Georgia Governor’s Race 2026: Who’s running and who can win | Where The Party At? Ep. 97

It has been two years. Two years. Welcome back to your favorite political podcast after a two-year hiatus. Where the party at? I'm your host, Salon. I know y'all are wondering what the heck has been going on. Where you been? Well, life has been lifing. We missed Let's see. So, in 2024, we missed the presidential election and all that happened there. 2025. We missed the first year of Trump and we missed all of the City of Atlanta elections and there was a lot going on there. So, the show is back. It's a little bit different this

time. What might be different? You're wondering. Well, before I tell you, for folks who are new here, I just want to remind you or let you know how this show happened. So, in 2023, I think it was, I was asked, would I consider doing a political podcast? Now, for folks who really know me, y'all know that I've always been behind the scenes. I've worked in campaigns behind the scenes. I've worked on various things around the region, around the city, behind the scenes. I'm the one telling the elected official what To say or writing those talking

points, getting a story in the news, those types of things. So, doing this podcast was very different, right? It's me being in front of the camera. So, I say that to say this show came about because of a guy a lot of y'all know, and if you don't, you'll certainly know him after this show. Eldridge Washington. So, what might be different about the new return or where the party at? Can we show Can we show the difference here? Bring it up. Bring it up. Bring it up. There's a co-host by the name of Eldidge Washington.

I am here with Saba. First of all, can we give Saba a round of applause? Can we give her a round of applause? We are talking about a hundred how many episodes? Almost 100 shy I think you're like 90. Yeah, 96. Almost 100 episodes of somebody that is a committed behind the scenes uh political strategist uh very respected uh in the city for her work cuz she's a genius. And I remember asking you to do it. You were hesitant, but you did it. I don't know about that, man. Got like I'm not going to lie,

I was like very proud, especially when you got in your rhythm. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? About episode 15, 20, You start bringing, you know, you know when I really fell in love with this podcast. Um, for me it was who Runs Atlanta series. Yeah, that was fun. Who runs Atlanta? Uh, when now our mayor Andre Dickens 2021. Yeah. Oh, we've been around. I said 2023. No, we I think Yeah. So now our current mayor, Andre Dickens, was was just reelected. He was No, he wasn't even elected. Yeah, he was. Yes. And who runs

Atlanta? We were interviewing all You interviewed Antonio Brown. Yes. Like that's what I'm saying. Like that's what the political landscape was. So after seeing that series and it was just informing, it was engaging and I was like, "Yo, this is we're having fun with this." And uh then the hiatus came. The hiatus was it was I think it was a little bit of both of us. You had uh recently accepted a new job and doing amazing work over there. Um with our company we shut down a studio. Now we opened up a new studio. So

obviously the background is different. I don't even think you didn't even do video fulltime, right? Yeah. Yeah. So now you get to see me. Yeah. And I'm on here. So, I can tell you the reason why I'm on here cuz Uh I can tell you me and Saba, we talked about this. First of all, our phone conversations I feel like has been a podcast a podcast for years. Facts. I feel like we talk about when we do talk on the phone is almost guaranteed an hour, right? And and we're talking about all we got to

run through a whole bunch of things like what you think. You seen this, you seen the article, you seen this. So, I feel like we've been doing this in private so it's time to bring it to the public. But more importantly, I think a political platform that is really inspiring, not only just education, but action is really needed. I can say specifically here in Atlanta, but even in Georgia and beyond the country, right? So, we say Atlanta influences everything, and we feel like we could create a platform that does just that. So, thank you for

allowing me to get on here. for those that don't know me, man. Um, some of you going to love, some of you going to probably hate, but it's always going to be a good time. It's going to be a raw and real conversation. And me personally, I want to represent the um, as engaged as I am in politics, I feel like I'm very close to the unreached voter, I feel like I'm engaged with the uh, younger voter who is typically either detached or not interested in politics. to a lot of my questions and a lot

of my things that I'm bringing to the table because I want them to get involved because a sideline is no longer option. If you're paying attention, if you're seeing what's happening, being on the sideline does not exist anymore. Um Audrey Lord said it best, uh your silence won't protect you and essentially your silence is picking a side. So therefore, that's why we here. I'm ready to rock. Hey, so for our first episode back, we have to talk about the biggest thing happening in Georgia politics, the governor's race. The governor's race. So for folks who don't

know, if you haven't been paying attention, 2026 is a the governor's election. And across the board, their elections, so state house, state senate, all those folks are up, your county commissioners are up. Um there's a lot of things both at the very local level and then all the way up to the state and then in Georgia one of the Senate seats is also up. So that's the OSAF seat. We're not going To talk about that. We're going to focus on the governor's race. Can I ask a question about the governor's race because I feel like

at least since I've been paying attention to politics, I feel like this is the juiciest is being on both sides as far as like quote unquote valuable or notable candidates in the primary. Yeah. I feel like you got like That's probably right. While Yeah. I feel like you got like a Well, it's it's always juicier, I think, on the Republican side, right? And the Democratic side is not as many candidates normally. Yeah. And I think a lot of that has to do with the regime changing, the machine no longer working, right? Um so I feel

like Democratic side has always been more of a monolith and Exactly. this is our person, right? Right. So now that it's free game, you kind of got arrange what you see now. So yeah, let's break it down. Tell So first of all, I want to make sure folks know that the current governor, Brian Kemp, is term limited, which means so for governor in Georgia, you have two four-year terms. So he is at the end, this is the final year of his fourth of his four-year term, his second four-year Term. How much does the governor make?

Not a whole lot, considering how big of a job it is. $182,000. That's always been crazy to me. Like the budget is billions. Billions like 42 billion to be in fact. So yeah, that's that's kind of crazy that to be the governor and watching over all of the state. I mean, I've always felt that way about you make less than $200,000. Now you get a house and you get a chauffeur in the in the the state patrol, right? They're driving you around. You have perks everywhere you need to go. He got some perks. You can

you can probably attend any event that you want to attend. Um but in all honesty, I think the salary should be increased. If you're talking not necessarily for Saba, but based off what you understand of the political streets, how do you feel like Kimp has done over these last two years? So, if you go back to previous episodes way back when, one of the things I always harped on is that I thought that Democrats did a terrible job of holding Kemp to account. Okay. And because they did not do a good job of that, he

has pretty high favorability like across the state. Now, I think also one reason why he has Some some high favorability is that he stood up to Trump when it came to the 2020 election. We'll talk about that. Yeah. A little bit. He did, but then he compared to Right. Right. Yeah, I can give you that. I can get that. And I think a lot of political folks were like, well, at least he's not like a Ronda Santis who was the governor of Florida. Right. Okay. Because I see that I see a very even Stephen on

Kemp and and you know, I I I feel like I reside in a very opinionated lane like, but there are plenty of things to attack him on. They just they just don't. Yeah. And I'm just Or the attacks just don't land. I think that's more of it. Yeah. So, who we got coming up on the Republican side to replace him? Okay. So, on the Republican side, I'm going to give you guys a breakdown of each of these candidates. We're going to do this in alphabetical order, so you can't say we're showing any favoritism. All right.

So, we're going to start, and I'm only doing viable candidates. Like there are some like super French candidates that you've never heard of before, but they're not raising money. It's kind of like when someone puts their hat in the rain To run for mayor and you know they have zero shot. Like literally zero shot. Yeah. So we're only I like when they show up to the uh debates though outside. It is so outlandish. Oh my god. So tell us who we got on the Republican side. On the Republican side, first up, we have Chris Carr,

who is the current attorney general, and he was appointed attorney general by Nathan Deal and then he ran. Okay, give me ages, too, cuz I want to know like cuz we always talk about this age thing. So, I want to know who's 54. So, that means he's Gen X. Okay. Married and two adult kids. Bet. Um, he was previously the commissioner of economic development. So, he's kind of been in government for a while. He was also chief of staff to former to Senator Johnny Isacson. So, he's got some real clout and credibility in Republican circles.

Gotcha. Um, a couple things that's interesting about him as attorney general. Um, he joined other Republican attorneys general to sue to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Yeah. Um, and then another one that's super relevant for Atlanta folks, COP city. We talked about that a lot in previous episodes. He brought a RICO case Against 61 people related to the protest of the building of Cop City. Okay. So, he was responsible for that. Yes, he led that charge. Um, five folks were charged with domestic terrorism and arson, which was which was the burning of a

police car. I don't know if you remember that shot on Peach Tree Street where that police car was burning and Fox News made like a big deal of it. So, uh, a Fulton County judge dismissed the RICO charges, but said that the AG can't bring those charges without the authorization of the governor. So, in February of 2026, we're recording this on the first day of March. Right. So, last month, Carr appealed that ruling. So, we're waiting to see what happens. I'll see if he can actually. Okay. So, he's standing on it. Yeah. And we're going

to go a little bit deeper on who's really viable and who's not. But for now, this is just a broad look at the candidates because I was looking at a poll you sent me. So, okay. Yeah, we we'll get there. We'll get there. All right. Next up is Rick Jackson. He's 71. He white. These are all white candidates. Rick sound like a brother. That would have got me. Well, That would have got me. He is definitely going to try to appeal to some black folks because interestingly enough he spent some of his childhood he spent

some of his time um as a kid in Techwood homes and projects. White boy Rick White boy Rick he would have got me at the poll. Rick Jackson sound like a does sound like a black guy. So he's 71. He has three adult children. Uh he is a billionaire. So he's the only billionaire in the race and he just got in the race. So how did he make his money in healthcare? So he has a company called Jackson Healthcare. So it's healthcare staffing and healthcare is actually the only one of the only growing industries right

now if you look at employment, right? Wow. Um Okay. So what's interesting about him because he's a billionaire, he said he would put 50 million of his own money in the race. Has he or he said he will? He said he will. He's already spent a lot. We'll get to that a little bit later. But just to give you some context, when Stacy Abrams ran, she raised just shy of a hundred million. So, he's saying, "I'm going to put up of my own money." Yeah. Sheesh. All right. All right. Next, we have Bert Jones. He's

the youngest person in the race at 46. We know this guy. Fun fact, Bert Jones. Oh, boy. Black History Month. probably throws one of the biggest. I don't think he did it this year, though. No, I think so. Oh, no. No, he didn't do it this year. This was the year to do it. You're running for governor because he's not for real. Uh, one of the largest Black History events in the city. Yeah. Like, I'm not going to lie. Like, it's as someone that throws one every year, like his is bigger than mine. I definitely

potted about his first one. was like the big black history uh poster, right? With the big white man face. Okay, I'm sorry. Keep going. Bert Jones. Bert Jones, 46, married uh with two kids. Um he's the current lieutenant governor, so he ran in 2021. He's a sixth generation Georgian. Comes from a lot of money. Uh his family has a gas company. Um, another interesting thing about Bird Jones, he played football at Woodward Academy and he was co- captain of the Bulldogs, Georgia Bulldogs in 2002. I've seen that. And you know, Georgia, you know, particularly in

Republican politics in Georgia, football is everything. Yep. He ran on It heavy when he was running his campaign. Yeah. Like that's the only reason I remember because I'm from Monroe, Georgia. So, right, we can throw a rock and hit Athens. So, I definitely heard about that. He's also the Trump endorsed candidate in the race and he was actually the first member of the Georgia General Assembly to endorse Trump in 2016. Yep. And and he has been behind a lot of controversial things whether it has been airport takeover. Um I've seen his support in that. I've

seen his support in um Buckhead City. Um I've just seen his support in a lot of things that are aligned with the whole heavy MAGA Yeah. agenda. Yeah. And then he also was one of the uh he was part of that whole fake elector scheme to overthrow the 2020 election results. So when Afani will as the DA worked on that case, he was unindicted co-conspirator number eight. All right. Next up, we have Brad Raffensburgger, who's 70, also married. What is considered a good age? I'm sorry. Like, cuz I'm I'm writing all these ages down. Yeah.

Like, so I'm seeing, you know, what's considered, yo, maybe it's time you passed the pass the baton. Yeah. I mean, Nathan Deal was In his 70s. So 70 as governor is not crazy. It's not crazy. No. I mean, we have a president that's what old is Trump. That's crazy. So, okay. I just want to know I just want to know when I'm listening to these ages. So, 54, 71, 46, 70. All right. Yeah. So, Brad Ravensburgger is 70. Yeah. Um, he is the current Secretary of State and he owns a contracting and civil engineering firm.

Um, he used to be a John's Creek City Council member and he also used to be a state rep. So, he's been in office since 2012 in one position or another. Yep. Now, Raffensburgger is a name folks know because of the infamous phone call where Trump asked for 11,780 votes. Uh, and Raffensburgger was under a lot of pressure from our senators at the time, David Purdue and Kelly Leler, and then of course Trump and other Republicans. Um, and there was actually also a push for him to resign from Secretary of State. um after he didn't

do the votes or Yes. Wow. I know. Um I used to hear uh some of the seniors because I work with the seniors in the community a lot. They used, "Oh, I like Rafa Rafa." Rafa, he stood the Trump, right? Yeah. So, we'll get to this later. We'll probably Talk talk about this in other episodes, but if he ends up being the nominee, there's a question about will independents move to him rather than to a Democrat because they see him as someone willing to stand up for what is right, willing to be fair. Right. Gotcha.

Yeah. Um, another just a quick interesting thing about him as retaliation for him not supporting a takeover of the elections or or Trump winning Georgia. the Republican controlled state legislature actually removed the secretary of state as head of the state election board. So there's been a lot of conversation at the state election board around will we take over Fulton County, what changes will take place with regard to the 2026 election. The Secretary of State's office does not have a seat on that board. Yeah. And then I'm going to mention this very quickly. Um, but I

don't think this person's going to qualify because there's no path to victory. U, but as an honorable mention because this person is in Metro Atlanta, uh, also a Republican running Clark Dean. Um, who's the past past president of the Atlanta Rotary Club. Clark is this kind of like good-looking, dynamic guy who sort of sounds Like he could, if you see him, you might think like I'm googling him now. Oh, he could be like a a motivational speaker. Like to some extent he and I don't mean this in a bad way, but he kind of reminds

me of um uh who's the who's like the big burly motivational speaker guy? Um the the Tim Tim uh Tim I don't know. Oh, what's his name? Tony Robbins. That's why if I say Tony Robbins. Yeah, he sort of gives me Tony Robbins vibes. Um, all right. We're going to look him up. I'm looking at him now. I don't know if I give him Tony Robbins. Do you watch the show Billions? Yeah. He reminds me of the the bald guy. No, the guy that replaced Wendy, the performance coach. I don't remember who replaced Wendy. When

Wendy left. I remember when Wendy left. And he was he was like super extra. Are you a beast? Yeah. Are you an animal? Yeah, he looks exactly like him. That's funny. I have to go back. That was a good show. Yeah. Okay. All right. Can I do the Democratic side? Is that all of them? Yeah, that's all the viableish Republicans. On the Republican side. No, I mean on the uh Democratic side in alphabetical order again. Y so we saying we're not being biased. We will start with a Very popular name. Former mayor of Atlanta, Kesha

Lance Bottoms, 56 years old, married uh and she's a mother of four. I did not know she had four children. Yeah, she adopted four children. Oh, she adopted. Okay. There was a whole thing during the campaign about how she and her husband had spent a lot of money on in vitro fertilization and completely missed that. Yeah. Completely missed that. And I've I was on a campaign working. I think the youngest is in their teens, like 14, 15, something like that. I would argue that uh so far across the board, Republican and Democrat, she is the

best looking candidate. Um I would definitely say that. Um hair always laid laid to the side. Former one mayor uh one-term mayor of Atlanta during the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement. I will tell I tell people this all the time when it comes to Kesha. Um, no mayor has had to endure the level of impact and intensity that she did. Say what you want to say. A lot of people went through a lot, but a global pandemic when people dying left and right in the one city where nobody wanted to go inside. Yeah. And

the first hundred days, I think it was the First hundred days, there was a cyber attack on the city. That's what I'm saying. Like it I mean Kesha went through a lot during her term. So and that's why she said I'm one and done. Yeah. And so you know that's why a lot of people do judge her for that cuz she she backed out. But again I could only imagine and and if you know me and you followed me I wasn't the biggest Kesha fan. So for me even saying this is like me just paying

dues where I think they're due. Uh she went through a lot. So, she became a household name in Atlanta in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Uh, she stood with TI Killer Mike uh asking folks not to burn down the city. Also, Derek Boseman, I was with him that night. Uh, they drew him in. I don't think it worked though. Yeah, she got a lot of national credit for it. Yeah. For bringing him in. Uh, and then last, she uh stumped for Biden in 2020 and served in his administration. Um, Joe Biden is

a big fan of Kesha Lance Bottoms, it seems like. Next, Jason Estz, 42 years old, married with two children, former APS board chair, resigned from the state senate just to run for this race. He is an attorney and he owns a few Flying biscuit franchises. cuz I actually ate up one of them. A urgent care clinic and his wife uh who's a nurse practitioner. Uh he played a role in helping to stop the Buckhead City movement. Jason Estz. So he's 42. When I think about um elected officials, how I want them to look and feel.

Jason, that's my speed. And I ain't saying this is not an endorsement saying I like Jason policies or anything like that. I'm just saying Jason kind of looks and feel the way I want. Like six I don't know. He like six He's 6'3. 6'4. You for sure. I hate standing beside him. Um Jeff Duncan Oh, we did it. We missed it. Oh, no. No. I I That's my bad. Oh, Jeff Duncan should have gone before Jason. That is my bad. Yeah. So, how you want to do it? Highest rope. Yeah. All right. Next. Michael Thurman.

He is 73 years old, married with one adult child. He has held roles in local and state government, former state rep, former commissioner of labor, former of DFA defects. Oh, def. I was like, man, that's a long acronym. What is this? Def. I was about to ask you, what is this acronym? Former of defects. Exactly. And children services. Yeah. And then the former CEO of the Cab County, also former superintendent of the Cab County schools. He is a lawyer, author, and historian. Let me just say, Michael is accomplished. He has the longest resume for sure.

Yeah. This dude has done a lot. And I believe he is the only u African-American uh politician to ever win a statewide seat. Yeah. With the commissioner, with the labor commissioner seat. So, he has a level of experience of going statewide and knowing how to win. So, let's say that. And next, we have Jeff Duncan, 50 years old, married with three children, all of them boys. He is from John's Creek, played basketball at Georgia Tech, baseball, baseball at Georgia Tech, and then he was in the minor leagues. Republican turned Democrat. Let's talk about that later.

won a state rep seat in 2012, won the lieutenant governor seat in 2018. He was pressured to call a special session to appoint the alternate electors. Kemp, Raffenburgger, Carr, and Duncan all held a line against. Oh, so he was the one he held a line against to overthrow the election because he was the lieutenant governor at the time, which is the current role of Bird Jones. Bird Jones. Okay. Lieutenant Governor and the governor work together to call special elections or special uh sessions rather. That's dope. Um wrote a book called GOP 2.0 and PostTrump Future

for the Republican Party. Have you read the book? No. You said it like that, but I heard him talk about it. Okay, I read the cover. Uh decided not to seek re-election in 2022. He endorsed Biden in May of 2024. He spoke at the DNC convention. He was expelled from the Georgia Republican Party January 2025. What does that mean? That just means that the head of the Republican party and other members of the of the executive committee um voted to expel him from the party in the sense that they're saying then they can't legally do

this. But they're saying like you cannot run as a Republican in the state of Georgia. Okay. That's why I wanted to know I because I knew what they said but I didn't know what that legally meant. So it's just show right more than anything. Exactly. So we can expel somebody too like we can say sure it's just talking. Okay. Um announced in August 2025 that he was now a Democrat. In September 2025 announced he was running for the governor of Georgia as a Democrat. A lot of conversation going on about that. Um based off what

you see, do you see him being accepted from the Democratic party? Is this Yeah, he's raised money. He's raised what? Almost around a million. Who who has raised the most so far? Uh they're all pretty close. So Kesha, Jeff Duncan, and Estz are all within a couple hundred thousand of each other. So technically Estz has raised the most because Kesha put in some of her own money as well as Michael Thurman. Okay. All right. And then last one is well Brua dropped out. Um so she just announced I should also mention March 2nd through March

6 is qualifying period. So that means that's when all the candidates formally declare that they are going to run for whatever seat. So that's them paying the filing fee to actually be on the ballot. So it could be more people. It could be more people or it could be less. Right. Right. So some some of these folks might drop out. So Rua Roman um who would have been the youngest person in the race dropped out last week. So she she was like an interesting character um in a sense of she was woman. She was the

first Palestine um American Muslim Woman elected in state. Um, I was surprised when she jumped in the governor's race just because I didn't necessarily see the pathway to her victory, but I felt like she made a lot of not like on her come out like her branding looked it good. Her her messaging, she kind of looked better than most people I seen. So, but I was still surprised that she ran. Yeah. I think sometimes people run to get a particular message out or to try to move their peers, right? So, their opponents in the prim

primary to move them in a certain direction just messaging wise, right? And so, one of the things she always harped on was affordability, which I do think is one of the key things in this election be talking about. Yeah. Honorable mentions, Derek Jackson, current state rep, as well as Olu Brown, former pastor of Impact Church. That one definitely threw me off when he was going to run. I don't understand why he's running to be honest. I think he got a lot of money laying around that he just wanted to spend cuz he's not raising money.

That's what I'm saying. I don't I don't Yeah. And that and that's another reason why I I kind of put them as honorable mentions. Like Derek Jackson is not raising the amount of money that would be required to be a viable candidate in the Democratic primary. Same for Olu Brown. He'd be showing up to the uh debate. They show up. They do. They both show up and they have good things to say. It's not that they don't have like they have legitimately good things to say. There's just no path. Yeah. And this this would have

been Olu's first position ever. So I just felt like jumping out your first time in politics. Straight to governor. Hey, Rick Jackson's never ran before. He's running for governor. The billionaire. Oh, yeah. Well, if you can put 50 million in, you you can run. Maybe the pastor is like, I have faith. The Lord will provide. That's right. With that being said, these are your candidates, people. These is these are the people that are running. Um, I'm actually when I said like I said in the beginning, I feel like this whole race has been very interesting

to me because it's so many options on both side or just so many names to pay attention to. I just feel like I'm used to having to do one good name on the Democratic side, right? Three on the Republican side. I'm me personally, I'm barely paying attention to. And then we get to primaries and which I just feel like it's been a lot of headlines. There's been a lot of things Republicans going at it. Oh, yeah. At each other. So, especially because when Rick Jackson jumped in the race, that like fundamentally shifted things. Yeah. Bird

Jones was by far the front runner and then Rick Jackson stepped in and it just shook it up. Why do you think that is? Why was he the front runner? Why did Jackson get in the race? Why did he Why do you think um him getting in the race kind of shook it up? Just the money or Yeah. He said, "I'm going to put in $50 million in my own money." And he's on he's running ads non-stop. All right. Um, he definitely not looking for my vote. I haven't got one Rick Jackson really ad. Not

one. Interesting. And I'm a super voter. Yeah. Well, I know he had an ad during the Super Bowl. Um, which I I missed it, but there was Yeah, he he's been running ads all on TV. Um, he's been doing mailers. Like I've seen a couple of folks post them on social like, "Oh, I got this Rick Jackson mailer." And I just anecdotally, I went and got a facial like a few weeks ago and the esthetician Asked me about politics because she knows that I'm kind of engaged in this stuff, right? And she was like, "What

is up with this Rick Jackson dude?" There's a white woman who lives like in metro in the metro Atlanta area and she's like, "I see I see his ads all the time. What's his story?" uh they're doing a good job targeting his base, but when I tell you I haven't came across one Rick Jackson thing, you know, I be because I do branding strategy for some political camp. I look forward to getting mailers. I look forward to critiquing strategies and stuff. I haven't seen one. Yeah. So, he's he's trying to align himself closely to Trump

because he his big thing is like, oh, I I donated a million dollars to Trump when he ran, but he's not the Trump endorsed candidate. So, there's a there's a good bit there. I do want to talk about just because we're on Rick Jackson right now, this this kind of friction between Rick Jackson and Bert Jones. So, in 2021, this is a little technical, but I want to talk about this because money influences so much in politics. So, in 2021, the state legislature approved something called leadership committee. This was novel but with some issues, right?

So, the leadership community allows the governor, the lieutenant governor and the general election nominees for both of those positions, governor and lieutenant governor and the majority and minority caucus leaders to raise unlimited funds. So, there's no cap even when the state legislature is in session. So, why is that a big deal? Usually when the state legislator is in session, there's no fundraising. None of them can fund raise, right? This they're in session right now, right? Until April, right? Until April. Yeah. March 6 is crossover day and then April is mid April will be siny die.

So because of these leadership committees, they're able to raise money right now. Now, that money can be used to support your own candidacy if you're the governor or lieutenant governor. Um, or it can be used to support your colleagues. And I just want to give you a gist of the difference between unlimited money and what a candidate can do. Right? So, if I'm a candidate running for these positions or if I'm if I'm giving if I'm donating money for one of these positions, and you're running for governor, right? I can give you $8,400. That's the

cap. That's the cap, right? I from either me personally and or my business and or my spouse. But with a leadership committee, I can say, "I'm going to cut you a check for $100,000. So, I'm going to donate. I'm going to max out to your campaign and I'm going to give as much money as I can afford to give or choose to give to your leadership committee. So, I've got an extra hundred,000 lying around laying around. I'm just going to cut that check for you." Right. The other big thing, but it's direct. It's not like

necessarily giving it to a pack. It's giving it directly to It's similar. A leadership committee is similar to a pack. Okay. There's the distinction. A pack cannot coordinate with the campaign. Exactly. That's what I meant when I say a leadership committee can can cuz technically when you get to the pack, the pack pays for the t-shirts or whatever the stuff is. But Yeah. Or the or the TV ads, which is the big thing. Yeah. So, just to give you some context, in 2022 in that governor's race between Brian Kimp and Stacy Abrams, the leadership communities

brought in about $95 million in the governor's race. So, that Was an extra 95 million million to do whatever you wanted to do separate from the campaigns. Sheesh. Right. It's a lot of money. So that that's really the le leveling playing field for BERT against Jackson's money. Bingo. Okay. So as of January 31st, which was the last day of the disclosure, and then there'll be another disclosure, and I don't remember exactly when, but I want to say it's probably May or so. So just before the uh primary election. Bert Jones leadership committee, because he's a

lieutenant governor, he can raise money for himself, has nearly $16 million cash on hand. a lot of money. Sheesh. So Chris Carr, who's the attorney general, right, running for governor, right? He doesn't have a leadership committee. Brad Raffensburgger, the current secretary of state running for governor, he doesn't have a leadership committee. So they have been in court trying to squash the leadership committee that Bert Jones has. So they they don't have one because they can't have one, right? It's just for the governor. It's just for the governor and the lieutenant governor. Gotcha. And then for

the minority majority caucus, right? So they filed Lawsuits, their lawsuits failed. Rick Jackson, the billionaire, he filed a lawsuit and he used the same argument that Stacy Abrams used in 2022 and it worked. So, a judge issued a temporary protection order that basically says Bert Jones Leadership Committee Committee has to cancel any advertising that it's already purchased. So, anything that hasn't run yet, it's on pause. So, that means that Bird Jones would have to pay out of pocket out of his campaign side. So, essentially Bert Jones has a war chest close to 15 million that

he can't touch, right? So, so what happens to the money? It's just there. So, if he becomes the nominee, then then he can use it, right? So, whoever becomes a nominee, can they use it or is that just his money cuz he raised it? That's his Well, as lieutenant governor, he can use that money as he sees fit. So, if he's not the nominee, he could use that money to support whoever the Republican nominee is, right? which the donors probably would act, right, to do that. And I imagine he could also use it for other

down ballot races. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. So that was about I think Three his campaign has about $3 million cash on hand, right? And so if you've got a bunch of money that you put you've got to put on hold now for buying ads, you really have to think about, okay, I only have three million cash on hand. and how am I going to use that money? And in comparison, Rick Jackson has already spent $13 million on ads and has another $22 million in the queue that he's planning to

spend overall. How much do you think will be spent in this governor race overall? So, I think it was I mean the leadership committees I said it was around a hundred likeund and something million in 2022, right? So, it'll probably be more than that because the between the leadership committees and well I guess one of the questions is how viable how how viable will the Democratic nominee be? Gotcha. Like if there's really a path for Democrats to flip it. Can we talk prediction? Sure. I mean just like you know who versus who. In a perfect

world if you get to pick it's not the perfect world. It's just the real world. In in the real world. In the real world, if you're controlling a chess board and you're on the Republican side, Who do you want representing you and who do you want to go against? If you're on a vote, am I a MAGA Republican or you pick? You pick what, however you define Republican. Uh, I would probably say, okay, if I'm a MAGA Republican, I would want Bird Jones. Okay. If I'm not a MAGA Republican, I would want probably if I'm

like a Mitt Romney Republican, I would want Bradberger. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Who y'all going against? If I'm Bert I would probably want to go against like I don't know maybe a Michael Thurman. And the only reason why I'm not saying Kesha is and I do think there are a lot of attacks that Republican party can use against Kesha. Having worked on a campaign against Gisha, she is masterful at using race and gender. Oh yeah, too. And at the end of the day, there's a lot of residue, whether good or bad, of a woman being

the governor in Georgia. There's people want to see it. There's people that don't want to see it. But I think I think Trump will attack Kesha and make a race that maybe Democrats some Democrats were like, "Ah, I don't know." It'll make them engage. Yeah. Cuz that's that's that's What if I am the of Republican side and I'm trying to be strategic. The last thing I want is someone to come against Kesha and then you activate all the isms, right? You know what I'm saying? sexism, racism, you know, you once you activate all of those

because the Democratic party side, they need a level of motivation to vote, right? And whether that motivation is cuz I really love someone or I really hate someone, you just going to I don't want to activate that, right? And I think you do. Kesha is the one that activate, she's the darling of Georgia, that you would activate the most powerful voter, which is the woman voter, the black woman voter, and they're going to come out in droves. But I think if I'm on just flipping it, if I'm on the Democratic side and I'm being strategic,

what kind of Democratic are you? Uh, let's just go a good old establishment. Okay. Establish, you know, Atlanta Republican. Obviously, I'm picking Kesha and I want the closest thing to Donald Trump. I want Bert. You want Bert? I want to tie him to everything that Donald Trump has done wrong. And I'm going to let everybody know When your stamps got stopped. Now, the person that run the state is going to be even closer. Like, I'm about to make him the biggest boogeyman in the world. Like me. Where I think it gets scary is when you

go against somebody like a Brad who has a more of a conservative name. Like he stood up against Trump and you know what I mean? Like I think it gets it gets a little harder. I think it gets harder for Democrats if Brad is the nominee because he pulls independents, right? And he pulls people who are tired of the loudest voices in politics, right? I think I think he becomes like you said a a choice that doesn't tie me to any of the stereotypes that I hate. And I think that's what people you starting to

see in voters stereotypes. I don't want to be a MAGA, but I also ain't trying to be over here full establishment because the Democratic party is not moving as aggressive as I want them to move. So I think if I'm on the Democratic side, we need a MAGA candidate. And if I'm on the Republican side, I don't want to see Kesha. I don't think you want to see Kesha. And honestly, I think I think Thurman is a strong candidate. I Think he is being underestimated in my opinion. He's a strong candidate. I think the question

and I say this I just in disclosure, I have worked with him before. Thurman is I agree. He should not be underestimated. Yep. I think the challenge for Thurman is can he raise enough money to compete to really to get into the runoff, right? So, conventional wisdom says there will definitely be a primary runoff. Yep. Kesha will be in the runoff. She'll be leading it. And the question is who gets in the runoff with her? With her. And that's really a race between Thurman and Dun. Duncan and Estabz. Yeah. Right. It's between the three. which

of these three guys is going to get in the runoff with Kesha. Of those three, Thurman has the least amount of money, but he's wellliked. He's like he's just he's got an interesting story and he's he I would I would say if you think of who would probably know best how to use the office of governor. Oh, if I'm thinking about post election, you know what I'm saying? I'm I'm looking at Thurman strong. Plus, you got to realize what he brings to the table in this. He is he ran a huge uh metropolitan county, Dicab

County for a while and he's connected to Rur. He's from Athens, Georgia. So, he's a like a dualingo candidate. He can talk to the country boys and he can walk with the city boys. So, I think he's being underestimated because if you're not necessarily in the game, you don't really know who like you're not super paying attention to who he is and you'll But does he have enough money to get his name out there and his message out there to get into the runoff? That's the problem. If you're watching, Thurman, what you should do is

get a really talented creative agency to help you with your messaging and your strategy. Is there an agency you have in mind? I'm just saying it's a m I mean I know of a few agencies but you need to get you some smart creative people around you to get your Mexican you know shout out to your music video. He came out with a music video. He came out strong in the beginning with boots on the ground like that that was clever and I ain't heard nothing but yeah the social media sense has been I actually

don't think none of them nobody except uh probably except white boy Rick. He the only one that got the money to spend. Yeah. But it it's Not even necessarily about money. It's you just need good creative folks. Yeah. And I don't I'm not seeing like good creative things popping. I think Jason's trying and and I know I know some of the young people that's working on Jason crew. You know what I'm saying? I I love that his candidacy is actually being powered creatively by passionate young people. I know some young people that's over there. But

you still got to put some resources into that and really run it. Yeah. So, I'm definitely um I'm I'm definitely paying attention and I'm excited to see what happens. Are we going to uh host like a watch party or something? Oh, for sure. Yeah. I I would definitely want to do something around the primary election night. Okay. Yeah. Which is May 19th. May 19th. Save the date. Save the date. We throwing a party. Save the date now. Okay. Hey, on the Republican side, who do you think makes the runoff? All right, so moneywise, you got

to go with the bag, right? So, I got to get uh Rick Johnson. Jackson, Rick Jackson in there. Just want to give him black names. Um, so I see Rick Jackson getting in there. Um, now that if Burke Jones lost his little war chest, I I think he still gets in there. you you don't get a Trump candidacy without in there if it do you think it's a three-way split like Yeah, I think it is. I mean, I I wonder this week is qualifying and I've been wondering if Chris Carr will actually qualify because the

you know the question is like is there a path to the runoff? That's always right. Right. As a candidate, you have to ask yourself what is my win number and can I get there? And and I think this is one of the questions for Republicans is do I want two strong MAGA people in the runoff or do I want a little bit of a contrast? Yeah. I So I if I had to pick my top three, I'mma go um Jackson, Jones, Brad. Yeah, that's those are my three if I'm going those three. And if if

I'm on the Democratic side, I want Jones. You know, I would be scared of Jackson because of his unlimited resources. Uh I wouldn't underestimate Brad's ability to pull from me, right? You know, to pull from my votes, especially if I don't get a candidate on my side that is like super like defined, right? You know what I'm saying? So, I think Democrats want to go against Bert Jones. And I'm not just saying That because it's going to be easy. I just think that's how we vote on this side, on the blue side. We vote in

the sense of we want to block or we want to elect, we want to bring somebody in. And I don't think there's nobody like as exciting as it is and as exciting people are about Kesha running as the governor, it's not the same level of excitement is when you see. Do you think there's a lot of excitement or is it just she has high name recognition? No, I think the people that are going now, they're just like they're trying to pump up their energy. Like I think people are just really tired, especially on the blue

side. I just think people are tired, bro. You losing? Yeah, they've been losing for a long time. You sound like Jeff Duncan. What? No, I said y'all tired of losing. I'm your man. I'm going to get you this W. It's definitely not before before you go into that. Okay. Cuz I see you. because I I was about to say I would like to pull some clips from a recent debate if we can do that. Yeah, we can. Okay, so we've been talking about these candidates. I want to I want folks to actually hear them in

their own words just for a little bit. So, I'm going to pull Some clips here for folks to watch and listen to. This is from a couple weeks ago. The Dicab Dems did a debate, right? So, these are all these are the Democratic candidates. Y um so we're going to have you listen to um four of the de four of the Democratic candidates before we go to the clips. Um were you there? No, you weren't there. Um I wasn't there. So I watched it after the fact on YouTube. Um was there a winner the clip?

Yeah. Uh I don't know if there was a winner, but I think who got off a message that probably nobody thought like, oh, we didn't think we were going to do this well. who I will say who I think does consistently well and this is what we were just kind of talking about like viability is Mike Thurman. Yeah, he does consistently well in these formats. Okay, perfect. Let's go to it. And actually we'll have him we'll tee up his first and he's talking about the expansion of Medicaid. Cool. As your next governor, I will expand

Medicaid in the first year. What's going to have to happen that we don't want to talk about is that we must be able to build a winning coalition in order to do it. We will reform Medicaid from the inside out. We will build a coalition of white and black, Hispanic and Asian, urban, rural, suburban, Republicans and Democrats to get this done, not for political purposes, but because it's the right thing to do. People are dying unnecessary deaths. People are sick that with preventable diseases because Georgia has not expanded Medicaid. Rural Georgia is suffering greatly. We

could have generated 60,000 additional jobs in this state with the expansion of Medicaid. 6,000 of those jobs would have been created in rural Georgia. I can't do it unless you give me the opportunity to do it. I have not let you down and I will not let you down. Tough jobs do not scare Mike Thurman. We will get this job done. Look, expanding Medicaid and having access to health care, that's not a black thing or white thing. It's the right thing. Expanding Medicaid, providing food for hungry children, not a black thing, white thing, or Republican

thing. It's the right thing for us to do. And I'll get the job done if you give me the opportunity. Dad, that's how I want my governor to talk. He's I've gone to or I've listened to at least Two candidate forums. One of them I went to in person. He's so good and he was like this when I worked with him when he ran. He just s he sounds experienced. He sounds confident. He's good at like those little sound bites. You know, it's not a white thing, not a black thing. It's the right thing, right?

I can't do it unless you give me a chance. Like all of those things are like, okay, I want to vote for this guy. Yeah. Like so. And Medicaid is one of the things that we were talking earlier about Kim's favorabilities. Medicaid is one of the things that Democrats did not do. I don't think a good enough job on holding him accountable on at all. It was a real political opportunity. And it's the thing I would be beating Raffenburgger up. I not Raffenburgger. Um, but it's a thing I would be beating up uh uh Jeff

too. Oh yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like publicly was against uh the expansion. So, I would definitely just on the primary side, right, everybody should be beating up on here and I I haven't watched any of this debate, so I don't know if they there there hasn't been a lot. It's been odd. There has not There have Been plenty of opportunities. They all if you want to distinguish yourself as a candidate, you have to go after your opponents and make clear who you are and who they are, right? It's the number one rule of

campaigning. You define yourself and you define your opponent. And this should be like a scene in what's my movie? Hunger Games. We're all about to gang up and make sure we just get you out. Like I might lose to anybody on this panel, but I'm not losing to Jeff Duncan. I'm sorry. Not when we're talking about all of these policies that we say that the party that he's been representing for years have been against. I'm sorry. I'm going at you. Well, we hold on. We're going to get there. Okay. Okay. So, Thurman, that was the

clip on expanding Medicaid, and I think it gives you a good sense of how effective of a communicator he can be. Okay, let's go to this next one. All right, next. Let's tee up uh Jason Estz. All right, let's see what my boy Jason got to say. Jason Estz. Yeah. Well, look, if uh name ID and and polling matter, then most of the governors who have been elected would never have been elected. And the reality Is that Georgians don't elect celebrities. They elect people who do the work. And the way we do the work is

by knocking on doors all across the state and not being afraid to go into red rooms just like we go into blue rooms. And here's the important thing. It's talking to them about the issues that they care about and giving them something to vote for, not just something to vote against. And for too long, Democrats have been telling you what you should be voting against. I'm here to tell you what you should be voting for. That's why I'm going all across the state talking about health, wealth, and opportunity. Because it doesn't matter who you are,

whether you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, you care about making sure that you and your family have access to the health insurance. Okay, that's Jason Estb. How you feel? Are you inspired coming after uh uh Thurman? It's it's just a it's a hard Well, it was a different it was a different question, but I mean I think one of the challenges that Jason has been facing is can you win, right? Because arguably he has the lowest Name recognition of any of his other opponents in the Democratic primary, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was a different it was

a different question too, right? So Jason has been asked a lot of can you win this race because he has the lowest name recognition of his Democratic primary opponents. Right. Right. Thurman has been in politics for decades. Kesha was mayor, household name, worked in the White House. Jeff Duncan has again high name recognition. And so there's this question of can you get elected? And he's saying it's still early and he didn't say this, but he hasn't spent a lot of money. Yeah, he's got he has a lot of money on him. He's got some money

to spend. And he's saying hold on because oftentimes who you think is the front runner in, you know, February, March may not actually be the front runner when primary comes around. We know this oh so true. Um, I mean, if you just think about the first term of uh uh Mayor Andre Dickens, nobody saw Mayor as Andre was not the leading polling person. Right. Right. For mayor. It was far from you were you were definitely in a short line when you were dealing with going for Andre. So politics, That's just how it is. It changes.

And honestly, I wouldn't ask him questions like that. To me, I'm not thinking like that. What I see is someone that is has been in the state legislation. He's been in the municipal legislation. So, he's held office before. He's young and he can raise money. That's I'm actually a little threatened by you if I'm somebody that's running because he could, like you said, if he get his messaging right and he spends his money right. Well, he's playing right now with spades. like can he get his books? That's the question. You know what I'm saying? Can

he play his hand and his card right? He could actually become a more valuable player in this cuz he does has it ain't like he hasn't ran for any legislation. He has a level of accomplishment. He helped block different things. So, he's shown that he's willing to fight. To me, I wouldn't be asking those type of questions to him. I would be more so asking his political mindset of like he said at the end people Democrats tell you what not to vote for. I'mma give you something to vote for. Like I want to hear what

is his legislation? What is his policies? And one of the things he's Talking about and we'll get it we'll get there in the next two clips. I think that was really a shot at both Jeff Duncan and Kesha Lance Bottoms when he said that because you can argue that they are running anti-Trump campaigns and he's trying to say I am running a campaign that's focused on the issues facing Georgians. Gotcha. Right. So with that, I want to hear the Kesha Lance Bottoms clip for folks. All right, let's see what Sister Kesha got to say. I

like short hair Kesha better for governor. For me, it was waking up the day after the last presidential election asking praying about what it meant to me, my community, to my family, to our state as a whole. As I prayed with my husband Derek, who is here, and talked about it with our four children, three of the four agreed that I should offer myself as a candidate for governor. This is the fight of our lives. I fought against Donald Trump and I've won. As mayor of Atlanta, I closed our jail to ICE during the se

family separation crisis, ending a multi-year contract. I also pulled our officers from a federal task force because Trump would not allow them to wear body cameras. It ended up it Resulted in a policy change across this country. I don't have to talk about dreaming about fighting against Donald Trump. I've done it and I have won. And that is what I will do as governor. I will fight on behalf of all of you. I'm proud of my service as mayor of my Oh, what happened to that? You think you think uh they really prayed about it?

Yeah. F when folk be like, "We prayed about it." I be like, "Y'all really prayed?" No, I think she prayed about it. So that's a big decision. You pray about that. She said all three. She said three of her four kids. I want to know which kids said was the one who the one that said, "Nah, mama, don't do this." I would have been like, "You don't get to go to the parties when I win." Exactly. Um, so I mean to her point, she said she has fought against Donald Trump and won. She, you know,

I get why Jason is saying that now cuz it's so heavy and I but I think that's a part of strategy, too. that that's going to motivate people to come out and vote. Trump's favorable favorabilities are low. Right. Right. So, I think you know the Jeff Duncan and the Keshas are thinking if you lean in on being anti-Trump and Fighting Trump that that's what's going to bring folks to the polls. So, why do you think um she's leading so heavily in the polls? Name recognition. Just name I think it's name recognition. Being the mayor of

Atlanta is that big. It is big. It's big. And she she also was out a lot, right? I mean, she was on the cover of magazines. I think she spoke regularly at Essence. She was in the news a lot because of, you know, everything that was going on at the time. So, she has high name recognition for sure. Okay. So I um you know I'm I'm my concern what I see with Kesha like and and it's just not with her. It's with everybody. I'm not seeing enough messaging and like put it's just quiet to me.

I don't know why this it feels so quiet to me. It's still early, right? And so I mean it's early in the sense that the campaigns have to think about when do I spend money because we are the ones we've been paying attention to this since the day that they announced. Yeah. Most folks are not doing that and most folks probably wouldn't be able to tell you that there's a governor's election this year. So I think reason why I'm saying it's it's so quiet. It's so quiet To be this many people in the primary to

me. Yeah. Well, I also think one of the reasons why it feels quieter on the Democratic side, at least to me, it feels quieter, is because there's not as much money being spent on the Democratic side. Bert Jones has spent millions of dollars already. Rick Jackson has spent millions of dollars already. The Dems have raised a million million dollars. That's crazy. So, how does that translate into this? Well, I guess everybody moves their war chest to one candidate. So, we're going to now have three million on the Democrats. Yeah. I mean, right. So, Kesha, Thurman,

Jeff, and Jason have all raised around a million. Thurman has raised, I think, around 750,000 or so. Right. Right. So, that's $4 million, let's just say, across the DIMS. Right. which is less than what one Republican candidate has spent on TV. Sheesh. Sheesh. Yeah. So, with that, I want to talk about uh let's listen to Jeff Duncan and then talk about that one. I need to to convince this room that the FBI raid had nothing to do with the 2020 election. We've we've litigated, relitigated, counted, verified, certified, handc counted. We've done everything. That election was

real and accurate. This is all about sewing seeds of doubt in these 2026 midterms. That's what this is all about. This is about dropping enough nuggets to the MAGA base to to fan the flames of conspiracy theories again. And we can't let it happen. We've got to use every tool at our disposal to push back. We need a governor willing and able to stand up right now. Right now to tell Donald Trump to stop, get out of our state. Stop messing with our elections. This is our election. But this is about Donald Trump's game is

all about fear and intimidation. You know that these ice raids, these have nothing to do with policy. These have to do with fear and domination and intimidation. Literally stoking fear in communities and households and churches and businesses and industries. We all deserve better. We need to push back. As governor, we will not use state assets for any ICE raids, National Guard troops, and we will use the courts to our full full force to push back on Donald Trump or the MAGA crowd. Thank you. Okay, Jeff. All right. So, what you think? I mean, he he's

saying he's going to be the He sounded like a Democrat. And this is what I was talking about, right? Like Jeff Duncan and Kesha are Kesha Lance Bottoms are, you know, positioning themselves as the anti-Trump candidates. And you don't see that same type of positioning with Thurman and Estz. And not they're they're saying it, but they're focused more I would say on the issues. They're focused more on, you know, the bread and butter type issues. So, um I mean you seen people seem like they were receiving him well and like you said, he's well received.

He is. I just don't see it. That's that's not what I'm hearing on my side of the world. So, well, that's interesting. I mean, I think a Jeff Duncan voter, right? The question is who is a Jeff Duncan voter? And I think it's a Democrat or at least how this is how he's positioning himself. If I'm a Democrat who's tired of losing, I vote for Jeff Duncan because he is a Republican turned Democrat who can pull some Dem who can pull some Republicans and Pull independents, right? That's kind of how he's positioning himself. Almost like

a Raffensburgger of the Democrats. I think Mike can do the same thing. Everything just name. I'm not disputing that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm saying this is how Jeff Duncan is positioning. I get you. I get you. I get I'm listen keep going. I was just Yeah. And I think there's also, you know, we can just say it this conversation about the white hope, right? The great white hope, right? And there's been a lot of talk about there has not been a white man at the top of the ticket, the guminatorial ticket for Democrats in a while.

And Jeff Duncan presents that opportunity to get back to the right way. I mean the the the white way. U but n so you know let's talk about that. Let's talk about is he your great white hope, right? To me, I just think it's hard to outrun your reputation of what you've been like and I've heard I think on that I seen I I didn't watch the whole thing, but I did watch some of it where he said, "I got it wrong. I got it wrong when I did." Yeah. He said that repeatedly and he

said it with, you know, what appears to be a some authenticity and a sense Of humility. It's not enough for me. You can't put it like this. You can't go against a party for as long as he went against his party, supported the legislation, whether it was the heartbeat bill, whether it was that healthcare expansion, whether it was any of the things that he has stood out and supported as a Republican. As a Republican, you can't say, "Okay, I'm done now. I want to come be the captain over here." You got to serve as a

water boy. You know what I'm saying? Like I I would much rather accept you if you came over here and said, "I'm about to be a surrogant. I'm about to raise money." I'd rather him come over and take Charlie job, whoever we just gave the DNC, cuz I ain't heard nothing from him yet. Well, that's a whole another conversation because, you know, his whole placement in that position was based off of a lack of work being done. I gotta see way more action and maybe we should have him on the pot. Yes, I would love

please I would love to hear the plan for the DNC in the state party. But what I'm saying is I would much rather Duncan come in and be a supporting character before he tries to be the main character in this movie. To me, because a Lot of people feel that way. Yeah. I'm just like, nah, bro. out of out of principle, out of uh one stress. Like I don't even trust that I really believe it. I'm just going to be real. I know I've heard that. Yeah, I don't I've definitely heard that. I remember being

at an AJC event. I think it was I don't know November, December, and it was the first time they had all the candidates um there, although Bert Jones wasn't there. Um and Jeff Duncan was the first person that came out and there were two women behind me and I swear I was like I feel like I'm at a a movie theater on the black side of town because they were just talking the entire time like real time response to what was being said and I talked to them after and you know one of the women

was like well I'm worried that he's a Trojan horse. That's what I'm saying. How do I know that he's not going to flip or be like a John Federman? Right. That's so and that's that's that's a legitimate concern and I think his approach, you know, his campaign's got to figure that out. But I think one of the things they're saying is like trust me, like I have fallen at your feet, ask for forgiveness and showing you By publicly endorsing Kla Harris, by speaking at the DNC, you know, like he's saying I I left I had

it good over here and left. But what I'm saying is I think even that did more for him than it did for us. Like that did more for his credibility to come on this side. Him speaking at the DNC did not help the DNC. I would agree with at all. I just think that speaks to the lack of strategy that the DNC has, the lack of like sticking to the plan and quit playing softball that's happening. The thing is, are you running a campaign that's an anti-Trump campaign or are you running a campaign that's for

something, right? And I I just don't think he's the one to be for it. But let's just say I did. If I thought like, hey, this guy might have a chance. I'm not staking my credibility on it. I'm not about to get out here and stomp and say out of all the people that are in this race, all the things that they have done for this community, all the things that they have support in this community, stand out and say this my guy cuz he said, "I'm sorry." That can't be it. Um, and I've seen

that when you think about uh former state uh NAAC uh President James Woodall, he came Out and he made his endorsement and this dude is I haven't seen an endorsement. James is young. Yeah, he Yeah, he's um I think he was the youngest ever uh state um uh NAACP president. I think the youngest to ever hold that seat. Um he came out endorsing. I ain't heard an endorsement this big since ' 08 when Obama was running. Are you being funny? For real. Like I mean, show me a screenshot of where somebody has explained an endorsement

as hard as he's explaining and stomping for Oh. Oh, you're saying that he is doing a lot of explaining. Yeah. Like to me, if this your guy, it's your guy. But like when you cuz it's a lot of controversy, right? this NAACP has stood and fought against half the things that are on his record, right? So, for you to come out and say this is the best candidate, it makes no sense. And and again, he's saying um me and him got on it. Uh I met Yeah. Didn't you post something? I'm not gonna say what

I posted. Just go find it. But I I would admit online. I'm a little I will say online when I do make the time to comment because I very rarely you had Twitter fingers go back and forth. But when you catch me on the right day and I got The time, I am trying to be provocative. Like I'm probably annoyed that you got me stopping out my busy day to go back and forth on social media. So I'm probably trying to say provocative things to provoke and create a real conversation. But I meant every word

I said. I just feel like he is going too hard based off of what his position because when Shelley Winter is your number one supporter on your post, it should let you know how far you don't went on the other side. And for folks who don't know, Shelley Winter is the biggest black Republican in Georgia. Like he is a he has a great political talk show. And and you know, I ain't got no problem. And I told Shelly this cuz Shelley was like trying to reprimand me. Like this is low for you, Elder. He was

like, and I was like, uh, you must don't know me. I could go lower. Like, what are you talking about? I'm not Michelle Obama at all. Like, and I was telling Shel, I like, Shelly, I I probably agree with nothing Shelly stands for, but we live and coexist in a world. I just accepted that's who he is. And I told him, I like if this was you, I would have literally looked at the post, laughed at it like a Cat AI video on Instagram and just kept scrolling. But because it's James Woodall, a former NAACP

president, a person who has a heavy amount of influence on a community that has suffered under the leadership of Duncan. I just don't think you endorse that. Even if that's your guy, I think you say, you know, this my guy who I'm supporting, but I'm I'mma I'mma be So, you just quietly you just vote for him and but you don't publicize it. Yeah. Hell, if Kemp can be quiet in this, you know, you can be quiet. So, I just I just think if this is potentially the great white hope, I don't think he has put

in enough work to earn. I think this is a prime example when we talk about white privilege and just being able to get the benefit of the doubt. Like, he just hasn't earned that. He hasn't earned that. Well, I think Kesha, Mike, and Jason would fundamentally agree with you. Yeah. I just don't I just don't think he has earned to get this much support. And like I said, speaking of DNC just speaks to how far and how much work we got to do on the DNC side because it didn't help us. It just built his

credibility. And I just feel like once he get in that seat, we done Seen it a 100 times. Like you could say whatever you want to say on the campaign trail. The action happens once you sit behind that. And I just don't know if him saying he's sorry is enough to do that. I felt like there was a lot more work to be done. He could again come be a fundraiser, raise some money over here. All the strategies that you obviously you have the winning strategies, bring those strategies behind the best campaign. Like show us

you really here, but you just can't say I'm ready to be a Republican now. I'm ready to be a Democrat now. And then I want to be the biggest Democrat position in the state. So that's that's me. But he also lives in a Republican area, right? So he's he's probably thinking, "Well, I have to run as a well, I got to run statewide if I'm Yeah. If I'm going to do anything, it's going to be statewide. I I was the lieutenant governor." Yeah. So, I'm not going to go be a loan a little state rep

or something like that. Like, give me the real deal position. Yeah. I just think if the timing is wrong, I think the messenger is wrong. And I think all of the Democratic candidates that are running right now in the primary, I think all Of y'all should be pointing out his record. He can't stand on it. So point and most of y'all can stand on yours. I think you should be pointing that out and getting ready to be that person in there because honestly, how much money has he raised? Just over a million. So he's raised

like Yeah. He and Jason and Kesha are all pretty close in fundraising. So we said the split got to be a three-way. So I mean only two people are getting into the runoff. So it's Kesha. But when I say it's a three-way, it's it's typically a leading person and then between one or two. So that's the crazy thing cuz we know it's Kesha, right? But now we're trying to see is it going to be Jason, Thurman, or Duncan, right? And I feel like if if I'm Thurman and I'm Jason, yo, we need to be doing

everything in our power tag team. Tag team and exposing this person for who he is because he could sneak one of y'all out of this runoff if you're not careful careful. Yeah. I don't know if there's that level of I don't think the campaigns are there yet. They should hire a creative agency. Or, you know, we didn't we didn't really talk about him a lot, but um Derek Jackson is in The race, right? And so you could say, "All right, I'm gonna use Derek Jackson, you know, to be the attack dog for," you know, when

you say Derek Jackson, why I was always thinking, um, when you said Rick Jackson, Derek, so when you first said it, I was like, "Hold on, Derek a billionaire?" No, Derek actually has an Instagram ad or some kind of Instagram post where he's like, I'm I'm I'm the real actor Jackson in this race. Yeah. But that was another interesting thing about the de about the Decav forum is that Derek spent a I don't know at least four or five times that he went after Jason Estz. And I was thinking to myself as I'm watching, I

was like, why are you going after Jason? Like that's an interesting one, right? So, I'm like, is that did Jason do something to you or is there something going on that you're that you're going after Jason? But he didn't do it in another forum that I watched. So, I think on there probably a personal it's it's not strategic if regardless. It's not strategic. But see, that's what I'm saying, man. I just You know what? So Rua who dropped out, right? Rua Roman, she endorsed anybody. She has. She said she's not endorsing yet or she did

not endorse anyone, but she did speak out against Jeff Duncan. Okay. Well, thank you, Rua, for doing what every Democratic candidate should be doing right now. So then the other side of this is if you're Kesha, who do you want to be in the runoff with? I think Kesha, if I'm her, I want Duncan. If I'm Kesha, I want Duncan because it's white man versus black woman. You know, it's we already said it. She She activates all the isms immediately, right? Who I don't want is Thurman. Cuz if I get if I get against Thurman

now, I'm going against wisdom. I'm going against somebody that speaks all the languages that need to be spoken during this race. I'm going against somebody that can debate better than me. Um, I'm going against somebody that has held a significant position. His resume is longer. I definitely don't want Thurman. I want Jason because I can go like a young he's younger. Like I'm not saying he gonna be easy, but I would want to go against Jason if I'm if I'm Kesha. I wouldn't want to go against Thurman. So if I'm Kesha, I'm not necessarily trying

to not see See, that's what I'm saying. It's too It's Too much chess. It's too much. It's too much to be done in this race. But for the people, that's who Let's talk about that strategy. The people, the listener, the voter, who we're really here for, you have to look at each one of these candidates and see one, what have they done, and see you see what type of work they are. Cuz I'm going to be real. Voting in in a candidate is like getting married. They don't just change after you say I do. That

candidate doesn't Once you say I do, that husband that didn't wash dishes when y'all were dating, he don't become the best cleaner in the household. He's just You just load the dishwasher, right? That's all I want. Look, you see that what I'm saying? Look, and that's what we've been doing. We just been settling for they ain't even been loading it, right? They just been Can you at least just put your p put Can you put it in the sink sink? We just been getting them in the sink. They ain't rinsed off nothing. So, what I'm

saying is you have to pay attention from a strategy standpoint. What has this candidate done? Really begin to look up policy and AI actually works. Like AI can trust but verify. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When I say when I say it works, AI will point you in a direction of thing especially if they have been in a legislator and endorsed bills and stuff like that. So that's what I mean and all of these folks do. All these very clear track. So that's what I mean by that. They're trust but verify. But when I say you want

to really begin to look at this candidate and the track worker, what have they done? Then look at their platforms. what do they plan to do? And then start asking questions, showing up, reach out, see who responds to you, you know, like that's that's a big one. That's the thing. Like, reach out. A lot of these campaigns are not that big yet. So, it's not hard to touch and feel them. So, I'm just saying you should really begin to reach out. And then also, lastly, just really begin to understand how much the governor impacts you.

And the governor impacts all of us in major ways. And Georgia is going into a very different dynamic just simply based off of how much the metropolitan is growing by itself. So yeah, I mean you've got a $42 billion budget, right? The state of Georgia budget. The governor appoints all Of the department heads. Yes. So we're talking about headed like head of defects, right? that's appointed by the governor. They influence That's very important. They influence legislation. They command the National Guard. We're having a lot of conversations now, not not so much in Georgia, but certainly

across the country about the National Guard, right? Being used and militarized against the people. Who is the candidate you think going to do that? They the head state patrol, the governor appoints that person. Exactly. And they appoint judges. So the governor has a big role. So that's what I want people to get into. Like I want you like especially those that say and we got to end this. I put up a post and I said it like that whole narrative that uh I don't do politics. Politics does you. Politics does you. It's a it is

a very lazy narrative. It's an ignorant narrative. Especially if you're a law-abiding taxpaying citizen, right? if you are obeying the rules, even if you're not, it still impacts you even more. You know what I'm saying? So, like we have to really begin to lock in. So, regardless, we just Gave you all of the candidates. We gave you their background, who they are. Do your own research, though. Um, go to their campaign websites. We'll put them in the show notes. in the show notes, you'll have I encourage you to also follow them on social media and

see what they're doing. They have meet and greets like that are open to people. You can you don't have to be a donor to attend a meet and greet, but really take the the time to get to know these candidates and like Elder said, ask them questions. Figure out like what's the issue that you really care about and get them on the record on that issue. Ask them what issue do you care about the most? That's tough. I'm gonna say a broad issue because it impacts everyone. Affordability. Yeah. And there's so many facets to that,

right? Medicaid, there's a there's affordability facets to that. Housing. Yeah. I'm I'm saying affordability specifically housing. Like I went through a small like I relocated after seven years of being in the same place. And it was almost like being married for 10 years and then jumping in the dating pool and realizing how horrible it is out here. Like I almost went back to my old landlord and beg to take me back. Like it's bad out here. So, you know, I'm blessed to have a lot of people in my network and I just made it happen.

But like it's the qualifications to rent is the same to literally own. Like they're checking credit. They're checking all of these things. It's just not feasible. I've always said three times your rent. Statistically, it's not even possible. If you just look at the average medium income of what people are making out here, how can they make three times $1,800 a month, right, for a onebedroom? It just doesn't make sense. So yeah, I I would agree with you affordability affordability and if that is something that you care about, you then got to cross reference what candidate

one can identify with that will have a level of empathy of that and who has done work to support and fight against that. That's kind of how this has to be. Yeah. And who has sound policies? I mean again we there's a lot of power in the governor's office. Yeah. Right. So the question is how will you use the levers of government to support the issues that you care about and help The most amount of people? Can I ask a question? One more question. Um just thinking about uh endorsements. Um because it's a new it's

a open seat and it's not like you're going against an incumbent, right? Is this a a campaign that the mayor gets behind and um has he thrown his support? I know she did a fundraising with Gavin Newsome, right? And then um he did a talk with Gavin. Is that meaning she's getting endorsement? Yeah. Uh I'm not sure. Okay. Yeah. I'm not sure. I mean, he I would be shocked if the mayor was not engaged in the general election, right? Um but yeah, I Andre also does not strike me as someone that is like a super

political animal, right? in the sense of like he's making big endorsements or he's there are things that have happened nationally that he's just not as vocal about as say like a you know mayor Mandomy in in New York. Gotcha. Gotcha. I get it. I was just wondering I just thought about it. But he has people engaged in some of those elections or some of those campaigns rather. So, we got a lot. Um, yeah. So, qualifying, candidate qualifying is March 2nd through the 6th. There's a chance that Some of the names we mentioned don't qualify or

choose to qualify for something else. You've got the primary May 19th and you got early voting starting in I believe was that late April. So, what about um May 19th we will be doing a watch party? Yes. Uh, I just want to remind everybody that when do we promote that? It's going to be limited, but we definitely want y'all to party with us and watch and see who show comes out to the top. One of my favorite segments of where the party at is back. And this one that I always got messages about, party starters

and party poopers. It's that time. It's that time. So, my party starter is Georgia House Democrats. Um, a few of them came together. You got names? Oh man, don't make me I don't remember all the names. I know Phil Ole was one. Okay, you need to give us a some core names. There was Yeah, there it was. It was like four or five some good folks. I think Mary Margaret Oliver. I just like to know who to give a add a baby. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, they put forth five bills uh to address housing affordability.

They introduce a package of five bills. Now, I don't know how many of them Will actually make it to crossover day, March 6, right? But these were sensible bills and it shows that they are trying and they're listening to what constituents are saying. Nice. Uh, any details on the bills or Yes, you just want to put in the show notes where to find a little Atlanta Civic area article for you. Okay. Okay. Link in the bio. Link in the bio. Yeah. Let's see. Let's see. Okay. So um one of the bills would broaden minimum habitability

standards. So this is uh a continuation of some legislation that passed last year to address it was called the safe at home act and it was addressing livability because landlords were not maintaining safe places. Right? So when you have an apartment or house that has mold and you're not addressing that mold and that child is end up having asthma or some other health issues, right? So those types of things, this bill addresses that. Um, another would establish a statewide homestead exemption which is a housing for homeowners or public service worker. So if you're a teacher,

police officer, a firefighter, or a healthc care employee and you make less than 150% of the area media income, It's very technical language, but basically if you make less than a certain amount of money and you live in this is especially good if you live in a high cost of living area, right? Right. So the book would Yeah. Like metro Atlanta is generally considered high cost of living. So, there would be a homestead exemption for you. Um, and again, these are all bills that are working their way through uh the House. Another one would award

a tax credit um for a newly built home purchased again by someone making 80% or less than the area media income in that area. Was that anybody or a service worker? That's for anyone. Okay, I like that. So, it's like something for everyone in this package of bills. So, they did five. Yeah, five bills. And then the So, the fourth one would allow for tiny homes to be built um tiny homes of 400 square feet or smaller to be built on your lot. So, that could be um an opportunity to, you know, have rental income,

right? So, it's an investment initially, but it it helps you later. And then the last one, um, would give a home buyer a 30-day window to buy a house before an investor can try to Purchase it. Now, I love that. I love that for for for Atlanta specifically, I love that. Like, give us It's actually a bigger issue in the surrounding counties. It's not as big of an issue in the city of Atlanta proper, but give us a chance. Like, yeah, it's a big one. We out here fighting for our life. These these folk taking

everything. So that's dope. I definitely like all of those. So kudos kudos to those um legislators for being party starters and doing what they supposed to do for the people. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see what happens to the legislation. Can't have a party starter without a freaking party pooper. Who you got? So this is not city of Atlanta and it's not state. It's federal. We didn't talk about federal this time, right? And there's a whole lot that happened. A lot that has happened. But we just wanted to focus Yeah. on the governor race. It's definitely coming

next episode. So my party pooper is Congress because there is this thing called the War Powers Act. And I'm not going to we're not going to go into everything that happened. So I'm not there's not a question of if what Trump did was right with regards to going into Iran, Right? But Congress is supposed to be the one that says we are declaring war or not. Right? Could they supposed to be a vote? They have abdicated their leadership at every turn since the beginning of 2025, right? Since the start of the Trump administration, right? And

this is a prime example of of that. So, and again, I'm not I'm not saying I'm not there. The question is not if what Trump did was wrong or right. The question is what is the role of Congress and being a balance of power. This has been uh good, man. Thank you for How do I do for my first episode, which Not bad. Not bad. You gonna fire me? I think we can do a second episode. I think we can make it to number two. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I'm looking forward to doing this,

but most importantly, I'm looking forward to learning and growing with our listeners and uh, inspiring some action and how people can get involved. So, the first homework I will say um, is to go research the candidates. Yeah. And look at the candidates. We'll make sure our show notes give you ample amount of information and notes for you to make up your own decisions. Uh, as a podcast, we are not endorsing or pushing any Candidate. And I should say I don't endorse what you say and you don't endorse what I say. That she look sometimes. You

know what? I actually endorse some stuff she say. I don't think she ever is going to endorse what I say. But I'm just saying I do want to say that we are as a podcast, we're trying to just bring as much information as possible. Okay. So, if someone has a question, right, they listen to the episode, if they have a question, how do they get it to us? Um, look in our where the party at um podcast Instagram, there will be a voice note feature where you can leave a voice note and you can ask

us, you can DM us or um what is your email? Saba where the party at. Don't don't email me. Don't Yeah. So, don't email. Like, that's why I was giving you yours cuz I'm not going to see it. Um it's the best thing is social media. Go on our social media. You can either click the voice note and leave a voice note and we can listen to it and if it's good enough, we'll actually play it. Yeah. On the uh episode or you can just slide in our DM, ask us a question and we'll go

from there. Perfect. All right. So, thank y'all for tuning in to the Where Party at Podcast. How do you officially sign off on your show? So, I'm your host Saba Long and I'm Elders Washington and this is your favorite political podcast, Where the Party at. See y'all next week.