Georgia Attorney General: Tanya Miller, Brian Strickland

Tanya Miller (D)

Combatting gang violence and human trafficking are top priorities for Miller, who said her experience as a Fulton County prosecutor will inform her efforts to address violent crime throughout the state. In addition to addressing organized crime on Georgia’s streets, she said she plans to address gang activity occurring within the Georgia Department of Corrections.

“We have gangs and organized crime members not only terrorizing the folks inside of the prisons — other inmates, law enforcement personnel — but also terrorizing communities outside of the prisons,” she said. “That is an area of focus I think we have not spent enough time on.”

When it comes to human trafficking, she said the attorney general’s office should take a more holistic approach to enforcing the law and work to provide additional resources for crime victims.

“We also have to go after the businesses who are enabling human trafficking to continue to occur in our state,” she said. “So it is a multifaceted approach where we go after the folks doing it, the folks enabling it, and we really work to give the victims of human trafficking the support they need.”

Brian Strickland (R)

Fighting to reduce organized crime, such as gang violence and human trafficking, are top priorities for Strickland, who said he wanted to use a “creative” approach to address organized crime.

“We still have a big gang problem in every corner of our state,” he said. “I think it’s important that we continue to use the attorney general’s office with the gang task force unit to go after gangs in every corner of our state, and in particular, to continue to go after those that are recruiting young people.”

His approach, he said, would include partnering with local nonprofits and law enforcement agencies to help communities respond to the issue.

“This is crime that doesn’t know judicial boundaries of circuits, and it’s happening across our state,” he added. “Our job is to go to local prosecutors, go to law enforcement, and say ‘we are here, we have a team, we’re ready to help and join you to go after crime in our state.’”

Tanya Miller (D)

Miller said she plans to be “laser focused” on consumer protections as attorney general to help families who are dealing with ongoing affordability issues, which she says have been central to her campaign.

She pledged to expand the consumer protection arm of the office that she says has been under-utilized by previous attorney generals in the state and added that her office will not shy away from holding powerful people and corporations accountable for breaking the law.

“You have to be in a position and have the courage to investigate powerful corporations who are behaving badly in our economy,” Miller said. “Whether that means they are unlawfully colluding with each other to keep prices high, whether that means they are ignoring environmental regulations and poisoning our water with forever chemicals, whether that means they are violating antitrust rules and rigging the economy against working and middle class folks, they need to be held to account.”

Brian Strickland (R)

Shoring up protections against fraud is also a key part of Strickland’s platform. He said he would use the office’s existing consumer protection unit to prosecute those who take advantage of Georgians, such as those who illegally price gouge during emergencies.

“We have the tools and the laws there now to go after those that are committing fraud, those that are really taking advantage of our most vulnerable,” he said. “Many times it’s children, it’s seniors, it’s people with special needs, but it’s not always the case.”

He also emphasized the need for greater oversight over tech companies and said corporations have an obligation to ensure that there are protections for users, especially when it comes to children.

“With technologies like we have with artificial intelligence in particular, criminals are getting smarter, and it’s important that we continue to stay on offense,” he said. “We also have to hold Big Tech accountable.”

Tanya Miller (D)

Miller said that as attorney general, she would issue clear guidance to local governments to clarify their requirements under the law and prevent public records from being improperly withheld.

“Public business doesn’t become private because people move it to a text thread or an encrypted app,” she said.

Miller said she wants the attorney general’s office to play a key role in enforcing open government laws and establishing more transparency around response times. She said she would also push to extend the Open Records Act to the Georgia Legislature, whose members are currently exempted from having to disclose their records.

“I think the act should be extended to the House, the Senate, their offices, including my own chamber, where I led my caucus,” she said. “Lawmakers who make decisions about how to spend taxpayer money should not be the only Georgians exempt from the sunshine.”

Brian Strickland (R)

Strickland said he hopes the attorney general’s office can become a leader on enforcing open records laws throughout the state and give Georgia residents a chance to learn about what’s going on in their communities and weigh in on important decisions.

“We have to make sure that local governments, in particular, are not acting in secret,” he said.

Part of his platform includes ensuring that there is a consistent process for accessing records across the state.

“We’ve got to embrace technology and make it easy to produce records so people aren’t getting different responses based on where they go,” he said.

Enforcing Georgia’s open record laws, Strickland said, will also ensure that people have more faith in their local governments.

“When you have open records and you have open meetings, then people have more trust in the system,” he said.

Tanya Miller (D)

Miller said she would collaborate with the federal government to enforce the law “without fear or favor” regardless of which political party is in charge. But she added that she would also work to oppose unlawful policies that harm Georgia residents, such as the Trump administration’s withholding of food aid funds and attempts to gain access to unredacted voter rolls.

“I’ll work with federal agencies on public safety and any number of things,” she said. “But I will never hesitate to take anyone, including the president of the United States, to court if they try to trample over the constitutional rights of our citizens.”

Maintaining independence and putting Georgia residents first is a crucial quality as attorney general, she said.

“We don’t need an attorney general who thinks that their fealty is to a president,” Miller said. “When you are the attorney general, your fealty is to the law.”

Brian Strickland (R)

When it comes to deciding whether to get involved in national litigation, Strickland said he hopes to make that decision case by case based on what would be best for Georgia families.

“It’s important to me that we do not elect an attorney general that’s just going to benefit one political party or one person in charge,” he said.

Though Strickland declined to name any specifics, he said there could be cases where it would make sense to work across the aisle and partner with Democratic attorneys general on national litigation in order to protect Georgia residents.

“We should always start with the question of ‘what is best for Georgia?’ not ‘what is best for a political party, for any coalition of attorney generals or any president or federal officials,’” he said.

Tanya Miller (D)

• AFL-CIO
• AFSCME Local 1644
• ATU Local 732
• Collective PAC
• Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA)
• EMILY’s List
• End Citizen’s United
• Fair Fight
• Federation of Public Service Employees
• Georgia Conservation Voters
• Georgia Equality
• Georgia WIN List
• Georgia Youth Justice Coalition
• Giffords
• Her Bold Move
• Higher Heights
• Jane Fonda PAC
• March On PAC
• Moms Demand Action
• MomsRising
• North Georgia CAN
• Nurses for America
• Planned Parenthood Action Fund
• Reproductive Freedom for All
• Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)
• Sierra Club
• Young Dems of Georgia
• State Reps. Segun Adeyina, Debra Bazemore, Eric Bell, Bryce Berry, Lisa Campbell, Omari Crawford, Robert Dawson, Saira Draper, Stacey Evans, Floyd Griffin, Tangie Herring, El-Mahdi Holly, Edna Jackson, Anissa Jones, Karen Lupton, Mekyah McQueen, Phil Olaleye, Sam Park, Tremaine “Teddy” Reese, Shea Roberts, David Sampson, Mary Ann Santos, Long Tran, Anne Allen Westbrook and Inga Willis
• State Sens. Tonya Anderson, Gail Davenport, Donzella James, Derek Mallow, Randal Mangham, Nikki Merritt and Kenya Wicks
• Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jared T. Williams
• Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones
• DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson
• DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston
• Douglas County District Attorney Dalia Racine
• Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis
• Fulton County Clerk Ché Alexander
• Fulton County Solicitor General Keith Gammage
• Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens
• Atlanta City Council President Marci Collier Overstreet
• Atlanta City Council Members Andrea Boone, Antonio Lewis and Matt Westmoreland
• South Fulton Mayor Carmalitha Gumbs

Brian Strickland (R)

• Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
• Fraternal Order of Police
• National Association for Gun Rights
• Police Benevolent Association
• Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp
• First Lady Marty Kemp
• 100+ law enforcement officials