Keisha Lance Bottoms visits Albany during first week of early voting

ALBANY – Georgia gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms got a rousing welcome in Albany during a campaign stop last week that brought her message to voters during the first week of the early voting period ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Former Lt. Governor Mark Taylor, who lives in Albany,  introduced the Democratic candidate, who is locked into a tight contest with Republican nominee Rick Jackson. Voter turnout so far during the early voting period has been heavy.

“He put $200 million into the race,” Bottoms said. “He has put $100 million just against me. But guess what, he may have the money but we’ve still got the power. There’s a reason he didn’t want to show up on the debate stage.”

Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and official with the Biden administration, highlighted her differences from Jackson, the founder and CEO of Jackson Healthcare.

“When I asked him about the four data centers he’s invested in, he won’t explain how we can trust him on data centers,” she said. “He won’t explain how we can trust him on Medicaid expansion when his whole business model is built on a failing healthcare system in this state. 

“He won’t explain what he means when he said he doesn’t disagree with a single policy of the Trump administration. He says he wants to be Trump’s favorite governor.”

Having previously made several trips to Albany during the primary and general election, the candidate said that she has not forgotten people in the area.

Bottoms’ appearance at the Hilton Garden Inn, which brought out an audience of about 210, was meant to be followed by voters heading across the street to the polls at the Albany Civic Center where early voting is taking place, Dougherty County Democratic Committee Chair Joyce Barlow said. 

More than 3,000 voters cast ballots at the Civic Center during the first three days of advance early voting, which ends on Oct. 30. That turnout could be better, Barlow said.

“We came by today to say we haven’t forgotten about you, Albany,” Bottoms told her audience “We need you, Albany.”

Following her remarks, Bottoms told a Herald reporter that her plan to boost student reading scores would be to ensure that schools are fully and properly funded and to give parents a voice in education. Literacy coaches should also be in every school in the state, she said.

To assist farmers, who have been struggling, Bottoms said that the state should do everything it can to reduce diesel costs and create cooperatives that can help farmers get the best prices on supplies and to bring business opportunities as well as expanding broadband availability to rural areas.

“We need to provide resources to weather this storm,” she said. “We need to make sure agriculture is treated as it should be. It is the No. 1 (state) industry.”

Democratic candidate for agriculture commissioner Katherine Juhan-Arnold, who also was in Albany for the Friday event, said that she wants voters to think about the importance of the office when they go to the voting booth.

“It’s the food we eat, the animals we love, the natural resources we protect, the gasoline we put in our cars,” she said. “I hope the people of Albany/Dougherty County start to hold the people in Atlanta more accountable.”