Bulgaria News
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, debated an empty podium Monday evening after her GOP opponent, healthcare CEO Rick Jackson, failed to show up.
The incumbent, Gov. Brian Kemp (R), is term-limited, making this an open seat. The Georgia Senate race is widely viewed as in the bag for Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-GA) re-election, but the governor’s race is rated as a toss up by multiple elections prediction models.
Jackson is a political rookie, but the billionaire was able to prevail in the GOP primary after he dropped nearly $100 million of his own money into his campaign account. It’s a strategy that helped launch his fellow billionaire Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) first foray into elected office when he ran for Florida governor in 2010, but polling has showed the Georgia race to be tight. Jackson is up 1.7 points in the latest Real Clear Polling Average and the last few polls showing the Republican in a slight lead but within the margin of error.
Monday, the Atlanta Press Club had scheduled its Loudermilk-Young Debate series to kick off, but Jackson declined the invitation.
The APC set up two lecterns side-by-side on the stage. Several video clips were shared on social media Monday evening — including by Bottoms’ campaign — showed the debate moderators referencing how Jackson had “declined to participate and is represented by an empty podium” at the beginning of the scheduled debate, and Bottoms taking multiple rhetorical swings at her opponent for being a no-show, occasionally gesturing to the empty spot on stage to her left.
In her opening remarks, Bottoms bashed Jackson for his absence, saying he was the “first gubernatorial candidate not to stand here [skipping the Atlanta Press Club debate] in 32 years.”
In one memorable segment, the debate moderator prompted Bottoms that she could “now ask a question to your opponent, represented by the empty podium,” and then “give a rebuttal to how you think your opponent would have responded.”
After some comments on the issue of abortion and what she thought Jackson would have said “if he were here,” Bottoms said that Jackson is “not here because he’s on his private jet flying around this state rather than having to answer to the people of Georgia about [his] irresponsible position.”
After the debate, Bottoms posted a short video clip knocking her opponent for not coming to the debate, saying he had “hid from voters.”
Watch the video above via Atlanta Press Club on YouTube.
The post Democrat ‘Debates’ Empty Podium After Republican Is No-Show for Georgia Gov Debate first appeared on Mediaite.
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