After a no-show at the Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young debate against Keisha Lance Bottoms on Oct. 12, where Jackson was supposed to campaign with Brian Kemp, many, including Bottoms, questioned Rick Jackson’s commitment.
During the Loudermilk-Young debate against an empty podium, Bottoms said, “Rick Jackson refuses to show up and answer unscripted questions before the public and even before the press. And if he does that as a candidate, what should we expect from him if he were ever elected governor? There’s no reason he should not have been here tonight.”
Jackson responded to the criticism of him during his press conference in Macon with Brian Kemp to the press, stating, “I have visited thousands of Georgians for the last nine months. I’ve gone hundreds of places. I’ve not had one voter ask me a debate question. That’s not what’s important to them,” Jackson said. “What’s important to them is affordability, and gas prices going up, and paying bills, and our property taxes, and so forth.”
While Jackson did show up for one live town hall debate hosted by Atlanta News First and Gray Media earlier on Oct. 6, statements from the Democratic Party of Georgia and FOX 5 Atlanta said Jackson declined five of the six debates Bottoms accepted and challenged him to attend.
On Oct. 28 in Morrow, former President Barack Obama held a rally for Keisha Lance Bottoms, Jon Ossoff, and other Dem campaigns down the ballot. Obama spent much of the rally calling out the Republican Party, stating, “Now, here’s the difficult reality. We’ve got two more years of this administration. That’s how our system of government works. We’re stuck with that, but you know what we’re not stuck with? A spineless Congress and a bunch of Republican governors who are willing to enable all of the corruption, incompetence, and indifference to working people.”
The following week, after a landslide victory on election day (winning by 362,951 votes), Bottoms became not only Georgia’s first Black governor but also the first Black woman to serve as a governor in the United States.
She accomplished this feat by simply showing up.
Whether it meant appearing at every debate or mobilizing in counties like Atkinson, Bartow, and Barrow (historically red counties) to shift their voting habits, Bottoms took the extra measures that Jackson dismissed as menial because “that’s not what’s important to them.” Those efforts paid off in the long run, as feeling heard and seen are key factors in voter turnout.
Many teens and young adults turned out in large numbers to vote for Bottoms, with 78% of people aged 18-29 voting blue, according to NBC News.
Melvin Bray, 20, a student at Georgia State University, said, “Local and federal government has been at such a downward tilt that anything to start righting the ship would do a lot.” Adding, “Repealing the six-week abortion ban stands out to me.”
Keilah Izsraael, 19, a Savannah State University student, said, “I’m very excited to have our first Black woman governor in Georgia. Her time as mayor was a bit rocky, especially leading up to her not going up for reelection, with one example being her stance towards Cop City and how she dealt with it.”
But she added that “One of the main upsides is how big she is on affordability and the issues in our medical care in Georgia, and her pulling through with these changes will be a huge win for us.”
