Georgia’s two gubernatorial candidates pitched to voters over the weekend, emphasizing their character as they look toward the November election.
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Democratic candidate Keisha Lance bottoms gave the keynote address at the Floyd County Democratic Party “Georgia Giants” fundraiser Friday night, where she talked about her childhood and lessons she learned growing up while her father was incarcerated.
“My dad struggled with addiction and it was something that was beneath the surface so everything on the outside looked OK,” she said, “but everything underneath really was a mess and in so many ways our story has been the the story of so many families across the state of Georgia.”
She also took shots at her opponent, Rick Jackson, a billionaire who is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
“He wants be Trump’s favorite governor,” she said. “It makes me think about whose favorite governor I want to be. I want to be the favorite governor of that little girl who is going to visit her daddy in prison tomorrow, and the favorite governor of that mother who’s trying to figure out if she’s going to be able to put enough gas in the car to get to work on Sunday.”
Republican candidate Rick Jackson campaigned alongside Gov. Brian Kemp in Buford Saturday, where he also talked about his challenging childhood in the foster care system.
“I never met my father,” he said. “My mother was a waitress who battled alcoholism. I grew up in the Techwood projects in Atlanta. I had seven different stepfathers before I was 12 years old. I lived in five different foster homes and went to 13 different schools.”
Jackson said that his hardships in early childhood forged a strong leader.
“A campaign can tell you what it wants you to believe,” he said. “A record shows who you really are. Power does not create character. It reveals it. And when the money belongs to taxpayers and your decisions impact the lives of others, character matters.”
Ethics have also been big emphasis in campaign ads this cycle. Jackson released a hit ad against Bottoms this month saying she used a City of Atlanta credit card for her husband’s plane ticket to the Super Bowl in 2018 while she was mayor. Bottoms told reporters on Aug. 14 that she caught the error and reimbursed the city before it became public. In a video posted to social media Friday, Bottoms confronted Jackson about the ad, and told him to leave her family out of negative campaigning.
Meanwhile, Jackson has also faced scrutiny for recently extended contracts between his healthcare company and the state. Jackson told reporters on Aug. 20 that he will terminate the contracts if elected.
Early voting starts in seven weeks.
This story comes to The Current GA through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.
