AJC: “Healthcare executive Rick Jackson will not be part of a debate Monday ahead of the Republican gubernatorial runoff vote, citing a scheduling conflict.”
Rick Jackson is so afraid to debate that he’d rather keep hiding out in his billionaire bunker than have to answer questions about the issues facing Georgians.
With the AJC reporting that Jackson has officially declined to participate in Monday’s Atlanta Press Club debate, it’s become clear that Jackson’s disastrous performance in the first debate shook him to his core – and he doesn’t want to have to answer to voters on the debate stage.
During the first Atlanta Press Club debate, Jackson faced intense criticism and scrutiny and when he was pressed about his employment practices in what the AJC’s Patricia Murphy called “one of the truly bad answers in recent debate history.” These questions continue to be a nightmare for the Jackson campaign as this nasty Republican run-off drags on.
In light of the news that Jackson won’t debate on Monday, Burt Jones has viciously attacked Jackson, accusing him of “dodging debates” and saying that he won’t get up on stage with “no teleprompters, no notecards, and no consultants.” He added, “Those are the three things that he’s dependent on.”
It makes sense why Jackson would never want to debate again – after all, his performance was so bad that even Fox News called him out.
With Jackson out, Jones will stand alongside an empty podium to spout his extreme cost-raising, job-killing MAGA agenda to Georgia voters. (Our money’s on the podium).
“Rick Jackson would rather stay in his billionaire bunker than face questions about his record,” said Democratic Party of Georgia spokesperson Jake Strickland. “His first debate performance was such a disaster that he’s afraid to defend his record to voters under the spotlight again.”
As a reminder, here’s what was said on the AJC’s “Politically Georgia” podcast in the immediate aftermath of Jackson’s no good, really bad debate performance last month:
- Greg Bluestein: “Rick Jackson really stumble[d] several times in the debate.”
- Patricia Murphy: “Rick Jackson in particular, I felt like all of his money has kept the door open for him for this race. […] He needs to start closing the door as we get closer to our primary day, and this debate performance, I feel like it did not do that.”
- Patricia Murphy: “The way [Jackson] answered that shows a larger underlying issue […] that he did not seem prepared for that question and did not have an answer for it.”
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