It’s Georgia Agriculture Awareness Week, and the entire GOP gubernatorial field has repeatedly proven just how bad they are for Georgia’s farmers. Whether it’s Rick Jackson admitting that he’s made money off Trump’s tariffs that have hurt Georgia farmers – or Burt Jones sharing in an interview with 11Alive that he was not concerned about the tariffs’ impacts on farmers – the Republican candidates could not be more out-of-touch with Georgia’s farming communities.
The Georgia Farm Bureau has long warned that “[t]ariffs pose threats to many Georgia farmers,” but clearly the GOP candidates didn’t get the memo. Jones, Jackson, Raffensperger, and Carr all vocally support Trump’s reckless tariff tax increases, which have jacked up costs for Georgians and made life much harder for farmers and small businesses all across our state.
It’s gotten so bad that WABE recently reported many Georgia farmers are pleading for no further tariffs – and producers of everything from soybeans to peaches, strawberries and pumpkins continue struggling to keep up with these cost-raising and job-killing policies.
But even as Georgia farmers bear the burden of these policies coming out of DC, Jackson has admitted that he “couldn’t name a single White House policy he disagrees with” and even shared on The Martha Zoller Show that he doesn’t know much about agriculture. And Jones stood side-by-side with Trump in Rome in February as he declared tariffs “the most beautiful word,” and also previously shared with the AJC that he “was not concerned that Trump’s proposed tariffs could hurt any economic relief.”
The entire GOP field also vocally opposes Medicaid expansion, which has resulted in nine Georgia rural hospitals closing their doors since 2010. This GOP failure has made healthcare far more inaccessible for rural communities all across Georgia, with the Albany Herald reporting that in many parts of southwest Georgia, the nearest hospital may be 40 miles away.
“Georgia’s farmers are struggling to keep up with Trump’s tariffs, but the GOP candidates for governor simply don’t care. Rick Jackson makes money off the policies that hurt farmers, Burt Jones stands by as these policies continue to decimate our rural communities, and the entire field has all made it clear they’d rather raise costs and shutter rural hospitals than deliver real relief to our farmers,” said Democratic Party of Georgia spokesperson Jake Strickland.
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