Georgia voters will choose a new governor Tuesday after a campaign dominated in its final weeks by affordability, taxes, health care and competing arguments over the direction of the state.
But many of the biggest issues facing Georgia will remain unresolved when the votes are counted.
The next governor will inherit persistent challenges involving health care access, housing costs, rapid growth, data centers, education and public safety.
Both Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson have made affordability central to their campaigns, although they have offered different approaches.
At a recent rally in Clayton County, Bottoms framed her agenda around expanding opportunity in “every Georgia community.”
“That’s why we will build more affordable and workforce housing across this state,” she said. “We will support our small businesses and we will create a pathway to free technical and community college.”
Jackson has emphasized property taxes, utility bills, insurance costs and tax cuts while presenting his business career as preparation for running state government.
“I’m ready to put everything I’ve learned about building a business, bringing people together, and solving hard problems to work for you,” Jackson said at a recent campaign event.
He has also pledged to lower property taxes, cut the state income tax and suspend the gas tax when prices spike.
“I will make your life more affordable,” Jackson said.
At a recent campaign event, Gov. Brian Kemp has framed Jackson’s candidacy as a continuation of the governing approach Republicans have pursued in Georgia for more than two decades.
“You think about the foundation that Sonny Perdue laid when he first got elected. We’re still building off of that foundation,” Kemp said at a recent event. “Same thing with Governor (Nathan) Deal, and I’m trying to do the same thing as your governor.”
Health care is likely to be one of the first major tests.
Georgia has not adopted full Medicaid expansion. Bottoms has made that a central part of her campaign.
Former President Barack Obama, campaigning with Bottoms and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in Morrow, said she would “finally expand Medicaid, protect health care providers here” and help nearly 300,000 uninsured Georgians get coverage.
Jackson has proposed what he calls an “intelligent Medicaid expansion,” arguing that Georgia should broaden coverage while retaining work requirements and controlling costs.
But expanding insurance coverage would not resolve all of Georgia’s health care problems.
PeachPol found this year that Medicaid patients searching for specialty care in parts of South Georgia could encounter outdated or inconsistent provider information, disconnected phone numbers and limited choices for some specialists, including child psychiatrists and pediatric gastroenterologists.
The findings highlighted a broader problem: having insurance does not necessarily mean having a nearby provider who can see a patient.
Rural health care remains another challenge, with parts of Georgia continuing to face limited access to hospitals, specialists and maternity care.
Housing will present another set of questions.
Rapid population growth has increased pressure on housing prices in metro Atlanta and other fast-growing parts of the state.
Bottoms has proposed building more affordable and workforce housing and limiting large corporate investors’ role in the housing market.
Jackson has focused more heavily on property taxes, development costs and reducing regulations he says contribute to higher housing prices.
Many housing decisions, however, are made by local governments. Cities and counties control zoning and approve developments while also dealing with the consequences of rapid growth, including crowded roads, increasing school enrollment and pressure on water and sewer systems.
Data centers have created another tension between economic development and local concerns.
Communities across Georgia have debated projects that can bring investment and tax revenue but also require large amounts of electricity and water.
Bottoms has made a pause on new data center construction part of her closing argument.
“I believe in protecting our environment, protecting our communities, and bringing down our power bills,” she said at the Clayton County rally. “That is why we will pause construction on new data centers.”
Jackson has taken a different approach, saying data centers should have local support, provide tangible benefits to surrounding communities and avoid increasing utility costs for residents.
The next governor will inherit a debate over how much of that balancing act should be left to local governments and how much responsibility belongs to the state.
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Education will remain another major issue when the General Assembly returns in January.
Bottoms has proposed guaranteeing pre-K for every 4-year-old and has called for additional education investments.
Jackson has pledged to raise teacher pay and has emphasized school discipline and support for teachers.
Kemp has also made education part of the case for continuing Republican control, asking supporters whether they wanted children to have “a world-class education in an environment that fits them best, not the government’s.”
Public safety has also been central to Jackson’s closing argument.
“We will make every neighborhood, every street and every family safer,” Jackson said at a recent campaign event. “Because a leader who will not back the police has no business being governor.”
He has repeatedly used Bottoms’ tenure as Atlanta mayor to argue that she failed to adequately address crime and unrest.
Bottoms has defended her record and argued that public safety also requires investment in housing, health care, mental health services and economic opportunity.
Small businesses have become another part of Bottoms’ closing argument.
During a stop in Savannah, she proposed creating a state division focused on businesses with 25 or fewer employees and breaking up some large state contracts so smaller businesses have more opportunities to compete.
“I want to make sure that all of our businesses have what they need, not just to survive, but also to thrive,” Bottoms said.
Jackson has emphasized his record building businesses, creating jobs and funding scholarships and charitable programs.
“I don’t need the money. I’m not interested in the title. I don’t owe anybody anything,” Jackson said at a recent event. “I’m not running because I have something left to prove, I’m running because I have something left to give.”
Whoever wins Tuesday will still have to turn those campaign proposals into legislation.
Georgia governors typically have significant influence over the state budget and legislative agenda, but most major policy changes require approval from the 236-member General Assembly.
That means proposals on Medicaid, taxes, housing, education, data centers and public safety will eventually have to move through legislative committees and win support from lawmakers who may have priorities of their own.
That reality has largely faded into the background during a final stretch increasingly dominated by national political figures and get-out-the-vote events.
Bottoms has campaigned with Obama and other prominent Democrats. Jackson will spend the day before Election Day on a seven-stop statewide tour with Kemp and other Republican officials.
Kemp has urged voters to view the governor’s race through a Georgia lens.
“This isn’t a national race,” he said. “This is about Georgia, and this is what Georgia’s been doing, and this is the way we want to keep it.”
The rallies and surrogates will be gone soon.
The governing problems will not.
The next governor will still face Georgians looking for a lower bill, a nearby doctor, affordable housing, a road that can handle the traffic and a school with enough teachers.
Tuesday determines who gets the job.
What happens after that will determine how many of the campaign promises survive once governing begins.
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