Today, all of the Republican candidates for governor will square off for the very first time in the Atlanta Press Club’s GOP gubernatorial debate. This comes after months of big-money brawls and brutal infighting that have come to define this messy and chaotic GOP primary.
Here’s 5 things to know ahead of what’s sure to be a raucous debate:
After attacking each other online and on TV airwaves for months, this is the first time Jones and Jackson will debate in person.
- Monday’s debate marks the first time Jones and Jackson will face off on the same stage, following months of brutal attacks that have made this race an absolute “slugfest.”
- This comes as Jackson has long refused to participate in debates and town halls, and his absence from events like a recent GOP forum focused on issues facing the Black community was strongly criticized by conservative radio host Shelley Wynter and others.
All of the candidates are way too extreme and out-of-touch with Georgia voters.
- At every single turn, Jones and Jackson have made clear that they oppose Medicaid expansion, support Georgia’s abortion ban (or want to go even further), and believe that the 2020 election was stolen.
- They have supported the same cost-raising and job-killing policies coming out of DC that have made life more expensive for Georgia families, like Trump’s tariffs and budget law – which Jackson even admitted to personally lining his pockets with.
- But the reality is that Jones and Jackson cannot possibly understand Georgians’ pain. Whether it’s Jones using his daddy’s money – or Jackson using his money to make Trump his daddy – they’re really just two rich guys trying to buy the governor’s mansion.
Jones and Jackson Are More Focused on Trump Than Georgia’s Future
- Jones has touted his Trump ties every chance he’s gotten – flexing his endorsement from the president, highlighting that he was the first Georgia official to endorse him, and reminding voters of his role as a fake Trump elector in 2020.
- Jackson has similarly aligned himself with Trump, saying that he’ll be “Trump’s favorite governor” (not Georgians’) and that he “couldn’t name a single White House policy he disagrees with” – even as these same policies are harming families across Georgia.
- The candidates are clearly more concerned with listening to Trump than listening to Georgians – even as the president is now deeply underwater in our state, with a new abysmal approval rating of 37 percent this month.
Georgia is in the middle of a health care crisis – and the GOP candidates are running to make things worse.
- No matter what eye-popping back and forth comes out of this debate, the fact remains that Georgia is ground zero for the current health care crisis – and no matter who the GOP nominee is, they’ll make health care more expensive and less accessible for Georgia families.
- All of the GOP candidates support Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which has decimated healthcare in Georgia, with many Georgians seeing their average premiums skyrocketing by more than $860 a month and over 500,000 Georgians losing their healthcare coverage. To make matters worse, they also all oppose Medicaid expansion – which has resulted in the closure of 9 rural hospitals all across our state since 2010.
This Is the Messiest and Most Expensive Primary in Modern Georgia Political History.
- As Patricia Murphy recently wrote for the AJC, this primary is a “battle of bottomless bank accounts, the arms race of negative ads between Jackson and Jones is veering toward mutually assured destruction.”
- This race has quickly become the messiest and most expensive race in modern Georgia political history – and that will be clear as the GOP candidates take swing after swing today on the debate stage.
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