logistics officer who has spent the majority of the last ten years working with the budget and government contracts.

I understand the fraud and waste from our government system that has resulted in our national debt.

And I believe right now we need somebody who understands the numbers.

I own a small farm and I understand that the usd agriculture program wasn't built for small time farmers.

I am a teacher who sees problems in the classroom with our education every single day.

And more than anything, I am a mother of four and I care about the country that my children inherit.

Thank you.

We'll now go to our journalist panel to ask questions.

Once again, candidates will have 45 seconds to answer those questions.

Rick bum, we'll start with you.

This district has recently been represented by high profile, firebrand style of politics.

What did you think about marjorie taylor greene's approach to representing georgia 14, and how would your approach be similar or different?

I think this is this time we'll start with eric cunningham and we'll go in order again okay yeah, thank you so much for the question.

You know, I I think marjorie greene was effective.

She had her own way of doing things, very much different than the way I would do things.. And going back to my opening statement, I made the statement that I felt like the district has been overshadowed.

And that's a little bit of part of what I meant.

You know, I'm not trying to make a name for myself.

I just want to fight for the people of this district and I want to go and I want to serve, I want to show the younger generations that may be interested in doing something like this that you can run for office and you can serve in office with conviction for your for your core conservative values, but you can do it with dignity and with respect and that's that's what I want to do.

Thank you Tom Gray.

I appreciate the question.

And I believe one of the points about my candidacy that separates me from the large number of candidates is that I have a track record of service, servant leadership in our community for almost 30 years.

That answers the question, how will I make an impact?

And it is through a servant leadership, , a disciplined approach that listens well, that understands the issues, and that doesn't go to just gain recognition, but goes to win a future for us.

So I've been serving individuals and families throughout our district for nearly 30 years, getting to the heart and the core of what their needs are, stepping in to assist and help.

Thank you very much to solve problems.

Shawn Harris.

Thank you for the question.

I'm the only candidate up here that actually ran against marge taylor green last time.

And as everybody knows, she beat me.

But the reality of it is marjorie taylor greene and I are very different.

At the end of the day, when you say to see the name sean harris, I want you to know that it's duty and respect.

And like my colleague just said, I have been serving our country now for 40 years and I want to continue to serve.

But in that 40 years of serving the country, it is many times that I've actually had to sit down across the aisle and figure out how do you get to yes.

And that's what I want to bring to washington dc.

That's what I want to do when we are representing the people here in northwest georgia is actually getting results and getting things done.

Jonathan Hobbs yes absolutely.

Marjorie taylor green was good at getting people's attention, but she did not cross party lines and she did not create good outcomes, measurable outcomes for the people in georgia.

That's the problem.

We need someone in this position that is willing to work across party lines and look at affordability solutions for everyone.

This is the major issue here.

Nicky Lama, former congresswoman greene,, she was passionate and she worked hard to make sure that our voices were heard in north georgia.

We need someone that's going to go up there and fight for our country and turn our country around.

If we don't stop the corruption and the deficit that we see every year in our national budget, it will continue to get worse.

We need to fight for our country and that's something that I'm going up there to do.

Colton Moore.

I have great respect for congresswoman greene unfortunately she resigned and that's obviously disappointed many people in northwest georgia.

But when I say I have respect for her, I say I have respect for her intuition early on when she would challenge nancy pelosi as speaker, when she got stripped of all of her committee, she still represented the people of northwest georgia by objecting, saving americans billions of dollars.

She used the legislative process in her favor ultimately we have to recognize we're in a battle of good and evil, and I do not compromise with evil.

Thank you jenna Turnipseed.

There's many people in our district who greatly appreciated marjorie taylor greene's style, her ability to bring attention to our district, and to be their voice.

The unfortunate result of her conduct though was that she was censured from committee for almost two complete years of her first term.

I am a strong personality.

I am a passionate individual, but the difference is is that I am an enthusiastic individual and I don't want to just leave a voice of being able to get us attention.

I want to be a person that's willing to knock on doors, speak up when things are wrong, and get things completed.

Thank you.

Beau Brown.

Margie taylor green did a great job for this district.

You know, we need to, I'm going to treat this as a job.

I'm not going there to be a public figure.

I'm going there to be a public servant.

She also, I mean, she put this place on the map.

I mean, no one heard of georgia 14 nationally before margie taylor greene.

So she did bring us notoriety.

She did bring infrastructure spending back, which I promised to do to clean up the rivers and water streams of this district that has affected so many people.

We need to focus on georgia 14 americans.

And that's what I'm going to do.

I'm not going to be caught up in chasing headlines in washington dc kind of like margin tal green has has done.

She let us down, but she did do a good job for this district and I do appreciate that and thank you for.

Thank you.

Ignacio perez.

Please ask your first question.

With a narrowly divided congress, very little gets done without cross party cooperation.

Give us a specific example of an issue where you would be willing to go against your own party to vote with the other side if it directly benefited the citizens of the district.

This round, we will start with tom gray well I I don't know that I can give you a specific policy or bill to answer your question directly, But every single decision I will make and every single policy and bill that I will advocate for will be driven by the core principles of conservatism, which I define as biblically rooted principles.

That's been my guiding star as I've led our church from 11 people to over 700 people in this community.

It will be my guiding star every day serving the people of northwest georgia in washington dc and I mean, that's just how it's going to be.

It's how it's got to be.

So whatever the issues are specifically, we will be principle based.

We will make decisions that are wise and prayer saturated across the board.

Thank you, Shawn Harris.

This is a great question because as a democrat I have made it very clear on the campaign trail that I'm the only candidate that can say I'm a democrat, but I am not tied to the party.

What I mean by that, when you look at our district, we have many issues that are affecting us.

One is pfs day one, when I get to dc, I will be laser focused on getting things done to help get things cleaned up and on top of that, making sure that somebody is held accountable.

In addition to that, I will make sure that we bring health care back to our district and take care of everyone here at home.

Jonathan Hobbs yes absolutely.

The farm food and national security act will be will be marked up next week in the house.

That is a republican sponsored bill.

I would absolutely support the increases in farm loans of up to $3 million for our district.

I would also support the expansion and implementation of infrastructure, including broadband in rural areas in district 14.

And I would also support the expansion of investment for specialty crops in district 14, Nicky Lama, I'm a strong conservative and when I say that I'm talking about my budget and my principles and values.

One thing that I can say for certain is that I have made a pledge to the people that I will not vote for any more foreign aid until we get a full ten year audit of our money spent in foreign aid overseas immediately.

That is something that I will not compromise on because we continue to send money to people and we don't know how they're spending it and it has been proven that they are corrupt and it has been nothing but fraud.

We have to stop wasting our tax dollars and the burden on american citizens.

Colton Moore hey this is a great question.

In my time in the georgia legislature, I've earned the nickname the rhino wrangler.

What is a rhino?

They are republicans in name only.

So to give an example of when I voted against republicans, a great example is when the georgia legislature tried to remove immunity for monsanto.

I will vote against any piece of legislation that removes our constitutional rights.

I'm a firm believer in the seventh amendment.

I voted against tort reform and like I said, I never compromise with evil and unfortunately too many republicans have become corporatist.

Jenna Turnipseed.

So the concerns about pfas have already been brought up.

It's a huge concern in northwest georgia and something I hear about everywhere I go in georgia with the passage of senate bill 144 and the pending legislation of house bill 211, The concern has grown greater Carr in committee right now there is federal legislation for the pfs accountability act.

This I believe, would provide the required shields to prevent us from being subject to 211 and 144.

That bill was introduced by a democrat.

This is a place that I would cross party lines because I believe it is what my community wants here.

Beau Brown look even though you're going to send me to washington, I'm going to be focused on georgia 14.

But I think something that all americans are concerned about is us term limits.

And I would gladly reach across the aisle to make sure that that happens under my time in washington.

I'm not going there to camp out and stay.

We don't need representatives to stay in perpetuity.

We need accountability, shorter term limits, both in the senate and the house to make sure that we're accountable to american citizens.

First and foremost, Eric Cunningham.

Thank you.

You know, I really haven't spent much time in my campaign thinking about, you know, ways that I may vote against our republican party.

I'm really more focused on uniting our republican party.

We've got some serious midterms coming up here and we really need to unite behind our party to grow our party.

One way that we can do that is stopping the negative rhetoric against each other.

Another way that we can do that is working with our gen z voters.

56% of gen z voters are independents and they don't like this rhetoric.

They look, a lot of them unfortunately get their news on facebook so we can't allow that to happen.

We've got to go after those gen z voters and tone down the rhetoric and support ourselves internally to win the midterms.

Thank you.

Thank you, rick bum.

We'll go back to you for your next question.

Northwest georgia is a hub, of course, for manufacturing and agriculture, and yet a lot of families there are struggling with the rising price of housing and groceries.

Beyond cutting spending, name one specific federal policy or piece of legislation that you would champion in your first 100 days to directly lower costs for a family in say rome or dalton.

Shawn Harris, it's your turn to go first yes that's an awesome question because the number one issue in northwest georgia is affordability.

As a farmer, one of the things I'll be working on in dc on the very first day is getting that farm bill passed because too many of our farmers are struggling right now and if the subsidies don't come in, many of them will actually lose their farms.

But the other half of that farm bill is the snap program.

Too many of our seniors and our youth are struggling to actually feed themselves.. And during the last government shutdown, it was very clear that both of these sides were left were not essential and I want to make sure that I put all those things in place to take care of them because this is northwest georgia.

Jonathan Hobbs, the largest purchase a person makes in their lifetime is a home, and I would prioritize making housing affordable.

We have too many corporations out there buying homes.

One in three homes in metro atlanta are owned by a corporation.

We need to disincentivize that system.

There is currently, I support hr 7,138, which is a bill that is currently before congress.

It utilizes various tax incentives and deductions eliminations to do just that.

Thank you, nikki lama.

So one of the first things I'll make sure that I do is make a lot of the reform and tax reductions that were in the big beautiful bill permanent.

We see that it's going to help tremendously.

There's so much fraud in medicaid and that is something that it fights.

It helps fight that and prevent all that fraud and corruption with more stringent guidelines and regulations.

So that is one thing that I will champion and make sure it becomes permanent.

Colton Moore I would love to see the prime act passed, ultimately allowing groceries to come in to our constituents that are locally grown and raised.

They're healthier.

We're not dependent on the big four packers for our beef and also want to deport all illegals.

We have 15 to 20 million illegals in this country.

We really don't know how many there are.

And they're all fighting for the same housing that young americans are fighting for.

So we must increase the amount of resources that ice has in order to deport illegals.

Jenna turn up se.

The very first thing I would like to see happen is the removal of a 123-year-old act that requires us to have usda inspectors on hand in meatpacking facilities.

There was a time that this existed when it was very hard to understand the standards that we need to make sure that our meat was quality.

Now we have technology and I believe a certification class is good enough for that.

This would help small producers, this would help butchers, it would remove $8 billion a year off our taxes and would also cut down the price of beef.

Thank you.

Beau Brown.

I would also make sure that there's a $500,000 deduction when you sell your home, The real estate market has been inflated since 2020 these homes, obviously when they sell the $250,000 credit that's available is no longer enough for people to sell their homes.

But I go a step further and also pass a law which trump has already done executively to outlaw corporations from buying single family homes.

And I would go a step further to penalize these corporations if they carry these homes on their books.

We need more supply in the market to bring the prices down.

We need to make sure that corporations aren't in the real estate game with single family homes.

And also I'm looking forward to working with veterans to make sure they get 100.

Thank you tax credit on disabled s. Thank you very much Eric Cunningham.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

So I I believe let's not forget the reason why we're in this mess, and that's because of joe biden and the spending that he did in his term, the checks that he handed out shortly after or during covid that has not gone away.

So a couple of key things that I would focus on is we got to be independent, but regulations, we've got to reduce regulations.

I'm a railroad.

I work in the rail industry.

I'm focused on economic development in my day job all the time.

And something that we do in the railroad is when you build a crossing, if you create one new crossing, you have to close two.

If we create one new regulation, we need to end two regulations.

And that's what I would support.

Thank you.

And Tom Gray.

This is a great issue that we need to address aggressively.

My wife and I, we paid $108,000 for our first home.

We've got a 25-year-old son who with his wife and son and about to be second son.

He's an air force pilot and it's a struggle.

We feel it with him and with them.

So as a member of congress, it is about going into session and doing every single thing we can to apply the core basic conservative principles of the free market economy, We've got to get government out of the way off our back, reduce regulations.

A couple of my colleagues have mentioned specific regulations to reduce and yes, we have to do that.

That is the key to long term affordability, returning manufacturing to northwest georgia.

Thank you very much those jobs.

Thank you ignacio please ask your next question.

In the last month, president donald trump has called for republicans to nationalize elections.

This comes after continued efforts to obtain state voter rolls with sensitive voter information, efforts by the fbi to seize fulton county ballots, and a push to pass the save act in congress.. Why has election security become such a serious concern at this time?

What caused this and what steps are being taken to remedy worries if they need to be remedied at all?

Jonathan Hobbs, you get the first response.

Thank you.

This is a question of federal overreach here.

There shouldn't be any ballot box grabbing by any organization or any government organization in the united states.

The constitution provides that the states organize the elections.

That is period and final niki laa, you have to have an id to go and buy alcohol, buy cigarettes.

You have to have an id to go into many venues and you should have to have an id when you go vote.

It should be clear that you are an american citizen and that you are registered to vote in order to cast your ballot., we have to have election integrity across the country, not just by state.

It is one of the most crucial things.

Voting is an american citizen's right.

It is the most important right.

It's where your voices are heard when people lose trust in our government's election integrity, there's going to be a lot more problems than just checking verification on id's.

Colton Moore.

Without a ballot box, one has to go to an ammo box.

And that is complete and total tyranny.

We should never go there.

We must have secure elections.

And I believe the only way to have secure elections is with hand marked hand counted paper ballots ultimately if it hadn't been for heroes like garland favorito here in georgia, the preservation of those ballots fulton county would not be there for the department of justice as they were about a month ago.

I do not believe the federal government should run our elections.

They should ultimately be run by the state, but we should have a federal one day national holiday for elections.

Jenna turnip seed.

So I believe your question specifically was what caused this?

And what caused this is the majority of people don't trust politicians anymore and they don't trust politicians because we have somehow became a group of individuals that are so quick to rush to the fact that we have to make a statement that we no longer wait for the facts.

I support voter id.

I also support investigations.

And I don't just mean when investigations are towards something that I think may have gone wrong.

I think that we should employ them more regularly and we should wait until the facts come out before we make a statement because the only thing that they can do is re ensure transparency and trust within the voting public.. Beau Brown yeah I would vote 100% for the save act.

What was just passed in the house, something that our colleague sean harris probably would vote no on also everyone needs an id to vote.

You have to have an id to buy cigarettes.

You have to have an id to buy alcohol.

It shouldn't be hard to have an id to vote.

It's an american right, but we also have to protect our elections.

That's why I'm for rescinding the motor voter act that was passed in the 70s where we went on to register people at social programs and at the dmv has caused for a lot of illegal voting and it needs to be rescinded.

And that's one thing I'll work on when I get there.

Eric Cunningham.

Thank you.

You know, it's I actually ran in the 2022 primary against marjorie green and it had nothing really to do with marjorie greene.

I just felt passionate about doing something for our country.

And this was one of the issues that really got me interested and that is election fraud.

I had a ballot come to my house in the 2016 elections that was not it was to my address, but it was somebody else and somebody in california.

I could have easily voted for the president twice and sent that ballot in.

There is fraud in our elections and we need to do something about it.

It's a shame.

It's a shame that our country and our world has gotten to the point where we can't trust people to just vote without ruining that process for us.

So I support ids for voting Tom Gray yeah well, obviously the future of our republic depends on election integrity, So I'm not in favor of nationalizing.

It needs to remain with the states.

Voter id is just common sense.

I believe there needs to be verification of citizenship as well.. That also makes common sense.

In fact, I've heard that our democrat senator john Ossoff required an id to enter one of his rallies within the last week and a half or so.

Obviously it makes sense.

And so it's a critical thing.

I'm in favor of turning over evidence, investigations that go after fraud, and then the pursuit of justice in relationship to the evidence that comes up.

Shawn Harris yes the constitution is clear.

The federal government should not be running our elections period that's ran by the states.

In addition to that, because my good friend mentioned my name, I'm glad he did because you are exactly right when it comes to the save act, even the republicans just passed it the other day in the in the house are now saying we got a problem because the problem is it's going to affect women and women because when they get married they change the last name and on top of that, they say you need to have a passport.

So this is one of the reasons why I need to go to washington dc to bring common sense back to everything that we're doing here in georgia and throughout the united states.

Thank you, rick bum.

You get the final question in this round.

Some north georgia leaders have come out and said that they do not want any new ice detention centers built in their communities.

Are you in favor of federal detention centers being built in district 14 and would you support ice raids at local businesses like carpet and flooring manufacturers, construction companies, and farms.

Nicky Lama, we'll start with you.

So I'm absolutely for the detention facility and I'm for legal immigration.

I come from a background where my father moved here legally from south america.

My grandmother on my mother's side moved here from korea.

And everybody in my family has done it the right way.. We need to, the process is to prevent criminals from moving into our country that are drug trafficking, human trafficking, the ice raids are very important because ice is targeting individuals that have these criminal history, this criminal record.

They're going picking them up and getting them off of our streets, protecting our families and our hard working american citizens in the united states.

Colton Moore.

Thank goodness.

President trump and tom homan have created the most secure border in american history.

So we don't have the influx of illegal immigrants coming in like we did during joe biden's administration.

But like I said earlier in the debate, we don't know how many illegals are in this country absolutely I would encourage ice raids throughout northwest georgia and across georgia.

We just had the largest ice raid in american history in south georgia just a few months back.

I mean, ultimately these people are competing for housing, they're competing for jobs of everyday georgians.

And that is not right.

Jenna turnip seed.

So I absolutely oppose the idea of creating an ice detention facility here and I do not support ice raids within our industries, our agriculture, our carpet mills.

I believe that the position of ice is specifically to help facilitate the deportation of illegal immigrants that are currently sitting within jails.

I know that there is a large mentality or desire to be able to deport illegals, but the reality is that there is more than 14 million of them.

Ice only deported 300,000 people last year and at that rate it would take 47 years and $1 trillion.

And following that, I would like to use my last five seconds to say sir I am a married female and it was very easy to change my name,.

Beau Brown yeah when it comes to immigration, enforcement matters.

First of all, we need to remove the incentives that they come here to take advantage of to stay illegally.

We should offer.

Even hillary clinton just said that migration has been destructive and destabilizing to the us, but we need to fix it in a humane manner.

I am for going after criminal illegal aliens.

And for the illegal aliens who are not criminals, we need to offer some type of pathway of self deportation or just allowing them to recognize themselves in the country.

So we know who they are, where they are, and we can, you know, divvy it out that way in such a manner.

I don't support ice rays on hard working people in this district.

Eric Cunningham.

So this is yet again another issue created by the biden administration with open borders, allowing illegal aliens to flood in here,, dangerous people.

So to answer your question yes I would support ice detention centers in the 14th district.

When it comes to raids, we need to be focused on the serious criminals yes everybody that comes in the country illegally is a criminal, but we really need to start out with the folks that are hardened criminals that are bringing drugs into the country, that are robbing and raping and murdering people.

We need to focus on them first and get them out of here first.

But this isn't minneapolis or minnesota.

We don't have a crazy governor and we don't have a crazy mayor.

This district will work with ice to get the illegals out of here.

Thank you Tom Gray.

This is actually very simple and easy to me.

We have these laws about immigration to protect us.

They're central and important and to enforce them is necessary.

So people that have come here illegally know they are breaking our laws to come here.

People that have stayed here for however many years know they are staying here against our laws.

So enforcing those laws we don't need to apologize for for a moment.

We need to support that and we need to support those who we give the job of executing the enforcement of the laws and recognize that they need our respect, they need our support.

They've got a really tough job.

And so, you know, we want to, those who disparage them want to even categorize, call them their raiding, their raids, you know, at some point we have to find those that are here illegally and get them and send them out.

Shawn Harris, I will be clear.

We do not need to build any more detention centers in northwest georgia or georgia because right now it's one's being built in south georgia that's going to hold 10,000 people.

And that detention center is not only for georgia, that's for anybody here in the southeast.

In addition to that, specifically here in the district, no one should ever be worried about getting up in the morning and going to work and being like in dalton, georgia to have to go out at 4:00 in the morning to see it's ice out there.

What I would say is this.

Donald trump did close the border however he said he was going to go at the worst of the worst.

But now we are on at everyday people.

And when ice kills two people, we have to look into it.

We have to make some changes and we got to get better.

And Jonathan Hobbs, I absolutely support legal immigration.

We need immigrant labor in district 14.

We need farm labor in district 14, but the numbers do not support a detention center.

We are responsible to the taxpayer for spending your dollars.

So there's approximately 16,000 illegal immigrants in all of district 14, and we're going to build a detention center to house these people.. It costs $18,000 to deport one illegal immigrant.

So that's approximately $299 million of your taxpayer money spent on deporting these people.

Thank you.

Now to our viewers, you are watching the congressional district 14 special election candidate forum.

Due to the number of qualifying candidates, they have been randomly divided into two groups.

We will now move to our speed round where candidates will have up to 30 seconds to respond to questions until we've run out of time.

And nacio perez, you get the first question with so many candidates on the same ballot, what is the biggest thing that differentiates you from the other people on the ballot?

Colton Moore, we'll start with you well every candidate on the republican party kind of says the same thing.

Some of the democrats kind of say the same thing, but you can go and purchase a bag of tea and it may look like a very tasty tea, but until the hot water hits that tea, you really don't know what it tastes like.

You can look at my career in politics.

You know, I was unconstitutionally arrested for defending the liberties and freedoms of people in northwest georgia.

I will go to bat for my people under any circumstances to uphold the constitution and a biblical worldview.

Thank you, jenna Turnipseed.

I'll give you three.

The first one is that I have a strong passion for the budget and for regulations.

The second one is that I'm willing to listen and actually admit when I'm wrong.

And the third one is I don't just care about getting myself to congress.

I'm doing this because I care about my community.

Box brown yeah the two leading republicans in this race both vied for trump's attention the most.

That's something I didn't do and I'm glad he didn't endorse my campaign because I'm endorsed by every single one of you, hard working men and women of district 14 who want to vote for someone who's going to be truly accountable, make real change and I'm that guy.

I'm grassroots.

I'm here for you, and I promise I'll have your back.

Eric Cunningham.

Thank you.

You know, I'm a railroad, so my day job in the short line industry and we have short lines around the country and I spend my time mostly in florida and in alabama on economic development and working hard to bring jobs, bring new industries to rural areas just like ours.

So I think the thing that differentiates me the most is the focus on economic development and working hard for this district to bring new industries and new jobs to our district, Tom Gray well I'm one of many candidates, but I'm one of one pastors in this race, one of one with a unique track record of high impact servant leadership throughout our district to the individuals and families, meeting their needs, building a movement that makes a tremendous difference.

You know, we have a unique thing in our nation's history that every so often at critical moments we've had these men who have been clergy statesmen to step in.

I think we're at such a time again, and I am that clergy statesman.

Thank you as this Shawn Harris.

What makes me different is simple.

I've been built for this to go all the way from being a marine, all the way enlisting in being a marine, all the way to being a brigadier general.

In addition to that, I'm a farmer.

I live and work hard every day in the district.

So I know it's not going to be easy.

And like I've said many times before on the campaign trail, it's simple.

I only want to work for the people here in northwest georgia.

And that's the only endorsement I want because too many of us are trying to work for somebody else.

Jonathan Hobbs, $35 trillion in debt.

We need somebody that's going to take responsibility for working out how we're going to fix this debt problem.

And that's me.

My mind works in numbers and I will be accountable to you, the taxpayer second I am a patent attorney.

I create, I help my clients patent their inventions and those inventions go on to create new industries and businesses.

So I will help you create jobs.

Nicky lama, I am the leadership of the new generation.. I'm the only one up here that has a proven track record of going and cutting taxes and cutting government waste.

I was on city council in dalton and I'm going to fight for our country just like I fought for the people of dalton.

Thank you rick please ask your question.

Should congress have voted to temporarily extend obamacare subsidies until a long term solution could be reached.

A turn of seed.

I think that that's a very hard question right now because we don't have a solution for it, but I don't think that any extension should have been granted unless we had set a deadline that a replacement had to be in place.

The problem is the aca subsidies right now only help 20 million people.

We could use that exact same amount of money, cut medicare in half for our seniors, and help 68 million people.

Box brown yes so the sub would affect it if they were if they wouldn't have got passed, it would have affected about 10% of the people that live in this district.

You know, those aren't those aren't middle class.

Those are the, you know, the poor, the poverty line.

So I would have voted to extend them because we have to be sensible about things.

But realistically we're all asking the same question.

Why doesn't anything get done in washington?

I believe that's because we haven't sent someone like me there to do the job and to do it in the right manner.

Eric Cunningham yeah that's a question where you feel empathy.

I'm empathetic and sympathize with those that you relied on those subsidies for us to cut those.

But at some point in time you've got to break that habit, if you will, you know, that reliance on those subsidies that were created from the obamacare.

That's just been a tragedy.

So I would have I agree that they should have ended, but we've got to do something different and work together to create something that's better like expansion of hsas for folks to replace subsidies in health care thanks Tom Gray.

Absolutely not.

We should not be extending the things that prolong the problem and postpone the correction that's needed for the long run just because we have this misguided sense of sympathy or empathy.

It's a tricky game that we've fallen susceptible to, especially in our political leadership for far too long.

This argument that we have, you know, to provide some compassion and sympathy, but in the meantime, what we ultimately end up doing is being the opposite of sympathy.

Thank you very much in the long run.

Thank you, Shawn Harris yes we should extend it and we should continue to extend it because right now it is the least of us that actually needs the subsidies.

In addition to that, when you look at our district, our district have hospitals, but we don't have to actually have doctors lawyers I mean doctors and nurses.. We need to make sure, because the big beautiful bill talks about bringing doctors in, but there's no money there to bring them on board.

So we're living in a health desert and on top of that, we need to make sure that everybody has health care in this district.

Jonathan Hobbs, obamacare was putting a band aid on the titanic.

It was a failure.

And we need to revamp the entire health care system.

The us health care system is ranked 38th in the world.

We have the worst health outcomes and we have the most expensive health care system.

We need more reliable health care and technology can help us save this, save this problem.

Nicky laa, we have to completely end obamacare and cut the subsidies when any business, including health insurance, is in a free market where businesses can compete for their business and compete for clients and customers, they will put the best prices out there.

We have not seen that because you can't buy health insurance over state lines.

We have to open it up so that every business can compete to gain their own clientele and Colton Moore.

These subsidies continue to perpetuate the problems of our health care system.

You know, our health care system is like brakes.

You think they work really good until you need them.

You know, we got to get back to the free enterprise system.

We have to, in my opinion, federally ban certificate of need of hospitals.

We need to allow associated group health care purchases.

If you have a costco membership or you're a member of a realtors association, you ought to be able to purchase health care and not be forced to negotiate with a place like united healthcare all on your own.

Thank you ignacio your next question.

Who do you believe is america's greatest ally abroad and who is the biggest threat and why?

Beau Brown, we'll start with you again yeah well, obviously our greatest ally in the middle east is israel and our greatest ally in europe is the uk.

So our biggest threat is russia and china.

And that's why I'm happy that trump has done what he's done with the with the un to make sure they bolster their own military needs and put more money into their own military arsenal, I'm not a, you know, I'm not a big diplomacy guy.

I'm more for georgia 14, Eric Cunningham yeah I was, so I was going to go somewhere different, but when I heard both speak, you know, I'm going to kind of go right now, right now in the times that we're in right now, I would say I would agree with israel to an extent.

You know, it's too broad to say europe because there are so many different countries out there that are not supporting us.

But who do I think is our biggest threat?

It's china and it's russia.

I would put go, which one do you put above the other?

You know, it's hard to say.

I would say right now russia is probably our biggest threat.

We have some leverage right now with china, with what trump did in venezuela.

So I think russia is our biggest.

Thank you very much, Tom Gray well our biggest threats are china russia iran, that we've got to make sure we are strong enough to stand up against both in terms of our military capability and our relationships with our allies.

And so yes, the united kingdom israel vital, critical allies, But I like what president trump is doing even in terms of the western hemisphere.

I mean, imagine venezuela being one of our great allies and so many others that are protected.

Thank you very much, Shawn Harris yes I've spent my entire career inside of this world and I'll speak on it from a less than top secret side of the house Israel and nato is our number one friends on the other side.

Our number one enemy is china russia iran, north korea, and some others that we can't say in this setting.

But this is why we need to send people to washington dc that understand the threats to our country and also understand our allies and friends and understand who nato is and how we actually keep this world safe.

Thank you, Jonathan Hobbs.

Our biggest ally are the five eyes.

We already share intelligence actively every day with these countries and the european union would be the head of that.

That is That is our number one ally.

Our number one enemy is china.

China is undermining our economy.

They create counterfeit products that cost us businesses $200 billion annually.

This is unacceptable.

We have to stop this.

Thank you, Nicky Lama.

So we have many great allies across the world that are allies in trade, national security, international security.

I couldn't name one specifically, but we have many that we work with across the world.

Now in our number one enemy, I would definitely say would be any communist country out there.

We are not friends with communists and we should not be friends with communists.

Thank you.

Colton Moore yeah I tend to agree.

We've heard a lot of different countries names mentioned as allies.

I'm not sure which one I would say is the greatest ally.

Obviously the greatest enemy in my opinion is china right now and their belt and road initiative across the globe as they have taken sovereignty away from many countries across the globe, including many of those in the caribbean.

China is definitely a major threat, the second largest economy and should not be taken lightly.

Thank you, jenna Turnipseed.

So I'm going to echo the sentiment that I think that israel, the uk and nato are some of our strongest allies.

I also think that russia is our biggest threat if we fail to support israel however I believe that threat is going to become iran.

Thank you rick another question for you.

Name a member of the opposing political party whom you consider to be a patriot and why Eric Cunningham, start with you wow a patriot.

I'm going to go with john fetterman.

You know I when he was running for office, I thought, oh my gosh, are you kidding me?

Now I'm a railroad and I spent a lot of time managing our medals and steel industry in the railroad that I worked for.

And he has that steel background.

So I liked him for that.

But he has common sense.

He's somebody that has good common sense and I think that will listen to what's best for our country, not what's best for his party.

Thank you, Tom Gray well that's a that's a good question.

I can't think of one off the top of my head, but here's at least not present tense.

I'd like to think.

And part of what I know I bring to this equation here politically is hopefully the opportunity to have conversations that win some over.

So the future current democrats that will be patriots, Hopefully there will be many, maybe a couple immediately to my left.

I'm encouraged that the chief, the patriot in chief, our president at one point in his past was.

Thank you very much.

Shawn Harris.

I am a firm believer that I need to sit down and have coffee and have a deep conversation to cross over into that to answer this question.

But what I will say is I've always looked up to john mccain.

I know he's up in heaven now, but I always looked up to him and I looked, I like the way that he always reached across the aisle.

And when I get to dc, I plan reach across the aisle.

Jonathan Hobbs, I recently had dinner with buddy carter.

He's a good friend of mine.

His belief in God faith family, and the community.

I respect.

We don't always align on politics,, but we always have a good meeting together.

Nicky Lama right off the top of my head, I couldn't answer the question as to who I would say on the other party would be a great patriot, But I know that there are many people that are out there fighting for our country and working hard for their citizens and constituents that they represent.

And anybody that has their constituents interest at heart and fighting is a is a patriot Colton Moore.

I take this question super easy.

That's congressman larry mcdonald, a democrat who once served in this very district, a man who was unafraid to challenge the global new world order, a man who was ultimately assassinated for his cause.

And I believe he is a great patriot, congressman larry mcdonald, jenna turnip seed.

So this might be something weird from a candidate, but I think I would be remiss if I didn't point out that I was sitting on stage next to a 37 year army veteran who is a retired military general.

He went from the marines to the army and now he has taken up the fight of serving or running as a democrat and a republican district.

Our politics very, very much different.

I will say that.

But sir, you have my utmost respect.

Thank you very much ignacio your next question, What do you think is the biggest problem you believe americans are facing?

We'll start with tom gray.

I love that one because it's a spiritual problem, the problem that we're facing collectively, where we have the sense that we are losing our soul, we are losing the soul of america is the aggregate of the reality that the souls of americans are in the balance.

And so it's the spiritual fabric and the core sole identity of our individual citizens.

That is the biggest need, the biggest threat and the greatest opportunity for how we can get us going in the right direction.

And another reason we need to send a pastor, not a politician.

So I'm going to ask for forgiveness on this.

I did not get to ask the previous question on patriotism or who's the patriot to be brown yeah I was impressed with fetterman's, john fetterman's tact of kind of doing what's best for the american people instead of playing party lines.

I'll tell you who's not a patriot, that's ilhan omar and the gang of six.

I don't believe that they have, they're not doing what's right for the american people.

She's got she's came into this country under fraud and I'm really pleased to see the investigation currently ongoing.

Thank you and I apologize for missing you the first time around.

Back to anos question, Shawn Harris okay the number one thing that is affecting the entire country across the board is affordability.

Right now, families are struggling.

Ts trying to feed their families and and on top of feeding their families most are having two and three jobs and still can't make ends meet.

Another area that's actually affecting us greatly is just trust, trust between us as democrats and republicans.

And I think that as leaders we need to show northwest georgia that we can get along.

And when I get to congress, I'm taking at least one republican with me to be on my staff.

Thank you, Jonathan Hobbs.

The weaponization of immigration is one of the biggest problems that we face right now as a country.

And people don't know what the real statistics are.

So obama deported 3.1 million people in two terms, biden deported 2 million people in one term.

And so far this administration's deported 675,000.

The numbers don't support the media hype that is fueling division between us.

Nickki laa, I'd say that the number one issue that I've seen personally is affordability and housing.

We have seen where the average age for first time home buyers has gone up to nearly 40-years-old.

That is not okay.

We have to bring housing prices back down and fix our economy, bring wages up, reduce taxes and fix our country so that it is a great place for new families to live.

Colton Moore absolutely the two most expensive places in the district right now are the gas station and the grocery store.

If it wasn't for president trump's full fledged fight to bring down lower energy costs, I believe we would probably be in a depression right now.

We ultimately have to get housing costs down as well.

I think that goes with deporting criminal illegals and all illegals.

And also we have about a third.

We've just running out of time.

I'm sorry.

A lot of problems in this world.

Thank you, janitor up seed.

So I'm going to say that the number one problem that I see is going to be our national debt.

The share of the national debt interest rate for every taxpayer this year was over $6,000.

It is the sole reason that we can't afford aca subsidies.

We can't afford grants to small businesses.

We can't afford grants to help agriculture.

If we don't change the problem with our national debt, our ability to help our citizens on any front is going to completely disappear.

Thank you.

Beau Brown yeah I think the number one thing facing georgia four is energy.

You know, georgia has become the number one state for data center build out and people can deal with price fluctuations at the pump and at the grocery store, but they really get hard when the when the power bill comes in.

That's why I plan to be on the energy and commerce committee to really fight to make sure that americans in this district do not see their power bill increase, but see a decrease and.

Thank you.

Eric Cunningham, I'm going to give an answer that's not a popular political answer, but my answer is what's the most biggest problem facing america is evil.

There's just a lot of evil out there.

And I think pastor tom would agree with me on this.

He was caught into a pastor, strong in his faith.

I was not.

I'm strong in my faith and I will serve with faith.

I'll be an example to our gen z audience.

We've got to do something about social media that's impacting so many people and allowing evil to enter to our younger folks.

That's the biggest problem in our country today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all the time we have for questions.

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Early voting has started and runs through March 6