Tight race for Georgia attorney general becomes a debate over experience

Democrats and Republicans are sinking millions of dollars into a deadlocked Georgia attorney general’s race in a high-stakes competition be the state’s next top lawyer.

A new Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey found the race between Democratic state Rep. Tanya Miller and Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland is neck and neck, with both candidates receiving about 44% of the vote.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Attorneys General Association has announced it will spend more than $2 million backing Miller in the final weeks of the campaign — nearly as much as the candidates’ combined fundraising haul through July. And the Republican Attorneys General Association has said it’s sinking $1 million into the race.

Miller and Strickland have similar goals if they’re elected — taking on gangs, human traffickers, scammers and organized crime. But the candidates have feuded in recent interviews, a debate and on the campaign trail about who has the experience to accomplish those goals.

Miller has hammered Strickland for his lack of criminal case experience while highlighting her own past as a federal and Fulton County prosecutor.

“You want the top job with no experience, that’s the difference between me and you,” Miller told him at last week’s Atlanta Press Club debate.

Strickland has contrasted his legislative accomplishments with what he describes as Miller’s partisan grandstanding in the General Assembly — including a walkout last year to protest a bill to prohibit public funding of sex-change surgeries for prison inmates.

“We need a workhorse in this office who wants to do this job, and not someone who wants to protest every single day,” Strickland said at the debate.

The clashes underscore the political stakes of the race to replace Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor rather than seek reelection. Up and down the ballot, Democrats seek to end the GOP’s two-decade dominance of state government amid President Donald Trump’s unpopularity.

Democrats held the attorney general’s office for more than 100 years until 1994, when Democrat Michael J. Bowers switched parties. Republicans have held the office continuously since 2011.

As the state’s top lawyer, the attorney general oversees hundreds of attorneys and other employees who advise state agencies, represent Georgia in civil litigation and prosecute some criminal cases.

A big part of the job is defending Georgia from lawsuits. After the 2020 presidential election, Carr successfully defended the state’s election system when Texas sought to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia.

But the attorney general also decides when to go on offense — filing lawsuits or briefs supporting or opposing litigation that suits their legal or political goals. Carr, for example, has backed lawsuits against the Biden administration’s vaccine and mask mandate for the Head Start childcare program and opposing Biden’s college debt relief plan.

In recent interviews with the AJC’s “Politically Georgia” podcast, Miller and Strickland said they would consider such litigation on a case-by-case basis. They also said partisanship would play no role in such decisions.

“My metric moving forward will be what is best for Georgia families,” Strickland said. “It’s not what’s best for Republicans, what’s best for Democrats, what’s best for any one person in the White House.”

Miller supported a lawsuit filed recently by Democratic attorneys general that sought to block Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — a move she warned could threaten jobs at Atlanta-based CNN and Turner Broadcasting.

“Twelve attorneys general across the country just did what Georgia’s attorney general refused to do: fight back,” Miller said in July.

Last month, Paramount settled the lawsuit and made a series of concessions — including a pledge to release dozens of films in coming years. The companies completed the merger earlier this month.

Miller and Strickland have cited similar priorities for cracking down on crime. Both want to continue Carr’s campaign against human trafficking. They’ve also pledged to focus on gangs, scams and organized crime.

But they have waged a bitter campaign over who’s best qualified to tackle those priorities.

Miller was a federal prosecutor in New York before working as a prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. There, she said she prosecuted homicides, human trafficking and other crimes.

Later, she went into private practice, where she handled a variety of civil litigation. She won election to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2022 and is the House minority caucus chair. In that role, she often opposes Republican initiatives such as Gov. Brian Kemp’s limits on civil litigation and legislation that would allow voters to approve new sales taxes to grant property tax relief to homeowners.

“When you talk to people about what they care most about, what they want to see in an attorney general, it is someone who has experience prosecuting cases, which is why I think my opponent has substituted the lack of experience for, you know, the really typical tough-on-crime talk,” Miller told “Politically Georgia.”

Strickland highlights his own legal background and accomplishments in the General Assembly. He told “Politically Georgia” his general law practice has allowed him to tackle a range of issues, from elder abuse and parental rights to contracts and small business matters.

Strickland was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2012 and to the Georgia Senate in 2018. He has been a floor leader for Kemp and former Gov. Nathan Deal and chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. He cites his experience shepherding bills on mental healthcare, criminal justice reform and parental leave, as well as legislation targeting gangs and fentanyl traffickers.