Three Democratic candidates for Athens-area seats in the Georgia legislature also had the opportunity to introduce themselves at an Oct. 21 Mount Pleasant Baptist Church forum.
Eric Gisler, running in House District 121 against Rep. Marcus Wiedower (R-Watkinsville), said former president Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration prompted him to get involved in politics.
“I considered myself very independent until 2016, when Donald Trump got elected,” he said. “Like a lot of people, that got me off the couch.”
Gisler said that under 20 years of Republican rule Georgia ranks at the bottom in categories like health care, infant mortality and workers’ rights. He said he’s running against Georgia’s “very restrictive” abortion ban and “guns everywhere” laws, and in favor of expanding Medicaid and a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom.
State Sen. Frank Ginn’s opponent, Conolus Scott, lives in Ginn’s home county of Madison, which he noted that Ginn lost in last spring’s GOP primary. He said he supports public education, Medicaid expansion and a woman’s right to choose. He described himself as a “plain, simple guy” who “just wants to get things done.”
“I want to cross party lines,” Scott said. “We all want the same things. We’re just going about it in different ways. We can meet in the middle and get things done.”
House District 120 candidate Andrew Ferguson talked about the threat to democracy Trump presents. Kamala Harris respects women, veterans and the rule of law, while Trump does not, he said. “The moral fabric of our country is under attack.,” he said. “Once again we [Georgians] find ourselves at the center of the fight for democracy itself.
“My opponent, Houston Gaines, has endorsed and doubled down on his support for Donald Trump,” Ferguson added.
None of the Republican incumbents attended the forum.
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