An empty lectern and sharp attacks define Georgia debates

Georgia Democrats went on the offensive in Monday’s Atlanta Press Club debates, pressing Republicans over President Donald Trump, their records and a no-show in the governor’s race.

Republicans pushed back with attacks on Democrats’ public safety credentials and readiness for office as they faced questions about hard-right positions some took during the Republican primary.

The sharpest illustration came in the race for governor, where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms used Republican Rick Jackson’s absence to accuse him of ducking public scrutiny ahead of his rally with Trump on Friday.

And across the debates, candidates clashed over the 2020 election, abortion rights and economic issues.

Here are the takeaways from the day’s debates.

Bottoms makes the most of an empty lectern

Bottoms had the stage to herself and tried to turn Jackson’s absence into an indictment of her opponent in her race for governor.

“He’d rather hide behind his billions than explain to you his record of making billions off the taxpayers of Georgia,” the Democrat said, standing beside the empty Jackson lectern.

The Republican billionaire defended skipping the Atlanta Press Club debate earlier Monday, saying he’s never heard a voter on the campaign trail once press him to debate.

“My priority is not the media and what they want,” he said. “My priority is what Georgians want.”

Bottoms used the spotlight to outline a spending plan centered on Medicaid expansion, education and her plan to tackle the affordability crisis.

“Show me your budget, I’ll show you your priorities,” she said.

To pay for her promises, Bottoms proposed scrapping Gov. Brian Kemp’s Pathways healthcare program, reviewing state contracts and reconsidering tax breaks for data centers.

Jackson’s absence didn’t mean Bottoms escaped scrutiny. Debate moderators pressed her on rising violent crime and high-profile crises she faced during her tenure as Atlanta mayor.

“I made every decision that I thought to be the right decision during my term,” she said.

Still, the empty lectern was her most reliable target.

Bottoms challenged Jackson over his support for Georgia’s anti-abortion law. And there was no Jackson to swing back.

After the debate, she quipped that her GOP rival was “prepping his outfit” for Trump’s rally on Friday rather than show up.

— Greg Bluestein

Trump, Bottoms surface in LG debate

Trump and Bottoms weren’t on the debate stage during the lieutenant governor debate.

But the state senators running for the office spent much of Monday’s matchup trying to make their rivals answer for them.

Republican Greg Dolezal cast Democrat Josh McLaurin as an extension of Bottoms. McLaurin portrayed Dolezal as a Trump loyalist trying to soften his image for a statewide audience.

Dolezal pointed to McLaurin’s opposition to a 2020 measure that would have required local law enforcement agencies to post signs outside sex offenders’ homes warning away trick-or-treaters on Halloween. McLaurin argued at the time that the requirement violated free-speech protections.

“This gets to an overarching problem that Josh and Keisha Lance Bottoms both have: they are soft on crime,” he said.

Then he made a cutting reference to the Wendy’s restaurant that became a protest site during Bottoms’ tenure as mayor.

“Josh McLaurin, alongside Keisha Lance Bottoms, when it comes to public safety, will be like pouring gasoline on the Wendy’s fire,” Dolezal said.

McLaurin accused Dolezal of retreating from the red-meat positions that defined his Republican primary campaign to court moderate and swing voters.

“The only reason that you’re trying to clean up your act now is that you know you’re in a 50-50 district — i.e. the Georgia statewide electorate,” McLaurin said.

He pointed to Dolezal’s role in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, including joining other senators in calling for a special session to scrutinize his defeat.

“He may be a state-level politician, but he is bringing MAGA and Trumpism to Georgia,” McLaurin said.

— Riley Bunch

AG candidates: Experience matters, but which kind?

Democratic state Rep. Tanya Miller and Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland both agree that experience matters in their quest to become Georgia attorney general. They just disagreed on the kind that’s important.

Miller said her experience as a prosecutor, civil rights lawyer and legislator prepared her to tackle violent crime and confront corporations “that are ripping off families.”

“I became a prosecutor to protect people,” Miller said. “I have used my law degree for the better part of two decades as a sword and a shield for working people.”

Strickland pointed to his work representing clients in custody disputes, elder abuse cases and fights over government overreach, along with his legislative work targeting crime.

“If you want an attorney general to do more than talk the political talk, who will fight every single day for Georgia families, I’m your candidate,” Strickland said.

Soon, it became a clash over what wasn’t on their résumés.

“At the end of the day, experience matters,” Miller said. “He keeps talking about his legislative experience because he doesn’t have any prosecution experience.”

Strickland countered with his endorsements from state law enforcement groups and questioning Miller’s support for public safety officials.

“You have never been there when they needed you,” he said.

— David Wickert

Secretary of state candidates focus on Trump’s fraud claims

Republican Barry Fleming wanted to talk about future votes, but Democrat Penny Brown Reynolds brought the secretary of state debate back to the last presidential election Trump lost.

At issue were Trump’s false claims that his narrow 2020 defeat was “rigged”— and his Justice Department’s investigation of fraud allegations that have already been investigated and debunked.

Brown Reynolds argued that Georgia needs an independent secretary of state willing to stand up to the president.

“Let’s stop the political rhetoric, and let’s go with the evidence,” she said. “Let’s not use the playbook that Donald Trump is trying to use.”

Fleming repeatedly sidestepped opportunities to clarify his past statements about “irregularities” in the 2020 election and cheating by “the left,” saying he was focused on the future.

“As your next secretary of state, I’m going to make sure there’s no cheating from any Georgian,” Fleming said.

He put a finer point on that after the debate, telling reporters he wasn’t going to “relitigate” the 2020 election.

“I’m here to focus on the future.”

— David Wickert

PSC candidates spar over data centers

Data centers were a hot topic for candidates jockeying for a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which oversees the rates and profits of Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light.

In the District 3 debate, incumbent Commissioner Peter Hubbard, a Democrat and utility regulator, accused Republicans of having their fingers in the data center “honey pot” and said voters must elect commissioners who will stop data center costs from appearing on customer bills.

“The world’s richest companies are getting billions of dollars in tax breaks, and that’s your money,” he said.

Republican Fitz Johnson, a former commissioner, skipped the debate.

During the District 5 debate, Republican candidate Josh Tolbert said Georgia residents shouldn’t be on the hook for costs like electricity and transmission lines needed for the state’s data center boom.

“We need to make sure that in every single circumstance, Georgians are not paying for data centers,” he said.

Sheila Edwards, the Democratic candidate for District 5, said she would support a pause on approving new energy capacity for data centers until it’s clear how technology companies will pay for the infrastructure.

“They’re using our water, using our electricity, and they’re being a public nuisance to the communities that they’re coming into,” she said.