It was a surreal moment in a campaign that has seen a lot of them: Gov. Nathan Deal and hip-hop star Ludacris appeared together at a newly formed charter school in Clayton County.
Strange as it was, though, the spectacle at the Utopian Academy for the Arts played into a wider theme for the Republican governor. Deal is trying to parlay his embrace of charter schools to make inroads to black voters, a voting bloc that Democrat Jason Carter’s campaign is relying upon in his quest to oust the incumbent.
Deal and Republican allies backed a 2012 constitutional amendment that gave the state more power to create charter schools, and the ballot measure passed overwhelmingly despite opposition from some Democrats and teacher groups. Deal has hinted he would go further in a second term and said he would explore Louisiana’s charter school expansion.
“They were wanting something like the Utopian Academy for the Arts to come into their community,” the governor said of residents in Clayton, where black voters helped fuel the amendment’s success. “That’s all the more reason why it needs to be successful.”
Ludacris, whose real name is Chris Bridges, did not endorse the governor and declined to take questions after the event. He told a cheering crowd of 15o or so students that they were blazing a new trail for the charter school movement.
“You have street smarts, and when you add book smarts to that, you’re unstoppable,” Ludacris said.
Carter’s campaign is hoping to boost black turnout to at least 30 percent in November’s contest, partly by vowing to significantly boost education funding. His spokesman, Bryan Thomas, said the governor’s “election-year interest in Goergia’s schools rings hollow.”
“Students, teachers and families that have struggled under the governor’s cuts deserve a governor who will put education first every year,” Thomas said. “That’s Jason Carter.”
This isn’t the first time Ludacris has joined the campaign trail. In December 2008 he joined T.I. and Young Jeezy to urge voters to back Democrat Jim Martin’s Senate bid, which he lost in a runoff to Republican Saxby Chambliss. He also praised President Barack Obama in his lyrics and donated $2,500 to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s campaign.
Which is why his appearance with a Republican office-seeker weeks before an election raised eyebrows. Deal, for his part, said the two didn’t talk politics.
“This was a very successful Georgian who was trying to inspire other young people to follow in his footsteps,” he said. “And I think that’s the message that all of us would like to have.”
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