Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson clashed Tuesday night during their only scheduled debate of this fall’s race for governor in Georgia, taking aim at one another on economic issues, data centers and President Donald Trump.Public polls show Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and a former Biden administration official, and Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive, locked in a close race four weeks out from Election Day, and with early voting kicking off next week.The hourlong, town-hall style debate was largely civil, featuring live and taped questions from voters.
Though Jackson frequently ripped his opponent over her record as mayor, while Bottoms attacked her rival’s praise of Trump.“My opponent has said he wants to be Trump’s favorite governor.He wants to be Trump with a southern tone.
He said there’s not a single policy that he disagrees with Trump on,” Bottoms said at one point, responding to a question about the Trump administration’s cuts to federal funding.“I will stand up to Donald Trump when necessary.I’m not running to be his favorite governor,” Bottoms continued.
Jackson responded to that attack by saying, “I don’t owe anybody anything” and that “nobody’s ever told me what to do.”He then invoked the Brian Kemp, Georgia’s popular, term-limited governor — the first of multiple times he did so.“I will stand up to anybody, just like Brian Kemp has done.He works with both parties, both presidents, and he stands up when he disagrees,” Jackson said.
Trump endorsed Jackson’s rival, Lt.Gov Burt Jones, during the Republican gubernatorial primary.
But Jackson still attempted to claim the MAGA mantle and leaned heavily into comparing himself to the president.Since winning the nomination in June, he’s backed off that approach and sought to link himself more to Kemp, who had also backed Jones.
Jackson, for his part, took several shots at Bottoms over her tenure as mayor, accusing her of bein...