2026 Georgia Gubernatorial Candidates Address Key Issues

 

In 2025, Georgia consumers reported losing $395 million to fraud and other scams. What would you do to combat fraud in the state?

JACKSON: As governor, I will make sure [the state attorney general and white-collar crime prosecutors] have the support and resources to keep going after bad actors, and to stay active in our communities warning Georgians, especially seniors, about the tactics these criminals use.

The most important thing we can do is attack these crimes at the source. Too many of these scams are . . . run from inside our own prisons, on contraband cell phones.... Federal prisons are permitted to use signal-jamming technology to shut those phones down. Our state prisons are not, because of an outdated federal rule.... I [will work] to change that rule.

BOTTOMS: There are several things that we need to do. One [is] making sure that we are tightening up the penalties. My mother is a very active [older adult], mentally and physically, and she calls me quite frequently with questions about a call or a text she’s received, asking if it’s legit. As the technology improves, it gets more difficult to decipher what’s real.... I would expand consumer education across the state in our senior centers, places of worship, community centers and libraries. And I would create a task force to protect seniors from fraud and to coordinate across state agencies to stop fraud attempts and prosecute perpetrators.

 

Many older Georgians are struggling to afford rising utility bills. Meanwhile, electricity demand from data centers and other commercial users is growing. How would you protect Georgians from higher energy costs?

BOTTOMS: I’ve asked for a pause on new data center construction as we do a full statewide analysis of the impacts of data centers. We need a comprehensive statewide plan that will protect consumers, protect our communities, support economic development and stop pitting communities against each other.... How do we protect our consumers to make sure that they aren’t carrying the burden of the cost? I would like to convene a cross section of people—our utility providers, our impacted communities, experts—to help us determine where we go from here.

JACKSON: My rule on energy is simple: The people driving the demand should pay for it. Data centers and other massive commercial users are asking the grid to build enormous new capacity, and Georgia families and retirees should not be subsidizing that bill. The Public Service Commission has taken steps to make large users cover their own costs instead of shifting them onto households. As governor, I will hold that line and demand the transparency to prove it.

 

Many older Georgians are finding it increasingly difficult to afford housing because of rising home values, rents and property taxes. How would you help older adults remain in their homes and communities?

JACKSON: As governor, I will push for immediate property tax relief. We will stop surprise assessment spikes from turning into hidden tax increases, work with local governments to lower the burden, and put homeowners first. If you bought your home, paid your mortgage, and played by the rules, government should not punish you for it. I will also cut Georgia’s income tax in half, which puts real money back in the pockets of retirees living on a fixed income. Affordability is about more than the tax bill, though. It is about whether your grandkids can grow up near you, and whether a young family can plant roots in the community you built. I will cut the red tape and speed the permitting that drive up housing costs so Georgians of every age can stay where they belong.

BOTTOMS: Something I did as mayor of Atlanta was to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. It was a citywide trust fund that allowed us to help offset rising property taxes. It allowed us to create financial support, whether it be through grants or low-interest loans. A huge barrier in building affordable housing is the lack of infrastructure in many of these communities outside of metropolitan areas. The state needs to help support that. I would like to see a statewide Affordable Housing Trust Fund to make housing more affordable in communities across our state. This is especially important for seniors on a fixed income.

 

As Georgia’s population ages, demand for home-based care and long-term care services is expected to grow. How would you ensure older Georgians can access affordable, high-quality care in the setting they prefer?

BOTTOMS: It has to be a priority for us to be able to help offset these costs for people who want to age with dignity in place. And we prove these are priorities by putting them in the budget. We can help to train a workforce that can fill these jobs, and make sure people are adequately trained and compensated, so that we can get people who want to provide quality care for our seniors. Expanding Medicaid will enhance our overall health care infrastructure. Recruiting and retaining our health care workforce is also important and providing more support to caregivers — through training, respite opportunities and assessing who is eligible to provide paid care for eligible older adults.

JACKSON: Ask almost anyone where they would rather grow old, and the answer is home, near family, in the community they built. Georgia’s care system should be built around that preference, not against it. As governor, I will work to expand access to home- and community-based care so seniors can stay where they want to be, and I will take on the waitlists and paperwork bottlenecks that keep people from care they already qualify for. I will lower costs the way I know how, by taking on the middlemen who add layers, hide prices and drive up costs without improving care. I will make sure high-quality care includes mental health care, and I will expand options in rural Georgia so families do not have to drive hours for basic care. And I will strengthen the direct-care and home-health workforce, because there is no quality care without the people who provide it.

 

If elected, what else would you do to improve the lives of older Georgians and their families?

JACKSON: The people who spent their lives building Georgia deserve a state affordable enough to grow old in with dignity. That means lower income and property taxes, lower health care and energy costs and a government that treats every dollar it spends as money a Georgian earned first.

It also means safety and respect. Seniors are too often the targets of crime and fraud, and I’ll back law enforcement and strong consumer protection to defend them. And it means running state government like it answers to the people paying for it, cutting waste, measuring results and fixing what’s broken instead of making excuses for it.

I grew up in public housing and the foster care system, and I learned early to respect everybody equally, the person with a title and the person without one.

BOTTOMS: I’m very grateful to have a mother who is able to age in place, in large part because we’re able to help give her the support that she needs. My heart really goes out to so many people who aren’t as fortunate as we are. Our seniors have given so much to us. It is only fitting that we give back to them, whether that be through support with housing, with caregiving, and access to mental health services where needed. The needs are plentiful, and unfortunately the state of Georgia has been absent in so many of these conversations. We need to expand Medicaid, strengthen support for seniors and make it easier for people to age with dignity. So much information is not easily disseminated or accessible for our seniors, and to me, that’s the easiest fix from the state. We should let people know what’s available and help them navigate the system. I will also take action to lower the cost of prescriptions — which uniquely impacts seniors — by creating the Georgia Rx Savings Board, an independent affordability board that reviews excessive price increases and sets fair payment limits for what the state will pay, protecting patients and taxpayers from price gouging.

Candidate information at rickjackson.com and keishaforgovernor.com.

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