Hello again everyone.

I'm Jeff Hullinger, executive producer of local content for Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The 2026 debate series was made possible by grants to the Atlanta Press Club from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Robert Charles Loudermilk Senior Foundation.

This is the debate for the candidates running for Georgia governor.

We have two journalists who will be asking the questions.

Rob Bailey is a politics reporter at WABE here in Atlanta, and Kandiss Pressley is the director of community and public affairs at WSB TV.

Rick Jackson declined to participate and is represented by an empty podium.

I'm going to kick off today's program asking Keisha Lance Bottoms to introduce herself and tell viewers why she should be the next governor of the state of Georgia.

Mayor Bottoms, you have 60s to introduce yourself.

I'm Keisha Lance, former judge, council member, mayor, wife and mother of four.

While I deeply believe in the hope that Georgia has to offer, I know that faith without works is dead.

If we want a better Georgia, we have to fight for it.

We can make Georgia more affordable, restore a woman's right to choose.

Protect our voting rights, protect our communities from data center growth.

Ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed and fight against the dangerous policies of Donald Trump.

Georgia.

I'll fight to lower costs, invest in schools, create jobs, and expand Medicaid.

Rick Jackson is the first gubernatorial candidate not to stand here in 32 years.

He has missed this debate.

He'd rather hide behind his billions than explain to you his record of making billions off the taxpayers of Georgia while he is running to enrich himself.

I am running to be your governor.

I hope to earn your support.

For the full set of debate rules, please visit Atlanta Press club.org.

Our panel will now take turns asking a question to the candidate.

Each panelist will ask three questions for Keisha Lance Bottoms, and we will start with Ralph Bailey.

And once again, the candidate will have 60s for a response.

Mayor Bottoms, if elected governor, how would your.

How would the state's relationship change with the Trump administration change with Washington?

Any particular agencies, for example, Ice Department of Justice.

How would that look different under your governorship?

I have never been afraid to push back against the Trump administration administration, especially when its policies have been detrimental to the people of Georgia.

Those things that we can work together on, if they are reasonable coming from the Trump administration, then we will do just that.

But those policies that hurt our communities, like cuts in federal funding, like Ice wreaking havoc in our in our communities and on our streets.

Then I will push back and I will take the Trump administration to court, where appropriate.

Kandiss Pressley.

You may now ask a question.

Thanks.

Geoff.

Mayor Bottoms.

If you're elected governor, what are your first three priorities?

And ma'am, what specific actions can Georgians expect from you in your first 100 days?

Kandiss.

The budget begins in the governor's office.

Show me your budget.

I'll show you your priorities.

So in that budget, you will see expansion of Medicaid funds for expansion of Medicaid.

You will also see a push to fully fund education in this state, as well as to fully fund pre-K in the state, and also funds toward addressing the cost of living.

These issues that are being that are detrimental to families across Georgia.

We want to make sure that we've created an affordable housing trust fund in the state, that we also have a push toward workforce housing, and that we are filling in the gaps on those cuts that will come from the Trump administration, those hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that have come from everything from the Veterans Administration to the Department of Education, to our housing department in Georgia.

Kandiss please ask your second question.

I'd like to follow up on that first question.

You've outlined a number of priorities that you have for the state in the budget.

How are you thinking about paying for those expansions where there is going to be additional cost?

Kandiss the first thing we need to do is get rid of the waste in in government in Georgia right now, we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the Georgia Pathways program that is supposed to provide access to affordable health care for the people of Georgia.

We are one of ten states that have not expanded Medicaid in this country.

40 states have seen fit to expand Medicaid and have been able to avail themselves of 90% in federal funding.

In Georgia, we've left $700 million on the table.

So the first thing that I will do will be to get rid of that Georgia pathways program.

We will also look at the tax breaks that are being given to data centers, hundreds of millions of dollars are going to data centers that people don't know how they are impacting the environment.

They don't know the long term impacts on communities.

And those will be the first two places that I will look to cut in the budget.

Roll back to you for another question.

If you would.

So looking at the numbers of what you're trying to do, for example, let's let's focus on Medicaid expansion, a fiscal note put together by the state government puts that number at about 11-40 $7 million for the first couple of years.

But that number gets up to about $600 million.

Again, where are you going to be finding that kind of money?

It's not just in pathways.

Where else is it going to be more tax breaks that you're going to be looking at?

Where are those areas where you're going to find that money to fund something like a fuller expansion of Medicaid?

As I mentioned, we're going to look at Georgia Pathways, which has been a complete disaster.

We are also going to look at the tax breaks that are being given to data centers.

And we are also going to make sure that our government is more efficient.

As mayor of Atlanta, I had the opportunity to oversee a nearly $2 billion budget, and in that budget, we were able to balance that budget four years in a row without raising taxes.

By prioritizing appropriately.

That is exactly what I will do as governor of this state.

We will prioritize spending that puts people first.

We will look to cut programs and contracts, for example, that my opponent, Rick Jackson, has a $700 million contract, no bid contract in the state of Georgia.

We're going to look at every single contract that's been handed out in this state, and we are going to determine how we can recapture money for the people of Georgia.

Well, another question from you, please.

I want to talk further about governing.

You're likely going to have a Republican state Senate.

Possibly a Republican state House.

What are the tools that are you going to use to get things done policy wise?

Is it the veto pen?

Is it the state budget?

How do you get things done?

And what will likely be divided government?

Rowe we don't get things done in the state of Georgia without working together.

It's often not salacious for us to discuss those things in public that we work together on behind closed doors.

I've told this story of walking over to meet with a Republican leader when I was mayor of Atlanta, and we had a great meeting, and he told me, I better not leave there and tell anyone.

We had a great meeting because he didn't think it would play well for his politics.

But the reality is that there are a lot of tools in the toolbox.

One, of course, is working together on those things that we can agree on.

I do believe fully funding education.

I do believe making sure that we expand Medicaid are bipartisan issues that we can work together on.

But also, as you know, the governor of Georgia also does have the power of the pen.

So where necessary, it may mean line item vetoes, but ideally we'll be able to reach common ground to be able to deliver for the people of Georgia.

Kandiss if you would ask the last question of this round, please.

I want to go back to something you said about the data centers.

Mayor, you proposed that statewide moratorium on new data centers.

What exactly would that stop?

How long would that stop last?

And what conditions would justify lifting that moratorium?

That moratorium would be on construction of new data centers.

We want to make sure that we have people around the table who can give us information to help us chart a path forward in the state.

Right now, Georgia is number one in the country.

We have passed Northern Virginia and construction of data centers.

We want to make sure that we have community leaders, that we have those who are building data centers, that we have people who are experts in the environment.

We have people at the table who are health experts, who can talk about the potential long term health impact of these data centers in our communities, and we will pause for as long as it takes for us to make an informed and responsible decision as to how we move forward as a state.

That concludes our first round.

Mayor Bottoms, you may now ask a question to your opponent, represented by the empty podium.

You'll have 30s to ask the question and 30s to give a rebuttal to how you think your opponent may have responded.

Rick Jackson has taken responsibility for the six week abortion ban in the state.

The same six week abortion ban that has resulted in women who are experiencing miscarriages suffering needlessly.

The same six week ban that has resulted in the deaths of women in this state.

He's also agreed that you have to you should have to prove that you have been raped in order to access an abortion.

If he were here, I would ask, how do you prove that you have been raped in order to get an abortion?

He's not here because he's on his private jet flying around the state.

Rather than having to answer to the people of Georgia about this irresponsible position, he doesn't believe that there should be an exception for incest, for rape.

In the case of the life, of the life of a mother being at risk this six week abortion ban has had catastrophic consequences in this state, and Rick Jackson takes sole responsibility for it.

You are watching the debate for Georgia Governor Rick Jackson declined to participate and is represented by an empty podium.

We will now go back to the panel, who will ask questions to Keisha Lance Bottoms until time will run out.

And we're going to begin right now with Kandiss.

Pressley, we start with you, Mayor Bottoms your opponent says that you were soft on crime and has flooded the airwaves with commercials, saying you let Atlanta burn while you were mayor.

Violent crime did rise during your administration.

So what responsibility do you accept and what, if anything, would you have done differently?

Kandiss unfortunately, in 2020, not just Atlanta, but cities across the state of Georgia and across the country experienced an uptick in crime.

We were experiencing an unprecedented time in the in this country, from the pandemic to the murder of George Floyd to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

When I prepared to give my state of the city address in March, just before the pandemic, I was touting the drop in crime in Atlanta.

And unfortunately, after the summer of 2020, those numbers went up.

I gave police and firefighters the largest pay increase in the history of the city of Atlanta.

I also address a compression issue that was causing us to lose public safety officers because it was not economically beneficial for them to stay after a certain number of years, we increase our police and fire budget by nearly 20%.

Over the course of my term as mayor.

So I am deeply saddened by the uptick that we saw across the country.

But I can tell you, as mayor, I did every I made every decision that I thought to be the right decision during my term.

Rob Bailey, it is your turn.

I wanted to ask you about automated license plate readers, which is kind of for short, become known as Flock cameras because the name of the company, the Atlanta based Flock safety, what privacy rules?

Legal rules do you believe the state of Georgia should put around them?

We've heard another candidate in a different race bring up the idea of warrants being used for obtaining data from from those type of cameras.

What what would you propose the state do to regulate these kind of cameras?

We don't want to hinder law enforcement in the use of technology that helps solve crimes, that helps track down, say, a child who's missing or someone who may be suffering from Alzheimer's, who disappears from their home.

But we want this technology to be used responsibly.

The technology has gotten ahead of the policy.

We have to put guardrails around this technology to make sure that it's not being misused, to make sure that those who are misusing it are being held accountable, including making sure that there is a trail of who's accessing these cameras, making sure that the people who are accessing them have been appropriately trained, making sure that we are even limiting the personnel that can access these cameras, and making sure that for those who abuse this technology, that the penalties are beyond just being fired, that they are being held accountable according to the law.

Kandiss back to you, mayor.

I'm sure you are aware that a seven month old infant was killed after a high speed chase, ten car pile up on I-20 over the weekend.

The state the Georgia State Patrol's pursuit policy remains one that permits high speed chases under certain circumstances that some local departments do restrict.

Would you change that policy, and if so, what limits would you impose?

Kandiss.

I am deeply troubled when a child dies in in a pursuit like we saw over the weekend, we want to make sure that when law enforcement are when they are pursuing criminals, that they are not putting the public in harm's way.

We want to make sure that only in the most extreme circumstances, if you are pursuing a violent criminal or someone who is at risk of committing a violent crime, are these pursuits that these pursuits occur?

We've seen countless crashes across the state of Georgia because of these pursuits, and the public should not be put in harm's way chasing someone.

Say, for example, for a broken tail light.

So then you're saying you would prohibit high speed pursuits for minor traffic violations and restrict those pit maneuvers that are putting innocent motorists at risk?

We would take a comprehensive look at the policy that the State Patrol currently has, and make recommendations accordingly.

But we want to make sure that these policies reflect our desire not to put the publicly, needlessly in harm's way.

Raul, if you would ask another question, please.

Mayor Bottoms, I'd like to go back to the second round where you, you know, posed the question to the podium where Rick Jackson would have been on the issue of abortion and abortion rights.

Again, looking at what the layout of the legislature will likely look like, there will probably not to be the votes to either tighten Georgia's current law or loosen Georgia's current law.

What can you do as governor around abortion rights?

Well, I'm not surrendering that.

We won't flip the House this time.

And I am certain that we can also pick up seats in the Senate.

The governor of Georgia has a lot of influence, and I believe that as governor, when I show that I am in favor of reversing the six week abortion ban, going back to the standards that were the law of the land under Roe for nearly 50 years, that we can make some changes in this state.

We will look for those legislators who are incensed by women dying in this state.

We will look for those legislators across the aisle who are incensed that women are needlessly suffering when they are experiencing a miscarriage.

Because of this six week abortion ban, and we will work to get bipartisan support.

But I am hopeful that when we exercise what we are calling whole ballot energy in this state, when we vote up and down the ballot, that there is a strong possibility that we will be able to flip the House and there will be an opportunity for us to reverse the six week abortion ban that Rick Jackson takes credit for.

Kandiss Pressley.

Going back to the idea of governing with either a divided legislature, you've talked about some of the issues that are very important to you, this being one of them, are there others on which you feel confident because of the relationships that you have with members of the other party, that you will be able to compromise and effectively govern the state of Georgia?

I do believe that Medicaid expansion is one of these issues, and some people wonder if I don't have Medicaid, then what difference does it make?

To me, it means that nine rural hospitals have closed across the state because we've not expanded Medicaid.

It also means that chemotherapy units have closed across the state.

ICU units, birthing units have closed.

It means that if you are in Jesup, Georgia, you are driving in labor.

As I heard someone share to me, an hour and 15 minutes to get to the closest labor and delivery unit.

This is an issue that's impacting rural communities, hitting rural communities especially hard.

These are red areas of the state, and I do believe that this is an issue that we can work across the aisle to resolve.

Kandiss another question.

What are you prepared to do if the General Assembly says no?

If the General Assembly says no, then we will try again.

We won't stop at no.

We are going to keep working because this is a life or death issue for so many people in this state.

We saw this in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic.

There was a reason that our deaths were so high in Georgia, we have amongst the highest in the nation obesity rates, asthma rates, diabetes, high blood pressure, these underlying health conditions that make something like a pandemic even more deadly.

Health care.

When you see people in the emergency room and see people lined up in an emergency room, it's often because they don't have access to routine health care.

They don't have access to prescriptions and routine doctor's visits that can help some of these conditions that are treatable, that can stop them before they become deadly.

Rowe Bill Lee.

Artificial intelligence, where in state government is it appropriate and where is it not appropriate?

Some of the examples may be government, customer service, education.

Where is AI appropriate and not appropriate?

We want to make sure that when artificial intelligence is used, say for example, in the classroom, that it is additive, that it is not replacing critical thinking with our children.

We want to make sure that, say, for example, if you're calling a customer service number in this state, that you know that when you are interacting with artificial intelligence, or if you go into a hospital, that someone who offers you a referral or denies you a referral based on an assessment from artificial intelligence, that you have the ability to appeal that, that you have the ability to ask for human interaction.

The reality is that the technology is here, but we don't want it to be a replacement for human interaction and for critical thinking.

Another question, Raul.

One of the questions that's been at the state Capitol about funding government and how and how to how to fund government, is the idea of property taxes versus sales taxes versus income taxes?

Balance, balance those three.

Would your aim be to, you know, to aim in terms of the issues of affordability, kind of cutting back on income tax or sales tax?

Where does where do you fit in that that discussion?

We want to make sure that we are doing things responsibly.

I don't know of anybody who gets excited when they get a tax bill in the mail, but we want to make sure that our budget can absorb it.

It's the reason that I have proposed eliminating income taxes for our teachers, because I know that we can responsibly do so.

But I am concerned that when we look at some of these other cuts, it is beyond cutting property taxes or cutting income taxes.

The result is you are cutting funding to hospitals.

You're cutting funding for public safety.

You're cutting funding to schools without a replacement.

We have to make sure that we are doing things responsibly.

As we eliminate and cut these taxes.

It's the reason that even with my proposal on the grocery sales tax elimination, I am giving local governments the opportunity to suspend or to permanently end that tax if their budgets can absorb it.

Kandiss Pressley.

I'm going to stay with affordability.

Mayor Bottoms, as you know, Georgians are struggling with the cost of living, everything from housing, insurance, electricity, groceries, gas, which of those expenses.

And you've spoken about this grocery tax.

Can the governor realistically lower and how quickly can you see to it that families, Georgia families are seeing some sort of relief?

Well, one power that the governor has is to suspend the gas tax in this state.

And Rick Jackson long resisted suspension of that gas tax.

No.

And there's no wonder why he resisted it, because he owns a petroleum company that right now, as farmers are struggling to pay diesel prices, that he is selling gas outside of this country.

So he's not opposed to it.

And the same way he's not opposed, I mean, that he is opposed to restrictions on data centers because he owns four companies that invest in builds data centers.

So as governor, I would suspend the gas tax, especially during times like this, when we are in the midst of an unnecessary war that's raising our gas prices across Georgia.

Raiola earlier you talked about federal funding cuts.

Is there a role for state government to backfill federal funding cuts?

And where do you find that money when it's not coming from?

The federal government?

Well, there has to be a role for state government to backfill the state cuts.

We are seeing cuts in public health.

We have seen cuts to the CDC.

We've seen cuts to education.

We've seen cuts to our veterans department.

We've seen cuts across the board.

And until we get sane leadership in the White House, the state of Georgia is going to have to determine how we stand in that gap when we begin this campaign.

Almost a year and a half ago, there was almost a $15 billion budget surplus in the state of Georgia.

That surplus is expected to be close to 1-2 billion in January.

Republicans have been on a spending spree.

Be that as it may, we are going to look at what we have when we walk in the door, and we are going to make responsible decisions about the budget.

And the same way that I did as four years as mayor of Atlanta, when I balanced the budget for four years without raising taxes.

That is all the time we have for questions.

Mayor Bottoms will now have 60s for a closing statement.

Thank you again for the opportunity to join you this evening.

It's unfortunate that my opponent has chosen to fly around the state in his private jet today, rather than to be here and face you.

I am here because I believe that the people of Georgia have an opportunity, should have an opportunity to hear directly from me as a candidate for governor.

As I moved around this state, what I found is that we all want the same things.

We want great neighborhoods.

We want to make sure that our schools are safe.

We want to make sure we have great access to jobs that our seniors can age in place, in dignity.

It's not too much to ask for the governor of this state to be able to deliver on those promises.

We want a governor who's not afraid to stand up for the people of Georgia.

I have shown that time and time again, never afraid to stand up, never afraid to face you and answer your questions and to talk about my vision for this state.

Early voting begins tomorrow.

I hope to earn your support.

Mayor Bottoms, thank you.

And as the former mayor mentioned, early voting starts Tuesday, October 13th.

It runs through Friday, October 30.

Election day is Tuesday, November 3, not that far away.

We thank everybody for joining us and our panel of journalists as well.

Tonight, we'd also like to thank the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Broadcasting for arranging the debate.

I'm Jeff Hollinger, thanks for joining us for the Atlanta Press Club.

Loudermilk-Young Debate Series.