Hello.

I'm Tina Tai Shaw, anchor at Wsav-tv in Savannah.

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 grants to the Atlanta Press Club.

From the author M Blank Family Foundation and the Robert Charles Loudermilk Senior Foundation.

This is the debate for Democratic candidates running for Congressional District one, congressional district one is in the southeast corner of the state.

Cities include Savannah Brunswick.

Jesup and Waycross.

We have two journalists who will question the candidates.

Margaret Coker is editor in chief of the Current in Savannah, Georgia.

Orlando Montoya is a news producer at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

I'm going to kick off today's debate, asking each of the candidates to introduce themselves and tell viewers why they should be the next congressperson representing district one.

Candidates will have 60s to introduce themselves.

We will go in alphabetical order, starting with Defonsio Daniels.

He is helping with wildlife relief and is not able to make it today.

Joyce Marie Griggs is also not here today and is represented by an empty podium.

Amanda Hollowell.

It is your turn.

Thank you.

And I want to thank everyone for hosting this.

My name is Amanda Hollowell and I'm working to be the next congresswoman of the first Congressional District.

I've made Savannah my chosen home.

I've raised my son there.

I've brought my father, who I'm a full time caretaker of, and who's a veteran on Medicaid to Savannah.

But there's more than more important here.

First time in ten years we will not have Buddy Carter as our representative, and we can elect someone that is a solutions first and people first candidate.

I've been fighting to lower costs for health care.

I've been fighting to make sure public education is fully funded, and I've been fighting to make sure we all have access to the voting booth.

And this year, I want to make sure I am fighting within Congress, representing the first Congressional District.

And so I'm asking everyone to vote for me on May 19th as the next congresswoman for the first Congressional District of Georgia.

Thank you.

Michael McCord.

You're next.

Yes, my name is Michael McCord, and I will be the next congressman from the first Congressional District.

And if your policies don't work for South Georgia, they don't help South Georgia.

So we have to get elected, and we need to realize that we need someone that speaks like South Georgians.

I'm a small business owner, former blue collar worker.

I can go into these rural communities where some of my other opponents cannot.

Thank you, José, please introduce yourself.

Hello.

Thank you for having me today.

My name is Joseph Palimeno.

I'm running as a proud democratic socialist to represent the United States Congress for Georgia's District one.

I'm a proud, working class father of four.

When initially described me to run was when my son Jason got cancer, and I saw firsthand how truly broken our health care system is.

He was covered by Medicaid, but only due to his down syndrome.

So that got me wondering what if.

What if he didn't have that coverage?

I would have likely lost my best friend in the entire world due to cost.

In the richest country in the world.

I've seen firsthand how corrupt our government is on both sides of the aisle.

I'm tired of radical extremists, Republicans, Republicans who want to rip our civil liberties away and do nothing.

Democrats who want to keep the status quo, continue to support Israel's genocide and ignore illegal wars from both presidents.

The release of the Epstein files has also been atrocious in my eyes, and the prosecution and the prosecutions of the predators infuriates me.

Donald Trump Trump is no doubt in my mind, a child predator who needs to be dealt with along with the rest of his friends.

Thank you for having me tonight.

I look forward to answering all your questions.

Thank you.

Sharon Williamson has declined to participate and is represented by an empty podium.

Patrick Wilver, it's your turn.

Thank you.

My name is Pat Wilbur.

I'm a West Point and Army Ranger School graduate, former infantry officer and small business owner.

People like to call this a Republican district, but that's not really true.

This is a non-voting district.

And we're not just going to push people into the ballot box.

We need to pull them in with bold, progressive policy.

That is clear, direct, and gets to the heart of the problems we face as a country.

We must reclaim our democracy from the billionaire class, because $1 should never mean more than a vote.

To do this, we must overturn Citizens United by constitutional amendment and enact other reforms so that Congress can govern again.

We must restore fairness in our economy with universal health care, paid family leave and free public university and trade schools so that our youth can start out their lives without a death sentence.

We must rebuild for the next generations by strengthening clean water and air protections, aggressively regulating AI and data centers, ending costly and pointless forever wars, and tackling our national debt.

By getting back to the kind of taxation that we had after World War Two, which is when we asked a fair share from extreme wealth.

My 60s is about up.

Had to Wilbur for congress.com to learn more.

That's w I l v as in victory e r. Thank you Randy Zurcher you get the last introduction?

Hi, my name is Randy Zurcher.

I grew up in small town Oklahoma and I've been in Savannah, Georgia since 2003.

I work as a local representative for the Savannah Federation of Teachers, the teachers union, and I've done that for about nine years.

Listen, we're going to hear about a lot of great issues tonight.

Universal health care, affordable housing, better jobs, lower prices.

And these are all important issues.

But these are pipe dreams.

These are never going to happen until and unless we rid ourselves of the cancer that is Donald Trump and the Trump administration.

Every day.

And in many ways, these people are breaking the law and violating our constitutional rights.

And we don't have to put up with it.

So let me just tell you this.

From day one, I will work on those issues that we're talking about that are great issues.

But job one for me on day one will be to rid ourselves, to remove and convict Donald Trump.

And the criminal enterprise that he calls an administration.

Thank you.

Please vote for him for me on May 19th.

My name is Randy Zurcher.

Thank you for the full set of debate rules.

Please visit Atlanta Press club.org.

We'll now go to our panel, starting with Margaret Coker, who will ask a question for everyone to answer.

Once again, candidates, you have 60s for your response.

Good morning everyone.

Georgia has traditionally one of the worst rates of uninsured people among anyone in the nation, only behind Texas and Oklahoma.

My news organization has recently reported that more than half a million Georgians have dropped their ACA plans since last April, amid rising premium costs.

My question is, if you're elected to represent us in the first Congressional District, what are you going to do to help solve this crisis of health care and health insurance?

Yes.

Would I be going first?

Well, let's start excuse me with Michael McCord asking answering this first question, and I will lead from there.

Okay, so I believe we can do we can walk and chew gum at the same time as Democrats.

And I believe we can start with a public option that would give people choice.

Americans like choice.

And with the public option, the Americans that need the subsidy from ACA the most would be able to get on that.

So then the private insurers would have to be more competitive in the market, would bring prices down itself.

I do agree with my opponent that the end goal should be a Medicare for all type system, but we need to realize we've been trying to do that since the Truman administration.

So I'd rather take gradual steps to get it done.

I do think a public option we could probably get bipartisan appeal to pass.

Joseph Palimeno.

Your response?

Yes.

So the ACA crisis when it's actually started, Democrats set an expiration date for those subsidies to end in 2026.

That was due to midterms.

So they played politics with your health care and failed.

I can tell you, I will never, ever do that.

And I would have never voted to reopen the government at that time.

Second, I support full stop universal health care.

We tried to public we were going to do a public option when Obama was president.

It didn't happen.

It was blocked.

And at this point, the Affordable Care Act has literally become unaffordable.

So I support universal health care.

Full stop.

And I will fight every day in Congress to make sure it gets passed, whether no matter who the president is Democratic or Republican.

With Donald Trump, all you got to do is feed his ego.

You know, you can get stuff done with the guy, he said.

Australia has a good health care system.

We can get it done with a Republican in office as well.

Thank you very much.

Amanda Hollowell it is now your turn to respond.

Thank you so much.

You know, we don't just have a coverage problem because people don't work enough.

We have a system problem and Medicare kicks in too late for so many people and Medicaid is too hard to qualify for in states, especially like Georgia, who have not expanded Medicaid.

So people fall into this gap with no coverage at all.

My approach is simple let people access Medicare early and expand Medicaid so working families aren't locked out.

That's how we protect hospitals, lower costs and actually meet people where they are.

And.

And side note, Georgia's not going to get a better health care until we actually elect a Democratic governor that actually cares about the health care system in Georgia and wants to make sure that folks actually are being cared for, especially in our rural hospitals.

And Randy Zurcher, you're next.

Okay, so at the very first, the very first thing I would do with this is I would reinstate the tax credit that went with the ACA.

So those millions of people whose premiums doubled could come back down.

But but I believe we need a complete overhaul of our health system.

We need to to have a health system where everybody's covered based more on a VA type model than a Medicare type model.

That way we can get rid of the health insurance companies that just serve as middlemen, bring down the prices.

And if the rich pay their fair share, we can afford to have health care for everybody.

Thank you.

Patrick Wilver.

Please respond.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I think we need universal health care.

And I look at other countries who have universal health care, and I see that they spend lower per capita on health care, and they have better health outcomes and they live longer.

So I personally think this is a no brainer.

I understand that it's going to be difficult to fight for a future with universal health care, and that there's going to be a lot of people who are going to fight against it.

But one thing that I learned in small business is that when you're negotiating with somebody, you need to start your negotiation from a from a position of strength and not give up concessions before you even reach the negotiating table.

So that's why I'm going to fight for universal health care.

Our panel will now ask a question to an individual candidate.

We will start with Margaret Coker, a please ask a question for Randy Zurcher.

Mr.

Zurcher, you've been campaigning hard for multiple months now, and it appears that outside of Savannah, you're having trouble with name recognition.

And in a long shot race, in a perceived Republican district.

Why are you doing this?

Why do you actually want to spend all of this time going to work in a very dysfunctional organization called the US Congress?

Well, I have to say, I did get into this race a long time ago.

It was in July.

We had been I had been picketing Buddy Carter's office with a group every Wednesday.

We still do it.

Been doing it for 14 months, just trying to get the guy to be a good congressman, just to have an in-person town hall meeting, which he refuses to do.

And he hasn't for eight years.

I stay in the race because I see so many things wrong that need to be fixed, and I feel just based on my experience, that I have the best chance to win the race, but but also we need to make sure that we understand what kind of situation we're in.

I don't believe we're going to make it another two years as a country under Donald Trump.

And I seem to be the only one saying that.

And so that's that's why I have to stay in.

Orlando Montoya, it is now your turn to ask a Joseph Palimeno.

Mr.

Palomino, what role does political rhetoric have in political division?

And unfortunately, political violence?

And will you work to lower or raise the temperature of political rhetoric while in office?

Thank you for the question.

It plays a huge role in political violence.

And it's it's heightened every year, especially with.

And it's both sides of the of the aisle.

And it does need to stop.

I do want to lower the temperature, I would say in Congress, I'm willing to work with anyone.

I don't I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian.

You work for the Green Party, whatever party you work for, if you want to help the working class, I will work with you and help you.

Full stop.

That's it.

But if you're going to go, if you're going to serve millionaires, you're wealthy donors and big corporations.

I'm not going to work with you.

And I will call you out because that's not your job.

You're here to work for the people.

The people are your employer, or you're the people's employer.

Thank you.

Margaret, you may now ask a Patrick Wilver.

Mr.

Wilbur, you're a West Point graduate and Army officers swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic.

If you're elected to Congress, what specific steps will you take in order to defend our Constitution?

Yeah, that's a great question.

Thank you.

First of all, we need to impeach and remove the president.

And I would say to Secretary of Defense as well, I think it's very important to hold these people accountable.

I remember my training as a junior military officer when I was taught to disobey an unlawful order, and I was taught that there would be no excuse of saying I was just following orders.

And so I took that.

I took that to heart.

And I really internalized that.

And I look at a lot of our junior officers now who I believe are being asked to do illegal things.

And we need to hold those in power to account.

Otherwise, we're kicking the burden of enforcing our regulations on our junior officers and these people who need our support, and they need us to back them up, and they need us to hold those in power accountable when they break the law.

Margaret, we'll stick with you.

Your next question is to Amanda Hollowell.

Miss Hollowell on the campaign, you have touted your nearly 20 years experience in organizing, advocating, and voter registration as your qualifications for public service.

Now, are these experiences actually relevant to the job of a U.S.

Representative?

If so, tell us how.

They absolutely are representative for a job of a U.S.

Congress, because I know what it takes to pressure folks on the outside.

I understand that you have to write letters and send emails and talk to your your representatives in district and out of district.

I get that there is negotiations and compromise, but I also get that people need to be heard and seen.

And so what I know when I become congresswoman is that my first thing is to make sure people are listened to, that they feel seen, and that they feel heard.

And more than anything, they understand that I represent the people, not my own personal interests, and that issues will come up and we'll have to prioritize those issues based off the immediate need of this country.

And that's what helped me being an organizer and advocate for so long at the state and local level and now at the national level, as I do my work around saving the Smithsonian and making sure we're holding folks like Goldman Sachs and Gibbs accountable.

This work gives me an insight of the fight outside, and now it also gives me solutions to provide on the inside in Congress.

Orlando, please ask the last question of this round for Michael McCord.

Mr.

McCord, introduction.

You said that you have the ability to talk to South Georgians and to rural Georgians.

And I think implicit in that is a suggestion that you talk to Republicans.

So I want to know what Republicans.

Have you actually talked to in the district who are supporting you?

Well, I don't necessarily mean that means Republicans.

I think we have independents and Democrats that voted for Barack Obama twice and voted for Donald Trump three times.

And those outlier counties, you can see the data, but I have talked to several Republicans, especially in Brantley County, which the last election with the reddest county and the whole entire country.

And I've had someone at an event out there with a Make America Great Again hat on coming up to me, telling me I'm going to be the first Democrat they voted for in 30 years.

It's not because of my policies, it's because I don't treat them.

I treat them like I would anybody else.

I sound like them.

I'm from rural South Carolina, and I remember when the Democratic Party dominated the South, because we focused on middle class values, focused on southern values, focused on jobs.

That's what people want to hear.

They don't want to hear the orange man is bad, and you're stupid or racist for voting for him.

You go in with these progressive talking points into these areas.

We have to get votes out of.

We have to you go in with these progressive ideas.

You cut off any willingness they had to vote for you.

So, yes, we need Republicans to vote for us in this election.

That's the fact.

That concludes our first round.

The candidates will now ask a question to an opponent of their choice.

You will have 30s to ask the question, 60s to respond.

And the person who asked the question will get a 32nd rebuttal.

And we begin with Randy Zurcher.

You get the first question to one of your opponents.

Okay.

Thank you.

It's actually pronounced zurcher.

Zurcher.

Listen, nobody gets it right.

The first time I've.

Had it right all morning long.

So one faux pas.

All right, Mr.

Zurcher, you get the first question to one of your opponents.

Um, I guess my question is for Joey.

Um, Joey, I've just noticed, through no fault of your own, that you have some kind of tough circumstances in your life, you know, raising your kids and kids getting sick and you haven't been able to make some of the show up at some of the events we've been at.

And so I'm just, I'm just wondering, um, you know, what keeps you in the race?

It's a great question.

My kids are what keeps me motivated.

I made from the start of this campaign.

I said my, this campaign would not get in the role of me being a father.

I've missed a few events.

As I said, my kids get sick.

You know, it happens.

Happens people in Congress.

But it keeps me.

It keeps me motivated.

And I've made.

I live in Camden County.

It's about.

I've driven up and down this district.

I can't tell you how many times, at least 50 plus times.

So it's my kids motivate me and I'm happy to be out and proud to be there for them.

As a father.

Love them.

Love all them.

Thank you very much.

Thank you candidates.

We are moving on now to Patrick Wilver.

Please ask your question of one of your opponents.

Thank you.

This one's for Amanda.

Amanda.

AI looks like it could take all of our jobs in time if we let it.

And we also see studies that show that it's cognitively impairing folks who use it too much.

So my question is, what steps would you take to protect people's livelihoods, and would you support public ownership of AI tools or something like a universal basic income funded by AI profits?

You know, I like your imagination around this, this policy and this idea and this theory.

I do believe just like you, Pat, that AI is not inevitable and that there's many ways that we can do that.

First, we can start by supporting Senator Sanders bill on AI moratorium to really give us some time to actually see the the damage that AI does in certain communities.

We also need to work on zoning around the local and state level.

Folks need to be able to actually regulate what, how development looks and what resources are being used, not resources that cause light, noise, light and noise pollution, or lie and say that they're going to give all these great jobs.

And I don't really, you know, believe fully in the public option of owning AI.

It's too complicated.

It's private.

I don't want to get into the business of actually taking over private or industries, but I do believe in a universal income and I believe a universal income can actually be supported by taxing billionaires.

And that's what I'm about.

Okay.

Your rebuttal now, Mr.

Wilbur.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Um, you know, I don't think that really gets at too much what we're going to do for people's jobs.

Now, I speak to a lot of folks out in the district.

I spoke yesterday to a remote software developer who lives in Jessup, who's lost his job and is looking for another job.

And it's not looking very good for him.

You can also talk about with Waymo's pretty soon we're not going to have Uber drivers.

We're not going to have long haul trucking and a lot of other jobs.

And I just I don't feel that we're really having the kind of conversations that we need to have about regulating this technology that is going to profoundly change our world in the way that we relate to it.

But I do appreciate at least, and I also would support an AI moratorium.

Your time is up, sir.

Thank you.

Now, we want to circle back to Mr.

Zurcher, give you an opportunity to respond your rebuttal from the first question.

Yes.

Yeah.

No.

I'm good.

You're good.

Yeah, I appreciated Joey's answer.

It was it was oh, wow.

Okay.

Yeah.

Well, thank you very much.

We appreciate you.

Amanda Hollowell.

It is now your turn to ask a question to one of your opponents.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Mr.

McCord.

You've emphasized your fundraising and spent time criticizing other candidates.

But even given your past electoral loss and your home state, why should voters trust trust your approach that you can deliver a win in Georgia?

And more importantly, what results would you bring for them?

Well, which part would you like me to answer first?

I mean, just answer the question.

Well, my fundraising speaks for itself.

I've raised more than everyone on the stage.

So that's that.

And you have to have money to win this race.

And Jim Kingston has already raised 1.9 million.

So I would say my 200,000 is not really that big a deal.

I let loose with.

I ran a 52 plus Republican district at the behest of the South Carolina Democrat Party, because we were running a coordinated campaign to help Jamie Harrison get elected.

If you also look, that year, South Carolina had a red wave.

During the election, we had 22 Democrat senators that served for over 30 years lose their seats as well.

And I also got more votes than Joe Biden in my district as well.

So what I will serve for this district in Georgia is I will prop up our our rural health cares, and I will save our rural health care hospitals, which mainly is the main district.

We will bring back the money for coastal infrastructure, and we'll actually get elected so we can fight for the community.

These progressive California ideas that all of you all are spouting is a loss.

On May 19th, if you're the nominee.

And Amanda Hollowell now your rebuttal.

You know, this race isn't about raising money and who talks the loudest.

It's about people who can actually deliver.

And I have a track record of delivering passing policy, building coalitions, and getting results for working people.

And that's what this leadership in this district deserves.

And at the end of the day, y'all, it is about people, families trying to make ends meet.

And I'm running to lower costs and deliver them not just to run a campaign centered on money and distractions.

That's why you have more jobs than five years than most had in their entire life.

We are going to continue now.

Candidates remember, just to hold your comments and I will control what's happening here in the studio.

Now, Mr.

McCourt, you are up to ask a question of one of your opponents.

Yes, I was going to ask that question, but I'm going to ask Miss Hollowell one.

Now, Miss Hollowell, how can you be trusted to be a good steward of the taxpayer money when you've been evicted five times this year?

15 years, not 20 years in Chatham County.

You're currently under a judgment from one of your past employers.

You have a judgment on your wages, and you've been sued by progressive insurers and several other entities in Chatham County Court.

And before you tonight, I have the sealed court record from Chatham County, and I will email it to anybody that request them.

So you have a sealed court workout of.

Excuse me, they're not sealed.

I'm not done.

They're not sealed.

There is publicly available information.

You can look her up on the Chatham County and find everything.

She's been sued for driving without license and hitting somebody without insurance.

I've got the court records.

I've got the everything.

I'll send anybody that wants it.

Your response, Miss Hollowell?

Well, what I love is that he keeps going about my record and being sued.

And you know what?

He does great.

He over exaggerates and he lies.

And so let's go back to that first comment where he said, I've had jobs for five years.

I've actually had several different jobs over a ten year period.

Let's talk about what he said about how long I've lived here.

I moved here in 2008, so that's not 15 years.

It's 18 years.

And let's really talk about the heart of the issue.

I was actually underemployed, single mother.

I had a slumlord of a of a landlord who made sure that if I was three days late, they filed an eviction notice on me.

And that was what hurt me.

But what had happened better was I actually had services and people provided at the state and county level to make sure I corrected all my wrongs.

And now I'm a homeowner.

My son is a college graduate, and he's actually a person who came from public education in Chatham County.

So what I will not do is let you slander me for my for my, for my discretions because I own all of them.

Unlike you.

Mr.

McCord, your rebuttal.

You were evicted five times.

You've been sued several times.

You have judgments against you and on your wages.

Now that shows a pattern of irresponsibility.

And I can prove all of this if anyone wants it.

Matter of fact, the Georgia Burchett will be publishing later today.

We are moving on with the debate now going to Joey Palomino.

You have the last question of this round.

Thank you so much.

I'll ask Amanda.

It's not going to be a I'm not going to worry about all that, get all dramatic with you.

Um, so you said in your speech, just in the speech tonight that you wanted to expand Medicaid.

That's not something that you can do as a congressperson.

That has to be done by the state.

And let's be real, if we were to expand Medicaid, do the one big, beautiful bill, Medicaid, that would be basically expanding Georgia pathways right now, which is because Medicaid is slapped with work requirements.

So that's not even a half.

That's not even a half measure.

That's just that's that's basically nothing that would do nothing for someone in my life like my son when I battled, you know, when he battled cancer.

But then I've also seen others.

I've also seen other stuff where you've gone and said you supported universal health care.

Then your website also says, you know, it's the same thing, Medicaid.

So where is your stance on health care?

Yeah, my stance is on health care is making it affordable and accessible to all.

And Joey, you are a policy wonk and I appreciate that about you.

And you kind of dig in and get in there.

But let's be pragmatic about what is actually an option.

You guys are talking about Medicare for all and universal health care, but you're not actually thinking about the systems that we constantly have.

And I ended when I talked about Medicare and Medicaid with this only happens with a Democratic governor who's willing to expand Medicaid.

What we do at the federal level is make sure it's fully funded.

We reinstate those tax cuts, we get rid of those work requirements, and we make it more accessible for everyone.

And we make sure that it's always fully funded.

So I hear your confusion, but your confusion is more so because you're you're tied up in words and slogans and not actually what's really happening with this country in this moment.

But I appreciate what your options.

I appreciate that when you come up, you show up very, very passionate and very dug in to the details.

But the reality is this we've got 500,000 folks who've lost health care in Georgia.

I want to create a path where we're actually helping those folks get health care as soon as possible.

Mr.

Palomino, your response now?

I'm actually one of them.

I'm paying higher costs this year, despite dropping my dental and my insurance.

So again, you said we need a Democrat.

Getting a Democratic governor is not going to solve health care nationwide.

It's not going to do anything.

And again, with those work requirements, you're just expanding.

Brian Kemp's program of Georgia pathways, basically, because those work requirements only target the Medicaid expansion population.

So you're basically bringing us back to the status quo, where, again, I was left with my son had cancer and he would have was only covered because.

We are moving on.

You are watching the Democratic primary debate for Congressional District one.

We'll now go back to the panel, who will ask questions to the candidate of their choice.

Until we run out of time, we begin with Margaret Coker.

Thank you.

My question is for the whole panel.

Affordability is the one issue that everybody seems to agree on in our congressional district.

So here's my question.

Where do you and your family shop for groceries?

When was the last time you shopped yourself, and what grocery staple did you buy and how much did that cost?

Let's begin with Mr.

Zurcher to answer the question from Margaret.

Sure I do the shopping for the family.

I last went to the Publix on Abercorn in Savannah yesterday.

I believe.

Um, and the staple that I got was, uh, actually the main thing I got was two big five gallon bottles of water.

Um, and through the machine there, they cost $3 for a refill.

Mr.

Wilbur.

Yeah, I do most of the shopping.

Um, the last place I went was, uh, the little grocery store in the south end of Forsyth.

And I'm blanking out on the name right now, but I buy the little free range eggs because I feel bad for the chickens.

And those are like 750.

Okay.

Mr.

Palomino.

Shopping's done about 50 50.

If I say favorite store.

I mean, I live in Camden County, so it's a bit of a food desert, but Aldi is pretty affordable there, especially for eggs.

You can get them for about $4, and I'm big on eggs.

And it helps me, you know, stretch that budget because unlike other people, I'm actually really working class candidate.

I don't have, you know, $130,000 to throw in on my campaign or my life.

Thank you.

Miss Hollowell.

Well, I. Have several men that I take care of in my home, and I kind of mix it up.

But right now, eggs are the thing that is running out of my home.

And I make my son buy them.

He does a choice of Aldi or he goes online and asks his friends, who has chickens, who's getting eggs?

And so we kind of mix it up to what he can afford, because right now he is the cost in the House when it comes to food.

Mr.

McCord.

Shop at Kroger on the south side, excuse me, in Midtown, and I've actually ground beef is my main issue.

So luckily Kroger now has a 50 50 mix of ground beef and pork, and it's $8 for two pounds, and you really can't find it anywhere cheaper.

And it cooks up just the same.

Orlando Montoya, please ask your question.

I'd like to follow up on that question by asking the entire panel up there, what is causing the high cost of living and inflation, and how will you work to address those problems?

We'll begin with Amanda Hollowell.

I mean, if we look at it presently, you know, it is the war in Iran.

It is our gas prices.

It is how we are letting corporations do whatever they want through their corporate measures, mergers and creating monopolies and creating higher prices for the folks in Georgia.

But the folks across this whole country, and, you know, we're too busy lowering taxes for billionaires than thinking about how do we help the middle class and below get to a better place.

And so there's a lot of answers.

We, I look at when I talk about affordability, I look at housing and thinking about first time homebuyer tax credits, expanding section eight vouchers, making sure HUD is fully funded, also investing in community land trusts, especially for black neighborhoods.

And then more than anything, using federal dollars to incentivize local governments to reform exclusionary zoning.

That is happening all over the First Congressional District.

Thank you.

Mr.

McCord.

Well, first, we have to realize how much debt the country is in before we start promising these grand ideas.

But I do think, one, the corporations are to blame because the prices went up during Covid and never came back down.

Now, as a small business owner, I will tell you, Donald Trump's trade policy in the war in Iran definitely have escalated the issue.

I have one client on River Street has a gift shop, and he literally had to quit ordering from England because the tariff was more than the product he was getting.

So you can't really function as a small business or as American as any threshold.

When tariffs and the economy are going up and down every day, I fill my truck up.

When the street was open, which I don't think I've ever been open, and it went down, it cost me $65.

I filled it up yesterday.

It cost me $88.

There's no middle class family that's budgeting to the dollar can live like this.

And I do think, um, it's not all Donald Trump's fault, but I would say the majority of the current issues would be solely on his trade policies and the war in Iran.

And Joseph Palimeno.

Thank you.

So a big issue is, of course, corporations and consolidation.

Every industry in America is very consolidated.

You look at during the formula crisis, we had one formula plant, Abbott go out of get shut down, and that caused a nationwide formula crisis.

And I have just had a three month old daughter.

And I think myself now, what if that happened to me?

And I'm sitting here scrambling to buy for men?

She's colicky.

So you know what?

If I can't find the right brand and this and that?

So that's a corporation is a big thing, but it's also wages.

Haven't kept up with productivity since the 1970s.

Workers were working harder than ever.

And we're getting paid less.

While CEOs keep on getting more and more and more and more and more money.

That's the big thing.

And also the Federal Reserve with interest rates, they've been artificially low for way, way too long, which has put us in an age of easy money and has has caused costs to rise dramatically.

Thank you.

Patrick Wilver.

You're next.

Yeah.

Thanks, Joey.

That was actually a really good answer.

And, um, you know, your discussion about consolidation is key and a lot of people miss it.

So consolidation in industries has driven a lot of the rise in inflation.

And also we can't deny Iran and we can't deny the tariffs.

But you also touched on the fed.

And the fed is huge.

If if you look up go to the St.

Louis Fed, if you're at home right now and look up the M2 money supply, and you'll see that we've created 40% of the US dollars in circulation since 2020, 40%.

And so this is where a lot of disinflation comes from.

That was done to prop up asset values of the billionaire class when Covid hit.

And the expense has been on us.

So inflation is really a tax on us, on normal people.

And that's what we're seeing right now.

And we need to really get our national debt under control to handle that.

And that's going to mean taxing the billionaires.

That's going to mean ending these wasteful foreign wars.

We're spending about $1 trillion every year on the defense budget.

I call it more the war budget.

But all these things will help get at our inflation and cost of living problem.

And finally, Randy Zurcher.

Okay.

Um, so in my work in the schools, I go to 58 sites and I often run into somebody who can't come to union activities because they're busy working their second or third jobs.

And this is ridiculous.

If you have a full time job, you shouldn't have to work another job, especially working in the schools with our kids.

So the causes of costs are, are various.

One is, is the misguided and illegal tariffs that got put on us.

You know, the president said other countries are going to pay this.

Everybody who knew anything about economics told him, no, this is a tax on the American people.

And he went ahead and did it.

Now, the Supreme Court has told him to.

Of course, another cause is going to is is the government excuse me, the illegal Iraq war, when gas prices go up, everything goes up.

So I would end that immediately.

Thank you.

Now to my panelists.

I'd like to invoke my privilege as a moderator to ask the candidates a question.

More than half a million Georgians have dropped health care insurance this month.

This is all due to expiration of federal subsidies leaving our rural hospitals on Medicaid to face millions of uncompromised care.

As a representative for the first Congressional District, would you support a permanent federal extension of these subsidies, or do you believe that this situation lies in state reforms?

And, Mr.

Zurcher, we'll start with you.

I would support support a making those permanent.

However, that doesn't solve the problem.

And we need to realize that, you know, you make those permanent.

But we also need to work on something better.

Amanda Hollowell what are your thoughts?

I would support permanent as well.

I agree with Zurcher.

We have to figure out.

Randy, I agree there that we have to figure out something that's better and reimagine health care in this industry and stop making folks do a patchwork quilt of health care.. And Pat Wilbur.

Similar answer.

I would also support making those permanent.

But like I said earlier in the debate, we need to work towards a universal health care.

And that's what I'm here to fight for.

And especially thank to my time starting a small business.

When I left the military, what really enabled me to have the freedom to do that was the fact that I had VA health care, and I didn't have to worry about what would happen to me if something catastrophic were to happen.

So I think that when I look at universal health care, I think this is something that can really enable increased freedom and entrepreneurship in this country.

Michael McCord where do you stand?

I think of the multi-pronged issue, and I would not extend them indefinitely.

I would extend them up to five years so we can actually get a better plan.

Like we've all spoken about.

And that also the rural health care piece, um, that's, that's not going to solve it.

You need 20 to $30 billion a year for rural health care's, uh, the big beautiful bill.

A lot at 50 billion.

That's not enough.

So even if you fully restore the Medicaid cuts, you still need 20-30 billion just to start to rebuilding our rural hospitals.

Like in Folkston, they have to drive 60 minutes for rural health care.

So let's extend it.

Let's get a better system and let's revitalize our rural health care system.

Finally, Joseph Palimeno.

Yes, I would have support to extend them.

I wouldn't set a sunset date because unfortunately then you don't know who's in office and something can happen.

Like we're in the situation now where the can gets kicked down the roof and you're left with me or someone like me where you know you're paying more, more for worse insurance.

But you need to look at these subsidies, what they are, and call them for what they are.

We are giving tax credits.

So massive subsidies to big corporations to lower your insurance costs.

So we need to find a pathway to get to universal health care, because that would save the rural hospitals.

And the only reason why that money that the so-called rural health care fund is in there was because Republicans cut Medicaid to the tune of almost $1 trillion.

So whatever they have in there, it doesn't mean it's it's a wash, that's all.

Thank you.

And, Margaret, we go back to you now.

My question is about the wildfires that are raging in southeast Georgia right now.

Our neighbors in Glenn County living west of I-95 have been urged to evacuate, although the fire hasn't gotten into Glenn County.

It's dangerous.

So I want to ask for the record, um, do you as candidates, do you believe that climate change is real?

And if you are elected to represent us in Congress from a federal level, what will you do to help mitigate the risk of climate change in our congressional district?

Amanda Hollowell, we will begin with you.

I appreciate this question.

It is very endearing.

When I was talking to the folks yesterday out on Tybee Island, environment was on the top of their mind.

So yes, we have fires in Glenn County.

We have coastal erosion and Tybee, and we are susceptible in the first Congressional District to many things that are, um, around climate change.

And so yes, I believe climate change is real.

I believe it's directly impacting us financially and physically.

In the first Congressional District, I'm saddened by what this administration has done.

Removing Biden's IRA plan and, and making sure those dollars could have gone to build infrastructure and address things like drought and address also, more so than anything in Savannah, we have drainage problems.

But I'm hopeful because what we have is an opportunity to actually elect people who are environment first and who actually want to provide things that are for about resilience, about climate, climate, defense, but it's also about climate jobs.

And that's also important because if you decide to actually invest in climate, you can also create jobs in those areas.

And that is the type of legislation I will support when I'm in Congress.

Thank you.

Randy Zurcher your response?

Yes, climate change is is certainly real.

Um, I would I would support joining the, the international Climate change agreement that Donald Trump pulled us out of during his first term.

Thank you.

Michael McCord your response now.

I mean, it's obvious to anyone that lives in the coastal city, especially in Savannah, it floods on a normal rainstorms of climate change is definitely real.

I think we need to have a above energy approach.

So we're green energy is reasonable and it's not going to hurt working class people.

We install it, we give incentives to that.

We need to reinstate the EV tax credits that Biden had.

We need to incentivize the solar system at all because, again, Americans like choice.

But if you make it make sense and make it make financial sense, they're going to do it.

So if solar panels are affordable, EVs are affordable, they're going to do it.

I don't want to.

I don't want an electric car.

But every time I go fill my car up and it's higher and higher and higher because of war in the Middle East, I'm thinking, you know what?

That electric car sounds pretty good right now, and I think we can slowly work our way to that.

But there are definitely steps we can take now.

And Trump has been disastrous on this, on this regard.

And for the record, windmills do not cause cancer and they're not driving whales crazy.

Patrick Wilver your comments.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Climate change is definitely real.

I don't have any debate about that.

And I think the, you know, the conversation about pushing to EV and all these other renewables is great, but we have to understand that we can't have permanent growth on a world with finite resources.

And we have to drastically change the way that we live and the way that we relate to our environment.

If we want to have a world that is habitable in 250 or 500 years, and we're not thinking in the long term nearly enough, we're up almost a degree and a half Celsius since the start of industrialization.

It's the largest increase in global temperature ever.

It's worse than any other mass extinction event that we've had in history.

So this is absolutely a crisis.

And I don't think that we're taking this head on enough talking about EVs.

We need to be we need to be looking at trains instead of investing in highways.

We can't be doing the same old stuff and just changing it a little bit.

We've got to totally reimagine the way that we live.. And Joseph Palimeno your last with this question.

Thank you so much.

I absolutely believe climate change is real.

When I think of climate change, I think of jobs, and I also think of energy and energy independence, which Republicans love to talk about, but they don't really their policies don't reflect that.

Let's be real, if we had sold more solar and wind, we would not be dealing with all these volatile energy costs right now, because oil is at a global market, it doesn't matter.

Drill, baby, drill ain't going to work because oil, again, is a global commodity.

If anytime a war happens, our prices are going to spike up.

But we also need to get we're also we're way behind in this.

It needs to be quick.

So it needs to be kind of a balance done.

You know, deploy green energy, you know, clean energy, fast, renewable energy, fast, but also at the same time, you got to look at, you know, the effects on the environment as well.

It's, it's, again, you got to walk gum and it's a walk gum, chew gum and walk time.

The same issue I'm a bad at that phrase, but you got to do these two things at the same exact time.

Basically, we got to move quick on climate change.

Thank you.

Orlando, you're next with a question.

Uh, I do we have time for an all panel question or should we just.

We do.

Absolutely.

Okay.

I would like to know about what the greatest threats to American democracy are right now.

And how would you work to address those problems?

Let's begin with Patrick Wilver.

It's billionaires.

I mean, it's the influence of money in our politics that is the biggest threat.

If you look at any society in history that's collapsed from Rome to Imperial Spain to the UK, it's been the people have lost control of the economic elites, and they've just corrupted the whole society.

So that's what we have here.

Donald Trump is not the problem here.

Donald Trump is taking advantage of the problem.

The problem is that voters and citizens in our country feel that they don't have a voice, that nothing they do matters, and that they've totally lost control of the situation.

So they've looked to a strongman like Donald Trump, who says that he's going to come in and fix it.

If we are going to fix the root problems here, we need to get money out of our politics by overturning Citizens United.

We need to have reforms on Congress so that Congress can be an effective legislative body.

Again, that means ending gerrymandering, right?

That means term limits.

That means banning insider trading.

That way, Congress can step up and take power back from the president.

And we can get back to actually passing legislation that benefits all of us instead of just the very top 1% who have raided our treasury, ran up our debt, got us an endless foreign wars, and now we're taking all our jobs through AI.. Michael McCord your thoughts?

I would say it's Americans fault and Americans are the biggest risk to that because we have gotten so polarized in our bubbles.

We don't talk to each other.

Most Americans, if you say you vote for Donald Trump, I'm not talking to you.

We have family members not talking to each other because of who they voted for.

Kamala, Trump, Hillary doesn't matter.

We've got to start treating each other like Americans.

We have more in common than we do.

We don't.

Prime example, Alan Brantley before the wildfires, I went out there campaigning because there's a gentleman running for state House out there, and he's actually running a good race as a Democrat.

And I talked to people that are Republicans, but we didn't talk about we didn't talk about Republican or Democrat.

We talked about the issues they are facing and having the same challenges as Democrats in Savannah.

We got to start talking to people and treating the other side like they're humans and not our enemy, because they're not our enemy.

Now we can have spirited debate, as you seen today, but at the end of the day, we've got to come together as a country or we're screwed.

Amanda Hollowell what are your thoughts on this question?

Yes, I mean, I believe first, it's this administration and their fastest policies, policies.

It's also the parties and party leadership.

And I can even look at my own party and say, have we been showing up the best way we can to prevent what this administration has been doing?

And actually, we haven't.

So that's one of the problems that I see.

Second, I agree with Pat.

We do need to get money out of politics.

We need to overturn Citizens United.

But it's not just at the federal level, y'all.

It's at the federal, state and local level.

We have a problem with money and politics and lobbying and the uncontrolled spending that happens in these races.

And then third, it's the people.

We are our own problem, not showing up to vote, not making sure our voices are heard, not advocating for our own behalf, throwing our hands up and saying, what can we do?

Most movements in this country happen because someone spoke up and took action.

And right now, if we want to take this country back, we need to stand up and take action and make sure we're voting.. Joseph Palimeno your thoughts?

Thank you.

So I think it's a combination of multiple things.

One, of course, you got money in politics.

You got the two party system.

Let's be real, the I'll take I'll take my own party, for example, because we love to call ourselves the party democracy.

But we are not the party democracy.

We charge you to get on the ballot.

Each one of us have paid $5,210 to get on the ballot.

That is not democracy.

Suing the Green Party to get.

Just because you're worried about they're going to siphon your votes is not democracy.

You can't preach it.

And then slam it shut.

And with backroom deals, it doesn't work like that.

So and then again, it's also people, you know, we need to talk more.

I feel like the loudest voices get the most attention, the good stuff.

You know, Mike mentioned stuff these, you know, California issues.

Well, Mike, Medicare for all polls with a majority of Americans paid family leave 80%.

I mean, it's people just start talking like you said, we we do agree on stuff.

We just need to get past the whole again, little party divide that we're in and that's all that's all I got.

Thank you.

We close out this question with Randy Zurcher.

Thank you.

I agree with Amanda and Pat on this one.

If a billionaire can buy a political seat, that's not democracy.

That's that's going that's seats going to the highest bidder is what that is.

So that's one of the big problems that we need to deal with is get rid of Citizens United.

Money does not equal speech.

It never has and it never should.

But also Donald Trump is a big part of the problem.

This man wants to control everything.

He wants to be a king.

And frankly, that is the opposite of democracy.

We decided back in 17 76 that we don't need a king, and we still don't.

So one of the best ways to to help democracy is to depose the wannabe king.

I say get rid of Donald Trump.

Thank you.

Now that wraps up the questions from our panelist, Margaret Coker and Orlando Montoya.

We appreciate your questions.

Right now.

We.

Want to, I'm told that we can go back to Margaret.

Okay.

So that's great.

Margaret smiling.

Margaret, what's your next question?

I have a short one and it is for all panelists.

Excuse me.

Margaret, I apologize.

We do not have time for all of the candidates to answer the question.

Do you have a specific question for any candidate here this afternoon?

Yes.

I want to know.

Um, a recent American political leader or a current political American leader.

I would like to know who Amanda is, your role model and who you aspire to be like.

I mean, there are so many, um, what I'm excited about is that in Congress, there are some amazing leaders who are fighting the good fight.

You look at Representative Underwood, Representative Pressley, representative, I'll call her AOC.

These women are doing some hard things and hard lifts.

And even though on the bigger issues we're losing, they're making sure they're bringing dollars back down to their to their districts.

And that's really important.

I also want to thank Senator Ossoff and Warren Warren, Warnock, for their fight and their work.

They just sent an email recently that they got $1 million to come to Chatham County, specifically around some of the stuff that they're they're fighting for around rural health care.

And that's huge.

I think what we forget is that the media kind of floods us with more of the doom, the gloom, the doom and gloom.

But our representatives, especially our ones in Georgia, are working very hard to protect us, to provide for us and to make this country better.

And now, Orlando, a last question from you.

Make it an individual question, please.

Um, Mr.

Zurcher, do you believe that congressional town hall meetings are a useful way for, uh, for Congress people to hear from their constituents?

Would you schedule them regularly?

And in general, how do you feel about the best way for members of Congress to hear from their constituents?

Absolutely.

I mean, I might have mentioned before our current congressman, Buddy Carter, has refused to hold an in-person town hall meeting for eight years.

If I'm elected, I plan to have at least quarterly meetings, and I plan to go out into all the different counties and meet with people in each one of those counties.

I think it's very important that you stay in touch with your constituents.

Um, when they tell me to go home to my district, I'm going to go home and I'm going to go all over the district.

So, so yes, I do completely endorse town halls, and I will hold as many as, as, as I can.

Candidates.

Time is on your side.

So, Margaret, you get one more question.

Great.

I'm going to ask the same question to Michael McCord recent or current political leader that you aspire to be like.

I would say Hillary Clinton.

Uh, you see from the 80s, all the way up to her 2016 run, she has been on the right side of almost every issue.

And had she gotten elected in 2015 and had the progressive Democrats not the purity test had voted for her, she would have won, and we would have had a much better country than we have now.

Thank you.

Orlando, you look like you have a question on your mind.

Go right ahead.

Mr.

Wolver, I'll ask you the same question that I asked Mr.

Zurcher about town hall meetings.

Would you schedule them regularly?

And how do you think is the best way for members of Congress to hear from their constituents?

Absolutely, absolutely.

I was scheduled town halls.

Those are my favorite things to do on the campaign trail.

I love getting to meet voters in person, face to face.

I think, especially in person, is more important than reading an email or getting a phone call because you miss a lot of important communication when you're not physically there to, to see somebody.

So that's the biggest thing for me.

I think, you know, it is hard with the schedule as a member of Congress can keep us from the district more than we like.

But I think at least quarterly, like Randy said, is, is something that's easily doable.

And we have one last question, Margaret, did you have a question for Amanda Hollowell?

I am going to go back to Michael McCord.

You're, um, your criticism of Amanda was was very in-depth.

Do you believe that she is unfit to be a U.S.

Congresswoman?

No, I do not.

Um, I don't think anyone I think anyone on stage here is more than qualified by the Republican side, I think.

Can she get elected in this district?

No.

Do I think she's unfit?

Absolutely not.

I think she's well-educated, she's punctual, she's intelligent.

I don't have any personal issues with anybody on the stage.

At the end of the day, this is not church.

This is not Sunday school.

And if your policies don't win, don't sell in South Georgia.

You can't win in South Georgia.

We've seen what a Hallowell nominee looks like.

It's Patti Hewitt 2.0 38%.

Same thing for Pat, same thing for Joey and same thing for Randy.

We know what a progressive nominee looks like in Georgia because we've done it.

The last Democrat to hold this seat in any part of the state was John Barrow.

He was a Blue Dog Democrat who has endorsed me, the last Democrat to raise enough money to actually run a credible campaign was Wade Herring, who also has endorsed me.

There is a reason why progressives don't win, and a R plus nine district.

It just doesn't happen.

You cannot find one anywhere in the nation that a progressive holds with a Democrat.

We're out of time.

Mr.

McCord.

Your time is up.

Amanda Hollowell.

You have 30s to respond.

I mean, I appreciate the kind words and that he sees my intelligence.

And, you know, I just don't want to run a campaign on fear.

We're seeing places like Miami and other places that are similar to our district, that are turning.

And I think there's a possibility that we can have a different conversation.

Folks are hurting on their economy.

They're not hurting on ideology.

And if you won't look at my policies or like my policies, because I'm a because I'm a Democrat, well, that's sad, but at the end of the day, I am here to represent all 800,000 folks in the first Congressional District.

And I'm here to help every single one of them.

Candidates.

Thank you.

Listen, that is all the time we have for questions.

Now, the candidates will now have 60s for a closing statement.

Patrick Wilver, we begin with you.

Thank you.

Mr.

McCord mentioned a lot of moderates who have tried to win here and have lost, uh, you know, the the moderate in 2022, Wade Herring raised 1.5, I believe, and he lost pretty badly.

And Patti Hewitt also ran as a moderate.

So I think running as a progressive is something different.

Maybe that's something that can win.

I said in my opening statement that we need to be pulling voters to the ballot box instead of pushing them.

I think that we do that with progressive policy, and some have questioned whether I'm the candidate to do that with my relative lack of experience in politics, this is my first time making a run to them.

I would say the proof is in the pudding, because in 60 days since I've started this campaign, we've recruited over 100 volunteers.

We've raised over $50,000, almost all small dollar.

I've got over 450 individual donors, tons of testimonials from people who said that this is the first time they're excited about politics.

This is exciting to me.

I think it demonstrates a clear path to victory in November.

Again, I'm Pat Weaver, West Point graduate, veteran, progressive.

I'd love to have your support, Wilbur, for congress.com.

Thank you.

Joseph Palimeno it's your turn now.

Thank you very much.

And thank you.

Thank you for tonight.

I would say I agree with Pat said, you know, we need a progressive.

Not not I don't like to put labels.

We need a nominee who's willing to do bold, bold change.

We saw money doesn't win elections with Wade Herring.

We saw this and that.

We need a different kind of candidate.

And I believe I'm that kind of candidate because I've lived all the.

And I'm still living all the issues that y'all are struggling with.

Most of the majority of Americans.

I know it's like the stress about Medicaid renewal.

I know it's like swiping EBT card, a Wick card.

I've been on these assistance program.

I'm not going to go to D.C.

And just throw something in wall and see what sticks.

I know what's wrong.

I know how to fix it.

Thank you.

Michael McCord Georgia.

If you thought you were listening to a congressional debate for California.

Me too.

We need to realize this is South Georgia.

We need to look at how bad Kamala Harris lost and Patti Hewitt Pat was not a moderate Wade Herring held his own in the first midterm year of biting, where other candidates across Georgia lost footing.

The last.

The last Democrat to any where close to beating Buddy Carter was Joyce Marie Griggs, who is definitely not a progressive.

So point, point by Lisa Ring also did not win.

Progressive progressives do not win in Georgia.

Better than anyone else.

Excuse me, excuse me.

Candidates, please respect your fellow.

Can I have my time back, please?

5 seconds.

How much time were we?

Where were we?

Someone talked to me.

Please.

We were with Mr.

McCord.

We're.

Yes, we're going to go ahead and give Mr.

McCord 15 additional seconds.

Okay.

Continue, sir.

Again, the last Democrat to hold any part of this seat in 2015 was.

John Barrow was a blue Dog Democrat.

The Republican Party of Georgia had to draw him out three times to defeat him.

We know how to win this district.

It's quite obvious, and it's not with any of.

The Michael McCord.

You're out of time.

We continue now with Randy Zurcher.

Okay, so we've heard from a lot of great candidates tonight, and even the three that aren't here, they're all great candidates.

I like them, I agree with them on just about everything.

But there is one important difference.

Some of these people have have run for for office before, but none of them have won.

When I was 26-years-old, I was in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and I ran for city council and I won, and I did it twice.

So I know how to run the kind of grassroots campaign that it's going to take to beat the money that the Republicans have.

But I need your help.

Please go to Randy for georgia.com.

That's a for hit that volunteer button.

You can help out.

You can help canvasing, um, request a sign request to meet me.

Also, please hit that donate button.

I don't know any billionaires and if I did, they wouldn't like me anyway.

So every five, ten, 20 bucks helps.

Thanks a lot.

Elect me.

I'll vote.

I will fight for you.

Thanks, Amanda Hollowell you get the final statement?

Yes.

Thank you.

Like I said in the beginning, I am working to be your next congresswoman, the first congressional District.

I have passed policies from expanding postpartum Medicaid to making sure we've extended paid family leave for Georgia state workers.

I've helped at the federal level around advocacy, around the budget, also working in coalition to remove the AI, more override that they were trying to do at the federal level.

But more than anything, I'm a person of lived experiences.

I'm a mother, I'm a caretaker, and I care deeply about the first Congressional District.

I've advocated for it on the national and local level.

And what I want to do is advocate for you in Congress as your congresswoman.

So you can go to Amanda for georgia.com to look me up.

And that's f o r, and I'm on social at Amanda F, Amanda Ford, g.com.. Early voting starts Tuesday, April 27th and runs through May 15.

Election day is Tuesday, May 19.

We want to thank all of our candidates and our panel of journalists.

We'd also like to thank the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting for arranging today's debate.

I'm Tina Tie Shaw.

Thank you for joining us for the Atlanta Press Club.

Loudermilk Young Debates series.