Hello, I'm Russ Spencer, evening anchor for Fox five in Atlanta.

And 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 Arthur M Blank Family Foundation and the Robert Charles Loudermilk Senior Foundation.

This is the debate for the Republican candidates for Governor of Georgia.

We have two journalists who will question the candidates.

Greg Bluestein is the chief political reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a host of politically Georgia and faith.

Jesse is an anchor and co-host of the Georgia Vote on 11 Alive in Atlanta.

Let's kick things off today asking each of the candidates to introduce themselves and tell viewers why they should be Georgia's next governor.

We will do this in alphabetical order, beginning now with Chris Carr.

Mr.

Carr.

Thanks, Ross.

I want to thank the Atlanta Press Club.

Our moderators, panelists, thank you all for doing this.

I also want to say we need to keep in mind our friends and neighbors in South Georgia that are struggling with the fires.

Let's keep them in our prayers.

But I'm running for governor because I believe this is the model for the for the nation, whether it's jobs and safety.

The only way we've done this is through leadership in the private sector and the public sector, whether it's Sonny Perdue or Nathan Deal Brian Kemp we've had some great governors, and we need to continue that.

And I think we've got to continue to focus on literacy from birth to age five.

We've got to focus on infrastructure.

We got to make sure we have the jobs of the future.

The lowest tax burden of any state in the nation.

We've got to make sure we focus on jobs and safety.

We've got to focus on affordability and housing and making sure that we stay this model for the nation.

And if you're tired of all the fights that have been going on in this race so far, you've got a better choice.

That's me, Chris Carr.

That's why I'm running for governor.

Mr.

Carr.

Thank you.

Clark.

Dean, it's your turn.

Thank you.

You know how well is Georgia's government truly delivering the things that matter to.

Your family.

You know, last November, I sat with a 16 to 19-year-old at covenant House, homeless, brilliant, but failed by every system.

He's not alone.

You're not alone.

Georgia needs to do better.

I'm Clark Dean, a Harvard trained biomedical engineer with a with a history and business delivering results and a servant guided by faith, who has led some of the most important organizations in the state right next to veterans and homeless youth and and families under crisis.

I bring a real plan with operational excellence, with, with, with a perspective of, of bringing people together to solve these problems with global experts who really know what to do.

I can do this and I need your help.

The question I ask you now, as each person that I want to leave you with is each person comments.

Is this person the most caring, capable, competent leader for this state?

Ask that question and I hope you'll make your decision.

Mr.

Dean, thank you.

Rick Jackson, it's your turn to introduce yourself.

Yes, I'm Rick Jackson, I'm a conservative outsider and a business man that wants to bring business solutions to Georgia, just like President Trump did.

I grew up in the projects without a father.

Uh, with an alcoholic mother.

Ended up in foster care, and I couldn't afford to go to college.

So I bet on myself.

I built a $3 billion business that employs thousands of people and provides medical care to over 20 million people a year.

But it's not my money.

It's God's money.

And it's not about me.

This is about you.

When you've gone to bed hungry, you don't forget and you don't forget those that are still fighting and trying to do the same thing.

That's the reason I'm running.

Everything costs more.

Property taxes are up.

It's amazing.

The politicians just talk.

But talk doesn't pay a bill.

I'll cut the tax in half and freeze property taxes like President Trump.

I'm not a career politician.

I'm a business leader that will deliver results for you.

Mr.

Jackson.

Thank you.

Burt Jones.

You're up.

And good afternoon.

Thank you.

Russ, I appreciate the opportunity.

And I'd like to echo what the Attorney General said about let's keep our people in southeast Georgia and our thoughts and prayers.

Governor Kemp and I were in Waycross on Friday, and it is a tough situation there, so we need to keep them in mind.

I'm a Burt Jones.

I'm a Christian, a husband, a father, and a six generation Georgian, and I have proudly served as your lieutenant governor for the last four years, and I've always delivered on the promises that I've made by cutting your taxes, cutting regulations, providing school opportunities, as well as health care opportunities, and providing public safety.

The reason why President Trump has endorsed me in this race is because he knows I'm a leader that will fight to get things done for the state of Georgia.

I've done it for the last four years, and I look forward to the opportunity to serve as your next governor.

Mr.

Jones.

Thank you.

Gregg Kirkpatrick thank you, Russ, great to be here.

Thank you for the invitation.

I am Gregg Kirkpatrick, a two constitutional conservative Republican.

I'm an outsider, Non-politician candidate for governor of Georgia with a promise that I will implement my written plan, my 90 page plan to benefit all Georgians.

For decades, I've served families as a volunteer pastor with the.

With the faith of Jesus Christ and grace through God's Word and faith in Jesus Christ, we will raise the quality of life by eliminating state income taxes.

Within two years, we will lift unfair exploding property taxes, having zero taxes first for seniors, veterans and the disabled through the careful deployment of artificial intelligence, we will force government to operate efficiently, slashing unnecessary costs and give taxpayers the value for every dollar they spend.

Conservative grassroots groups right now have using AI to root out government waste, fraud and abuse.

I will create a Department of Anti-Corruption to root out waste, fraud and abuse and hold government accountable, slashing inefficiency and protecting your taxpayer dollars and put you, the taxpayer first.

I have built many.

Times under Mr.

Kirkpatrick.

I'm sorry.

I hate to interrupt you, but our time has passed.

Thank you, Mr.

Raffensperger.

Good evening.

I'm Brad Raffensperger, conservative Christian businessman, and my focus is making sure Georgia remains affordable and safe.

You see, as I've been traveling around Georgia, what people are telling me is times.

Times are tough.

The cost of living is just really put a burden on them.

And they're also concerned about what's happening in the schools, what the kids are learning, and also about school safety.

As your next governor, my focus will be creating great paying jobs.

If someone has a great paying job that can change their life and make life affordable, and then capping property taxes for everyone and for our seniors, eliminating all nonessential property taxes and eliminating the income tax for all retirement benefits.

School safety is very important for me, and it should be a very important for any parent that drops their kid off at school.

And I want to expand that to also include private schools, Christian schools, and double the school safety grant to $100,000.

When we do that, Georgia wins.

I'm Brad Raffensperger, thank you.

Mr.

Raffensperger.

Thank you, Thomas Williams.

Good evening everyone.

I'm Tom Williams, I'm from Wilkinson County, which is about 20 miles east of Macon.

I work for 35 years at Robins Air Force Base in electronics and software, supporting our military.

We have two major issues in this primary election.

The first is our elections.

We need to get our system cleaned up once and for all.

There's even talk that the governor might call a special session to do things that haven't been done by people that are already in power.

That includes getting rid of a simple thing like QR codes that hasn't even been done.

One of the other things that's important, and nobody's spoken to it yet, is we've had two candidates going toe to toe, spending millions of dollars on negative ads against each other.

And, you know, the ones that I feel almost sorry for are injury lawyers because they can't get any time on TV to run their own ads because of these two guys.

I want us to take the money out of politics and make it where everyone can participate.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Williams.

Mr.

Yasger.

Hi, I'm Ken Yasger.

My dad was in the Air Force for 24 years, so we moved all over the country.

So I wasn't born and raised in Georgia like a lot of candidates, but I come from three generations of military family.

But by the grace of God, I enlisted in the Army and I was stationed down in Savannah, Georgia, with the first Ranger Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, Rutte, and two deployments to Afghanistan with the First Ranger Battalion, 2015, I transitioned to the Georgia Army National Guard, where I did another Afghanistan deployment in 2019 and a fourth deployment to the Middle East in 2024, and I still serve in the National Guard.

Most of y'all haven't heard of me before because I'm up here, but I don't belong up here for the same reason.

Most of you don't think you belong up here because we don't have millions of dollars.

We don't have political action committees, and we don't have lobbyists.

I'm up here because you deserve to be up here.

I may not have millions or billions of dollars.

I may not be an elected official, and I may not own a business.

But I will tell you this I'm the only candidate on this stage who has been shot at by the Taliban.

So I'm here to speak for real Georgians, and I'm looking forward to this next hour.

God bless.

Thank you, gentlemen, for the full set of debate rules, please visit Atlanta Press club.org.

And we'll now go to the panel who will ask a question to an individual candidate.

And we begin with Greg Bluestein, who has a question for Gregg Kirkpatrick.

Yeah.

Mr.

Kirkpatrick, Georgia taxpayers entrust the governor with a budget larger than many corporations.

What financial management or management, financial or management experience have you had that proves you can be a responsible steward of that money?

Great question.

I have developed a start up companies, medical device startup companies, and multibillion dollar companies and worked for developing new medical devices, 24 of them saving lives over 90 million lives, generating 1 million new jobs and generating several trillion dollars in new revenue.

So in these companies that I've managed, some of those companies have budgets larger than the state of Georgia, and we always have cut the budgets to make sure that we give value to our customers who use these medical devices, and to get the products to market at the lowest price.

We need to cut the cost of government.

I also have an education at University of California, Berkeley, which includes economic system, economics, entrepreneurship, electronic engineering, and biotechnology.

So I have the experience to manage the budget and to cut waste, fraud and abuse.

Thank you.

Faith Jessie you have a question for Thomas Williams?

Thank you so much, Mr.

Williams.

You want to outlaw leadership PACs, but many Republican leaders in Georgia have used them, including, statewide officeholders, some in this room right now.

Are you willing to call out members of your own party who benefit from these funds, and should they return that money?

Well, as I've said, I am against them.

I think they can wind up being slush funds.

They can be used for all kinds of purposes.

They can be an unlimited amount of money raised, and I'm very much against them.

Uh, Mr.

Jones, the lieutenant governor, voted against it when it came up at least one time in the legislature.

But then there were two suits, one brought by Mr.

Carr and one bought by Mr.

Jackson against him using that money, and it was frozen for a while.

I'm not sure exactly what the status of that money is now, but he sure has been putting a lot of commercials on.

So I just say that I'm against it.

I will call out anybody when I think this is something that's wrong and that's I'm against it.

I please appreciate it.

If you'd call me Tom Williams.

That's what I'm listed as on the ballot.

If you could.

Russ, I'd appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

All the people that call me Thomas is when it's, uh, you know something?

You probably don't want to answer the phone for.

When you got in trouble with your money.

That's right.

When I'm in trouble with my mom, so does Tom Williams.

Thank you.

Mr.

Jackson, would you like to respond?

No, I'm fine with that.

Uh, well, I will respond.

Uh, first of all, I don't think you should have the ability to raise money during session while you're trying to pass bills.

And when you're the only insider that can do that and outsiders, it just shows the insider nature of some rules or for some people, but they're not for others.

And I just don't think it's right.

And I think it's unconstitutional and will be upheld as such.

Mr.

Jones, your response?

Well, look, I I've been sued by each one of these members on here, on the stage here, and I will tell you that that's a playbook that Stacey Abrams tried to use when she sued Governor Kemp for the same thing.

Uh, so I I'm glad they took a playbook from Stacey Abrams, but I do find it comical.

Somebody who comes in and uses spends $20 million through a C4 and to hide his his own identity and then spends $100 million trying to buy the governor's seat is really comical when he feels like that.

That's an unfair advantage.

When the rest of us here, just trying to raise dollars from Georgians to invest in our in our campaigns.

Mr.

Carr, as an elected official, I want to give you a shot at this one, too.

Yeah, absolutely.

There's no doubt that a federal judge said that it was wrong.

Uh, and said that the whole statute needed to go down the, the problem.

Oh, no.

Hold on, hold on, Bert.

The problem was like Stacey Abrams.

You're wrong here.

The bottom line is that, uh, the judge said it was wrong.

Governor Kemp was using it the right way.

The speaker was using it the right way.

You were never allowed to use it to run for governor.

And everybody in this state knows when they look up, there's something wrong with the way that you've done it.

All right.

We're going to move on from here.

Greg, you have a question.

Mr.

Jackson.

You've spent millions accusing Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones of corruption, but critics say your companies benefited from state contracts and government relations.

How are you different than from the politicians that you attack, and how would you ensure no conflicts of interest if you're elected?

Well, first of all, I wouldn't have a contract with the state, period.

Uh, look, y'all need to remember that on March 14, I got a call from Governor Kemp to talk about how many people were dying during Covid.

And that's what we responded.

Our company was the only one in the world that could do this.

And because we lived in Georgia, that was a high priority.

And so we did everything we could and we saved many, many lives.

And I do not apologize for that.

President Trump sent us the money.

The feds paid for that.

And one that you just read, the contract.

We only get 1.5% of the revenue.

The the rest of the revenue goes to doctors and agencies all over the United States.

And I don't believe that Governor Kemp would ever do anything wrong.

He certainly did in this case.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Faith, you have a question for Brad Raffensperger?

Thank you, Mr.

Raffensperger.

You became a national figure for standing up to pressure from President Donald Trump and other Republicans after the 2020 election, ultimately deciding to certify the presidential election, saying that Joe Biden was the rightful winner of our state here in Georgia, inside your own party that cost you trust.

Did you make a mistake in 2020?

No.

I've stood up to Stacey Abrams, also met her and beat her in court of law.

She fought and sued us for the Election Integrity Act.

In fact, President Joe Biden called it Jim Crow 2.0.

I've met and beat her in court of law many times.

And right now, Fox News didn't take my word for it.

Says we run the best election in the entire country.

But the real issue that people are having in Georgia right now, their focus is affordability.

They're looking for good paying jobs.

And that's why I get really excited when President Trump says he wants to bring reshoring back to America, bring jobs and manufacturing back to America.

And that's where Georgia can be at the front of the line with advanced manufacturing.

And that's where we can create great paying jobs and really change a person's life.

So that's going to be my focus, making sure we create great paying jobs and then make sure that we have safe communities because Lord knows if Keisha Lance Bottoms was ever our governor, we wouldn't have safe streets we didn't have when she was mayor.

I'll make sure we have safe communities and also good paying jobs.

Go, please.

Just to clarify, are you saying that you did not make a mistake in 20:20 At the end of the day, I have a great team and we follow the law and we follow the Constitution.

Greg, your turn to ask a question of Burt Jones.

Lieutenant Governor rivals on the stage have accused you of using your public office to benefit your family's business interests.

Why should Georgians trust that your decisions as governor would be made solely in the public interest?

Because none of these things are true, that this man right here spent $20 million in dark money attacking me since Thanksgiving.

There's other characters on the on the stage or have attacked me, uh, you know, for various things sued me and everything else when I've been out here trying to talk about the issues with Georgians, I've been trying to talk about the issues that I've actually accomplished as lieutenant governor and what I'd like to see done as governor.

These accusations that they've all made against me are pure lies, because they don't want to run against my record as a very conservative, business minded leader, because they are not they are not none of those.

And so therefore, I'm the most conservative candidate on this stage.

They know that.

And so therefore they make up lies to attack me with.

Mr.

Jackson, your rebuttal.

Well, first of all, um, you know, it's, uh, I knew that I would be getting attacked.

I just didn't know that you could actually make up information about it and so forth.

But, you know, I'm not a politician.

Um, I know political attacks don't really solve the problem of the people that I grew up with hardship.

And that's why I'm running to be a better focus to help you, the voters of this, of this state.

Sir, were you behind the dark money ads that he referred to?

Absolutely not.

Uh, we'll move on.

Faith, you have a question for Ken Yasger ?

Mr.

Yasger, in an interview that we had, you said that it makes me laugh when a candidate for governor is sucking up to the White House, when it's their job to suck up to us.

You made that comment after I asked you about Burt Jones receiving a nomination or, excuse me, an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

Is he the only one here or others on this stage you believe are doing the same, sucking up to Donald Trump instead of the people of Georgia?

So I think whether you're sucking up to them or tip toeing around him, um, just about everybody on this stage is probably doing that because they're afraid of him.

Well, I may just be a Georgia Army National Guard member and a server and bartender on Tybee Island, but I'm not afraid of anybody because I'm here to speak for real people.

The people of Georgia.

Which is why, I mean, with all due respect to lieutenant governor, I don't have the lawyers or the money to sue anybody.

So not everybody has sued him on this stage.

I have not done that.

I don't attack people.

I'm here to literally the White House does not wake up every day, whether it's a Republican or Democrat and asking.

They don't ask, how can I make Georgians lives better?

That's why I want to be governor, because I want to wake up every single day and just like my own life, how can we be better?

And us as Georgians together without the federal government or without the state government?

We make us who we are, and together we're going to be stronger.

And I want to lead that fight with you.

Thank you.

Ken Yasger, thanks very much.

Do you want a shot at this, Mr.

Jones?

I would like to clarify, because Ken and Clark Dean, they've been complete gentlemen, during this entire process.

And I appreciate, uh, being on the campaign trail with you two guys, because y'all have been complete gentlemen, and we've actually had good debates and talked about subject matters that Georgians care about.

So thank you all.

All right, Greg, your question for Clark Dean.

Yeah.

Mr.

Dean, let's shift gears a little bit.

You trust AI enough to use it in your campaign?

I think you call it the Dean machine.

Would you trust it to help Georgia government make decisions on unemployment claims, on fraud detection, state hiring, all those other important state issues, and what safeguards would you require before that happens?

So so I believe that we should use tools of technology to our advantage.

I mean, the problem with state government is so oftentimes it's run by politicians who actually don't have and are not familiar with using the tools of business.

AI, when used responsibly, can be extraordinarily powerful.

It can actually help us be even more creative and get to the right answers.

It's how you train it.

It's what you focus it on.

And as governor, I'm going to focus it on my ASAP plan for Georgia, which is all about affordability, strength, accessibility, and prosperity for all Georgians.

As soon as possible.

We don't have time to to to run at the speed of government.

We need to do this at the speed of business.

And AI can actually help us do that.

Now, are there things that we need to make sure we do?

Yes, in order to protect ourselves.

And I have done that with my own Dean machine platform, which I hope everybody tries out on my website, but we need to be doing these things to make sure that we are the most competitive, effective state in the country.

Guys, we can be number one at lots of things, not just business.

And we shouldn't be second to dead last in maternal mortality.

Families shouldn't be the squeeze.

Taxes shouldn't be this high.

And education and healthcare shouldn't be this inaccessible.

And we need to use every tool.

We have to make sure that happens.

Clark Dean, thank you very much.

Faith.

You get the final question in this round for Chris Carr.

Mr.

Carr, you've asked voters to trust your plan on crime, but you've already held one of the most powerful law enforcement roles in the state as attorney general.

What concretely would you do differently as governor that you haven't done so far?

Well, I appreciate it.

One of the things I'm most proud of is we've transformed the law department.

When I got the law department, we were a civil practice.

Now we are a very effective criminal practice.

We now have domestic terrorism authority, human trafficking gangs, organized retail theft.

And that's an issue, I think, down the road, if we are going to stay the number one state in the nation to do business, we've got to protect our retailers and our cargo folks as well.

So I double down on that.

I have called for a public corruption unit.

I think that is something that we need to have both at the state level and to get the politics out of the local level.

And local communities don't know where to go.

I think the state should certainly do that.

And then, look, I think mental health is a big issue.

The root causes of poverty and homelessness, mental health issues.

If you talk with our sheriffs, you talk about who's in our prisons right now in our jails, struggling with addiction and mental health challenges, I commend the legislature for creating putting money in for one hospital.

We need to have a regional approach to mental health and make sure that we're helping our rural communities.

Chris Carr, thank you for our next round.

The candidates will question a candidate of their choice.

You will have 30s to ask a question.

Your opponent will have 60s to respond, and the person asking the question will get a 32nd rebuttal.

Burt Jones will begin with you to ask a question to the candidate of your choice.

Yeah, I'll ask Mr.

Jackson here.

Mr.

Jackson, you claim to be the president's choice, but you've donated to Liz Cheney.

You claim to be pro-life, but you've profited off having doctors and nurses go to organizations like Planned Parenthood.

And last but not least, on illegals.

You claim to be the tough on legal deportation, but you've got illegals working in your backyard as we speak right now.

So my question to you is, who's the real Rick Jackson?

Well, first of all, the real Rick Jackson has never taken $1 from Planned Parenthood.

We've never taken $1 from recruiting surgeons to do transgender surgery for underage kids.

From that standpoint.

And as far as, uh, illegals and so forth, I will absolutely make it the number one place in Georgia will be the number one for deporting criminal illegals.

That's my position and that's who I am.

I have done nothing but give to many pro-life nonprofits.

I give more to nonprofits through crisis pregnancy centers here in Georgia than probably you've ever given in your entire life.

That is my focus.

I put my money where my mouth is.

I've been giving away money for these causes and to help under, uh, underprivileged kids for 20 years.

That's who I am.

So you don't have any illegals working for you right now?

AM I supposed to answer it again?

Well, you have 30.

You have 30s.

Mr.

Jones to respond.

I just asked him, you don't have any illegals working for you right now or in the past?

I don't know.

Oh.

Here's the reason why you're talking about a domestic person that somebody hired.

You do.

I hired thousands of people.

I hire thousands of people a year.

Bert, I know you have about six yourself, but I hired thousands of people.

Other people hire them.

We obey the laws.

We use.

A yes or no answer.

It's just yes or no answer.

Take 15 seconds, Mr.

Jones, and we'll wrap this up and move on.

No, I just I was just it's just a yes or no answer.

I asked him if he has illegals working for him right now and he can't.

He said he did.

And then he said he didn't.

So.

All right, Mr.

Carr, it's your turn to ask a question to the candidate of your choice.

I'd like to ask Mr.

Jackson.

Mr.

Jackson, you've been in business for quite some time.

Can you explain to me how Bert is worth 10 million?

But he's loaned himself 20 million.

Well, first of all, um, that math just doesn't add up from my standpoint.

I don't know how in the world that you're worth $10 million and put $20 million.

In fact, I don't know anybody here that has $10 million in net worth and can put in $10 million of loans.

So there's no way you can do that without violating campaign laws from that standpoint.

But this is just another reason why Burt Jones just feels like that he can make up his own rules and do whatever he wants to.

And from that standpoint, I just I think it's despicable to use the power of this position in order for self-interest.

And I just that's the reason I'm running.

Because to be honest, when I found out about these things, it just made me nauseous.

And that's the reason I want to run.

Well, Rick, that's why my plan.

I've called for a public corruption in part talks about elections.

And there has to be more transparency in who is loaning who money in these races.

I think the people of Georgia deserve to know.

Mr.

Jones 30s.

Yeah, I mean, look, when I loaned myself money, I was because I was going around Georgia asking people to donate to our campaign.

And I would like when people ask me, how much skin do you have in the game?

I'm able to tell them that.

But right here, the.

Mr.

Jackson here just we just called him up in a in a little lie about whether or not somebody works for him or not.

But see, he's been spending millions of dollars telling lies about me.

But what's even worse than that?

He's been spending millions of dollars telling lies to you, the public, about himself.

That's the clear difference here.

All right.

I think we've covered that ground.

Mr.

Kirkpatrick, your turn to ask a question to the candidate of your choice.

Yes.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Um, many, many Georgians are upset with the elections and believe that we don't have integrity in our election process.

And many believe that we should go back to paper and eliminate these electronic machines, which have the possibility of being hacked or data corrupted accidentally.

Why haven't you totally secured the elections, and why haven't we gone back to paper so that we can make these elections fair for all?

Thank you for your question.

Uh, well, first off, we've been recognized as being number one for election integrity by the Heritage Foundation 2021.

And then Fox News says, we run the best elections in the entire country, so go argue with them.

But at the end of the day, there is a plan.

A bill was passed, but then the General Assembly did not find, uh, spend and allocate one single dollar to be able to do that.

So we'd have a new system in place by July 1.

So really, you should be directing your question towards the general election to the General Assembly about that.

But at the end of the day, what people are really concerned about more than anything else, and that's what polling shows is affordability, cost of gas, cost of homes, mortgage or rent, and then really health care and all the other cost of living.

It's just expensive to live.

And that's why I'm focused about creating great paying jobs, because if you create great paying jobs, you can change a person's life.

Gregg Kirkpatrick you have 30s.

If you'd like to respond.

There's many people in Georgia who are not happy with the election process.

We're the laughing stock of the world that our elections are not fair and that legal votes, all legal votes are not counted.

We have to have all legal votes counted, and we have to make sure that people who are not citizens of this of this state vote.

There's a lot of election fraud.

If I'm elected governor, I will appoint I will appoint investigations with the attorney General to make sure that we convene a grand jury to investigate all election fraud so that our elections can be have highest integrity in the world.

Ken Yasger, your turn to ask a question.

So.

Lieutenant Governor.

Burt Jones.

I'm not attacking wealth or success, but this question could it's not just couldn't it could be directed at other people as well.

But if you can loan yourself millions of dollars with the economy the way it is and spend millions of dollars on attack ads instead of staying positive on what could help the people of Georgia, how could you, um, how could you explain to us that you can relate to the average everyday American or Georgian who can't can't pay for prescriptions gas right now, especially since you keep talking about President Trump.

Um, gas prices are pretty darn high right now and people aren't happy with the White House, and they're not happy with the economy.

Um, so how can you relate to those Georgians, sir?

So it's a great question.

Again, look, I would rather not be sending attack ads, quite frankly.

In fact, I've had $50 million that was spent against me during Thanksgiving, during Christmas, making up stories all all through the early fall and winter.

And so and it's, it's this gentleman right here to the right that started all that I would much rather be talking about what people are concerned with out there in Georgia, because I've crossed this state and people are talking about high insurance costs, high grocery costs, high fuel, and the cost of living in general.

And I would much rather be talking about how we can deliver great results for people of Georgia by lowering their costs.

And I would love to talk about what I've done as their lieutenant governor and trying to do that as well.

So but look, I never started these attack ads.

I started getting attacked from these three guys on stage.

And so at some point in time, I had to respond.

Mr.

Yasger, you have 30s to respond if you'd like.

Well, nobody has to attack anybody, and that's why I would never do it, no matter where I'm at, no matter who I'm talking to or who's attacking me.

Um, the week that, uh, the lieutenant governor announced his campaign and loaned himself millions of dollars, I was behind an older gentleman at Kroger on Gwinnett Street in Savannah.

After I got off work.

And he had a walker.

He had a six pack of eggs and a loaf of bread.

His card declined.

It's personal for me because I see him and I see you, and I will always see you.

Thank you.

All right, Mr.

Jackson, you've already denied being behind Georgians for integrity.

Is it all right with you?

We just leave it there and move on, sir.

All right, Clark Dean, it's your turn.

Well, I believe one of the biggest crisis that we don't talk about is the crisis of division.

We got it in our country.

We got it on the stage.

And I would like to thank all of you guys.

I feel like I've had some great conversations and relationships to all of you.

So I had to think carefully about how I asked this question.

It's a friendly question, right?

Because we need to bring people together to solve problems that matter Georgia families.

But Lieutenant Governor, I'll ask you this question.

So as CEO of the state, you know, with the, you know, almost, almost 100,000 people in a $30 billion budget, um, how would you work to actually reduce the cost of government and improve the quality of services to the people of Georgia?

Well, I've always and it's a great question, Clark.

I've always said that.

And you can test the way we run our lieutenant governor's office and the way we run our business.

Quite frankly, we like to have that Chick-fil-A mentality of how can we how can we serve you?

And it's our pleasure to do it.

And there's always efficiencies in a government that can be improved.

There's always ways, you well know, in businesses that you can improve how you conduct your business.

And it really comes down to your leadership skills and qualities about picking the right people.

And in this case, we're talking about government taking the right people to run certain agencies and making sure necessarily that they're not political appointees, that there are people that actually have business experience in that field, whatever it might be.

So I would welcome the opportunity to be able to do that, because I can tell you right now, we're one of those.

We always have an open door policy in our lieutenant governor's office.

And and I would put my folks up against anybody as far as quality of service that they get from our office as well.

Clark Dean your rebuttal?

Yeah, I mean, you're right.

I mean, it is it's a leadership problem and it's an operational problem.

Now, what I'm proposing is a Georgia operational framework, a new way to dramatically reduce the cost of government and to improve its services with tested and trued perspectives, find the constraints in the system and fix them with sophisticated solutions, and then allow and empower our state governors or our state government officials to actually contribute to a culture of excellence.

You know, this thing is not a promise.

It's a methodology.

It's something I've been working on for 30 years.

And we can make operational on day one.

All right, Mr.

Dean, thank you.

Tom Williams, your turn.

I would like to ask both the Lieutenant Governor and Mr.

Jackson.

Same question.

But, you know, I would say what happened to your bromance.

But this is a divorce court.

And so I'm gonna ask Mr.

Jackson, from what's been reported as facts of your contributions to candidates that were anti Trump, your contributions to people such as Liz Cheney, that tried to do everything she could to drive Donald Trump out of power from some of your companies printing anti, uh, information and the fact that you finally gave money to Donald Trump in December of 2025, just before you entered this race, are you as phony a Trump supporter as you appear to be?

Well, first of all, thank you for your question.

Um, just like JD Vance and Marco Rubio, I was late to the Trump train.

I admit that I have donated to I've been a conservative for 20 years and I've donated to all Republicans good and bad.

I did not know that I had donated to some PAC that was affiliated in 2021, $2,400.

But there's nobody that supports President Trump more than I do now.

I don't know about you, but $1 million is a lot of money.

And that shows where I put my money, where my mouth is, and that I do support.

And I'm going to be President Trump's favorite governor.

Tom Williams.

Your response?

Well, all I can say is a fact.

From my point of view, I supported Donald Trump in 2016.

I supported Donald Trump in 2020.

I supported him in 2024, took my wife to see her first president live in person in 2020 in Macon at the airport.

I've been a Trump supporter.

I'm still a Trump supporter.

We've got problems, but we also have to realize for the general election, what you're not focusing on is there's one big major cause of lack of affordability, and that is radical Democrats.

That's where it all comes from.

And we need to focus on that as well.

Instead of fighting all the time.

Thank you.

Rick Jackson your response?

Well, I'm sorry, my my fault.

We're moving on now to Rick Jackson.

It's your turn to ask a question of the candidate of your choice.

Yes.

My question is for General Carr.

General Carr.

Is it appropriate for the lieutenant governor, a statewide elected official, to threaten legislation of members if they supported his political opponent or demanded up to $100,000 in campaign contributions just to have a meeting?

Uh, Rick, I appreciate the question.

And, um, you know, you and I are opponents in this race.

And so we, we probably disagree on some things, but I think we probably agree on one thing that Burt Jones should not be the next governor of Georgia.

You know, you've been campaigning.

I've been campaigning.

I've heard from folks saying, uh, did the lieutenant governor actually use his official office to help, uh, benefit himself financially or his family?

I have heard people ask, are what's is it true about these threats that, uh, folks are getting from his staff and from him?

Uh, personal conversations that are had folks are saying, uh, is it true that bills were passed or not passed or committee hearings held or not held, all based on who was supporting the lieutenant governor or you or me or some of the other folks that were here.

And look, I'll be honest, if I wasn't running in this race, there's enough out there that I would have started an investigation.

I would have, uh, but because I am running, I think that that would be inappropriate for me not to do it.

Uh, but I'll tell you, I think it's wrong.

I think it's unethical.

Uh, if true, it could be illegal.

And look, the Georgia people do not want somebody running for governor that sees the governor's mansion as an extension of their business empire.

They want somebody that's earned it and done it.

And I think I am the better choice.

Mr.

Carr.

Thank you.

Mr.

Jackson.

Your response?

And then we'll go to Mr.

Jones.

Look, this is the reason I joined this race.

It's.

It's time for people not to be trying to make money off of their office and the power and so forth like that, and to use your bully pulpit to threaten people.

Um, it's just unethical from my standpoint.

And we need to focus on you and what your problems are.

And that's what I'm focused on, on benefiting you, not me.

Mr.

Jones.

It's just amazing that he can sit here and lie with a straight face.

But actually, he lied about his illegal employees a little bit ago.

So I guess this is par for the course with him.

Look, there were two house reps above us, Representative Hilton and Representative Deborah Silcox that are supporting, uh, General Carr over there for governor.

They got their bills through.

No problem.

There was nobody just because the people that you have paid to endorse, you might not have gotten some of their bills done.

Uh, that that they want to blame me for it not happening.

So, uh, there was nobody holding anything.

Anybody, uh, to the fire feet to the fire.

Like I said, there was plenty of Carr supporters that got bills through this past session.

And so.

But once again, Mr.

Jones, you don't know how to tell the truth, but you do it with a straight face.

I got to give it to you.

Time.

Your staff didn't kill any bill or you didn't kill any bill.

As a result of politics.

This session.

We we let go through the process like it does every session.

Just like you're not answering the question.

No, I mean, I said yes or no.

There was plenty of your supporters that did it.

Okay.

You can learn a lot about something.

I think you've all had your say on this one.

Gentlemen, we're going to move on to Mr.

Raffensperger.

It's your turn, sir.

My question is for Rick Jackson.

Rick, you spent millions upon millions of dollars telling the truth, telling the people the truth about Burt Jones.

And Jones has spent millions telling Georgians the truth about you.

Do you think Republicans are going to have a bigger issue with your money coming from Planned Parenthood or money coming from gambling and Chinese vapes?

If the question is to me is that's real easy.

I haven't taken $1 for Planned Parenthood, but it's an absolute fact that they sell Chinese vapes and, uh, have taken money and starred in Coyne machines.

The the coin operated gambling machines.

There's $3 billion a year that's hurting our hope scholarship and also hurting the people that are poor because they can't have food and so forth, and they're gambling away.

So from that standpoint, that's the truth.

I've never taken any money from Planned Parenthood.

I don't think that's going to hurt us because I know what the truth is.

All right, Mr.

Raffensperger, you have 30s then we'll go to Mr.

Jones.

Well, look, you guys can continue to fight among yourselves and have that personal grudge match, but I'm focused on what the future looks like, and someone needs to take on Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Because if she was our next governor, just look what she did.

She thinks we have amnesia.

But remember what Atlanta was like when she was the mayor of Atlanta?

It wasn't safe.

Crime was skyrocketing.

Kids were leaving school.

As your next governor, I'm going to make sure Georgia is affordable and it's safe for everyone.

Mr.

Jones, about the Chinese vapes.

Well, no, the coin machine.

I'll answer that because, uh, he said that the coin machine is hurting the Georgia Lottery.

It's a part of the Georgia Lottery.

It's what helps pay for all those Hope scholarships that thousands and thousands of kids receive every year.

It's been legal since I was in middle school, actually, so I didn't have an opportunity to vote to legalize it.

But if you want to run on something of getting rid of the Georgia lottery system and getting rid of the Hope scholarship, go ahead with that.

But, uh, but yeah, that, uh, that's just not just not true.

All right, time's up.

Thank you.

Sir, you are watching the Republican primary debate for governor.

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

Until we run out of time.

Faith Jessie we start with you.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Jones.

My first question is to you.

You've argued that the state should protect life before birth.

You've stood firmly with the heartbeat bill and continue to support it.

My question to you is, will you commit to fully funding child care and medical care for mothers and babies after birth, and how would you pay for it?

Well, you know, I was I was a senator when we voted on the heartbeat bill in 2019.

I was on when it did that, and it had exceptions to that law that is rape and incest and the health of a mother.

And and in the time that I've been lieutenant governor, we set up a child and family, uh, committee to focus on just that focus on pregnancy centers for women, improving early childhood, uh, affordability, and also looking at ways that we could improve adoption rates as well as foster care system.

So you just can't be pro-life.

You've got to be pro-life from cradle to graduation, uh, to help those kids out.

And how and how exactly.

Would you do that?

We've got.

We've actually put money in from the budget.

In the last four years I've been lieutenant governor.

We put them into, uh, I don't know the exact numbers, but it's been in the case of hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even millions of dollars that we've put in for services like that.

Greg Bluestein.

I want to ask you a question that you touched on a little bit earlier.

Should the federal Justice Department ever be used to target political opponents, or only where evidence independently supports prosecution?

And a follow up, do you believe Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should face federal or state charges?

Uh, I'll answer the second one first.

If the facts and the law lead to that, then yeah, absolutely.

But if it's just law fair.

Look, we got to stop the law fair situation going after our political opponents, whether it's at the federal level, state, local level, it's got to stop.

It's not going to end up well for anybody.

What I have done in my entire career is what I will continue to do as governor.

I will follow the facts.

I will follow the law.

I will follow the Constitution.

But to use the criminal or civil justice system, it goes to kind of what Clarke was saying.

Look, these people aren't my enemy.

They may be my opponent and the Democrats aren't the enemy.

They're an opponent as well.

We've got to stop what we've done and created this environment where we've turned Americans into enemies.

Thank you.

Faith.

Mr.

Jackson, I have a question for you regarding immigration, immigrants, power, key industries like agriculture, and many of you standing on the stage right now support stricter enforcement.

How will you protect jobs and uphold the law?

And if workers face penalties, should the businesses that hire undocumented labor also face penalties?

First of all, I am for upholding all laws, including immigration laws.

I will work with Ice and provide any information that they need.

If it's against the law, we have to uphold it.

Obviously, the feds are the ones that decides who's deported and who's not.

So from my standpoint, my job is to make sure we uphold the law, and I'm going to do that, and I'm going to work with Ice and anybody else, because that is the law.

The idea of having sanctuary cities and just disobeying the law and deciding what laws you want to, to obey, and not so forth is ludicrous.

And so from my standpoint, we need to uphold all laws, including immigration laws that the feds require of us.

And one follow up, how would you penalize businesses who employ undocumented workers?

I don't have the ability.

The feds are the only ones that can penalize the people that are undocumented, not not the state.

It is their jurisdiction and it's their decision.

They decide how to enforce the law.

Our job is to support them and work with them any way that we can to uphold the law.

Greg Bluestein.

Yeah, Lieutenant governor, you've blamed others for stalled priorities in the past, including this year's failure to address a looming election deadline that could prompt a special legislative session.

But what responsibility do you personally take for failures under Republican government to reach some sort of accord on election law that you helped lead?

Well, look, we passed in 20, 22 years ago, we passed get rid of the QR codes and the Secretary of State's office never has done anything about it.

Uh, we passed an election law in 2021, right after the 2020 election.

You know, make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.

Senate Bill 202 now.

So the the idea that the legislature is, is at fault because our Secretary of State won't abide by what we pass, uh, is is comical, quite frankly.

But if there is a special session that is called after this primary is over with where we have to address it.

I've met with Governor Kemp and and we've met with the speaker's office about some common ground we can get to, but but the genesis of the problem is the Secretary of State just not responding to anything we send him.

All right.

We're getting close to the end here.

Secretary of state, I'd like to respond to that because, number one, when that bill was passed, we had given them budget information what the cost would be.

And then we've done that for several years now.

And they have never funded one nickel.

And now they have a problem and they're trying to put that on our back.

No, the problem is on their back and they need to figure it out because time is running short.

But I do know that right now, Georgia is recognized as having the most secure elections in the entire country, and I'm proud of it.

And we are the first state in the union to do a citizenship verification.

I'm proud of that.

All right.

Speaking of time running short, that is all the time we have for questions.

Each candidate will now have 60s for a closing statement.

Ken Yasger, we begin with you.

I appreciate being here.

Thank you.

Faith.

Greg.

Russ, thank you for having us.

I just want to say a couple things that most politicians won't say.

First one is I'm running for governor because I don't know everything.

I want to bring people in because I talk to them, because I'm not a farmer.

I'm not a teacher.

I'm not a law enforcement officer.

I'm not a firefighter.

I want to give those people a voice.

That's why I'm here.

Second, I like talking about my past struggles.

I struggle with alcohol addiction.

Two years.

I'm two years sober now.

As of January 2 and five years ago, I tried to take my own life.

Right now, there's somebody sitting at home.

They're hurting and they're struggling.

These attacks, they don't help anybody.

We're killing our kids mentally.

And I'm here to be the voice for somebody, whether it's the guy who I saw who's Carr to climb on a six pack of eggs and a loaf of bread, or that person who feels like their life isn't worth living anymore.

I'm here to tell them that your life is worth living.

And if I had the honor of being the next governor, whether I know you personally or not, I see you.

I hear you, and I love you.

Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a great night.

Thank you sir.

Clark Dean, it's your turn.

So tonight I asked you a question.

When each person was talking, you know, is this the most caring, capable, competent leader to deliver real value and hope and inspiration for Georgia's?

Can they deliver on that promise?

Look, way before I got behind a microphone, I was training and preparing to serve you.

Yeah.

I'm the only Eagle Scout on the on the on the set.

You know, one of the only Rotarians, I'm a guy that actually wants to serve.

And I have the unique capabilities to do it.

I know how to run large organizations.

I know how to transform government.

And we can't just, just limit to a little bit.

We need to do it a lot.

Guys, 25-30 2% improvement in our government.

Imagine what we can do, what that means to your family, what it means to your affordability.

We need bright, competent executive leadership in the state of Georgia, one who takes service above self seriously, who actually cares for Georgia families and has the capabilities to serve them.

And as I say on my ads, who knows how to be tough without being mean?

I'm Clark Dean.

Please check out the Dean machine on my website.

Ask it anything.

It doesn't spin, it doesn't dodge, and it never, ever sleeps.

And I won't either.

As your next governor.

Thank you.

Gregg Kirkpatrick your turn.

We have record high prices on groceries, fuel, housing, medical care.

I have the experience.

Decades of experience in driving down the cost of medical care with developing inventing 24 new medical devices.

It's not just the federal government's responsibility to drive down inflation.

We can drive down inflation by lowering the taxes.

As we lower taxes, lower the cost of our families for government, inflation will go down.

And I propose that we have zero state taxes for the disabled, for our veterans, and for our senior citizens.

And this will bring a quality of life to Georgia and restore affordability by lowering the cost of government.

I want to gain your trust and get your vote as your next governor.

I have the experience to drive down the cost of government and to reduce inflation.

Thank you.. Tom Williams, your closing statement.

I want to thank you all for providing this forum for us all to meet together and talk about these important issues.

You know, we're celebrating 250 years of freedom this year.

And the most important fundamental freedom we have is the right to honest voting and honest vote counts so that our will is seen and followed.

It's so important for our people to have free elections.

Mr.

Raffensperger and his capacity has failed us on several occasions in providing that as Secretary of State and supervision of the elections.

But the two major issues are getting the elections right, and I'll get them right if you elect me governor and not letting money buy your vote, make a decision.

Don't be swayed by all these attack ads, all these negative ads that have been put out there.

Think about, I want to live in a free country as a free citizen.

That's what's important.

People have fought and died to protect this country.

And that's what I want to do and bring as governor is freedom for our people.

Thank you.

Tom Williams.

Thank you.

Brad Raffensperger your close.

I'm running for governor with a focus on your future, about creating great paying jobs, making sure we have safe communities, because there's going to be a big choice you're going to have in November.

If Keisha Lance bottoms were on the ballot, she's going to hope that you forget when she was mayor, crime was out of control.

The city was literally, literally on fire.

Schools were failing, and businesses wanted to move out.

If she became governor, we wouldn't have to worry about traffic because people moving out of town, not coming into town.

I'm running for governor to create great paying jobs.

As we continue to reshore manufacturing back to America, I want to make sure that Georgia is at the front of the list so we can continue to grow and add jobs that we have strong trade schools.

So these kids coming out of high school have a job making 60, 70, $80,000 a year onward to over 100,000.

When we create good paying jobs, we can change a person's life.

I want to make sure we have safe communities and safe schools.

I'll make sure that we have doubled the school safety grants to $100,000.

I want to make sure we have parental school choice.

I'm Brad Raffensperger and I'm asking for your vote.

Thank you.

Burt Jones.

Thank you.

I appreciate it, Russ, and I appreciate being here with all the candidates here.

But I want to say first that, look, whoever is the next governor of the state of Georgia, they are not inheriting a bad situation.

Governor Kemp and the legislature have done a great job the last eight years.

And I've been fortunate enough to be a part of four of those years as lieutenant governor.

And the biggest reason why President Trump is endorsing my candidacy for governor is because he knows me.

We've got over a ten year history together, and he knows me to be somebody who does what he says he's going to do and delivers on it so that when I was out there fighting for election integrity, fighting to cut taxes, both income and capping property taxes, fighting for educational opportunities for our kids by passing school choice as well as health care opportunities, by making it easier to get health care facilities, not because of where you are and your zip code.

I'm strong on public safety, and I'm somebody who has a business background and the legislative background to get things done, and I'll be ready on day one.

If you honor me with the opportunity to be your next governor.

Thank you.

Rick Jackson your closing statement.

When you've lived the way I have, you don't forget the people that are still fighting.

In 2007, I made a decision about my wealth.

And that is not it's not my money, it's God.

I'm a steward of it.

And I've given to hundreds of nonprofits and foster care all over the country in order to help people that don't have a voice.

I now want to fight for 11 million Georgians.

President Trump's business focus inspired me to run.

Georgia needs business leadership focused on results, not politics.

I'll be just like him with a southern tone.

If you're tired of politicians who talk and listen to special interests, then I'm your man.

I can't be bought.

And the only reason I'm running is to have impact to helping others.

Georgia families need less talk.

They need more results.

That's what I'm about.

My mission is simple cut income taxes, cut property taxes, and give every Georgia someone in the governor's office who will fight for them.

Your fight will be my fight, and I would be honored to have your vote.

I've got this.. Chris Carr you get the last word.

Thanks, Ross.

And thanks to Greg and Faith in the Atlanta Press Club.

And thanks to everybody in the state that joined us tonight.

Look, this primary has to be about who is going to win in November.

And let me tell you who's not going to win.

It's not going to be the candidate that raises his or her hand and says, I got the most money, or I got one endorsement that just doesn't work in Georgia.

But who is going to win is the candidate who is who can appeal to the ever growing independent voter in this state.

And they care about jobs, safety, education, affordability.

Don't really want to talk about social issues the way the right and the left have, but candidate quality matters.

And like when Brian Kemp and I ran in 2022, we talked about jobs and safety and affordability and this state being built on agriculture, manufacturing, trade, the military, keeping our teachers safe and paying them.

And that's the candidate that is going to win in November.

That's the candidate that we need to nominate in May.

And I'll tell you, there's one really rich guy and one guy is rich daddy that are trying to buy your vote, and one guy's trying to earn it, and that's me.

And I ask for your vote on May 19th.

Chris Carr thanks and thanks to all of you.

And thank you for joining us for the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk Young Series debate.

I'm Russ Spencer.

Early voting begins today.

Go do it.