Leading up to the November midterm gubernatorial elections, I interviewed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams as part of a roundtable with other Georgia college newspapers. Representing the Wheel, I questioned Abrams on Georgia issues, student issues and campaign policy. As the first edition of a column focused on debate and resistance to the single story, I reached out to incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp with an interview request, which would allow Emory University students to compare the policies of each candidate. Unfortunately, Kemp’s team did not respond for comment. In response to each of Abrams’ answers, I’ll give my commentary, hopefully allowing a specific, unbiased look into the impact she would have as governor.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity
Ben Brodsky, Emory Wheel
Leader Abrams, thank you so much for the time. Competitive pay for teachers is such an important tool for youth education, so I was wondering: What are your plans to make sure that teachers are able to be paid their value?
Stacey Abrams, Democratic gubernatorial candidate:
Georgia has a 5 billion dollar surplus. And that’s after we’ve paid for every bill and put 15% into our rainy day fund. We’re sitting on a 5 billion dollar surplus. One of the ways we have to be competitive, but also compassionate, is that we have to pay our teachers a living wage. It cannot be simply above the poverty line. It has to be a true living wage that allows them to focus on the jobs they have, but we also have to be able to attract new teachers into the classroom. Georgia’s class sizes are going up because we have, right now, a 67% retention rate. There is no other business that I can imagine where losing more than 30% of workforce means that you’ve done a good job. What I want to do is, number one, raise starting salaries for the next 4 years to $50,000. So, if you teach in Georgia you begin with a $50,000 a year salary. I also want to increase salaries across the board by $11,000. Recently, folks got a $5,000 raise and not every teacher received it. I will insist that every single educator receives the $11,000 increase. We can do all of these things with no new taxes in Georgia. Because of that surplus that we have, we can actually amortize it into our budget over 4 years at a total $400 million dollars, using the surplus as a balloon payment, you pay a lot of front, but over time, you reduce the interest that you have to pay so that it becomes a part of our budget and actually reduces the cost overall.
Brodsky’s take:
The conservative criticism of such increases in public education spending has to do with school choice. The argument is that the system should function more akin to a free market than a publicly-funded institution, allowing students to move freely through public, charter and private schools with subsidized government tuition rather than purely public school funding. The issue with this policy, as Abrams addresses, is a lack of an adequate budget for public school teachers, leading to a decreased quality of public education. However, while Abrams could temporarily increase salaries in the next few years, she should be wary of making permanent promises from temporary money. While the surplus would provide ample aid in the next few years, we need to keep searching for other sources of funding in order to sustainably fund public education long-term.
***
Brodsky:
I wanted to ask about the state and national political divide. Especially in a purple state, many independent voters feel isolated by both sides of a growing partisan divide. How will you reach moderate voters as well as voters on the other side of the aisle?
Abrams:
My programming, my focus, my leadership is governed for the notion of “how do we make it that certain people can thrive?” We have to be willing to work for it, and if you’re willing to work for it, I’m willing to work with you. What that looks like in political terms is the fact that housing prices don’t ask if you’re a Democrat, Republican, or Independent. They want to know how much money you have, and if we don’t tackle the affordable housing crisis in Georgia, we are going to face a critical moment when people are not going to be able to live here or stay here. That is something that does not count your partisanship. It is a fundamental economic issue. The same thing is true in education. Kids aren’t asked their partisanship when they come to a classroom and we don’t ask our teachers. We need to make certain teachers are able to perform their jobs instead of sending them to the courtroom because we are putting in place new and unnecessary regulations because partisanship is seeping into the classroom. Third, we know that healthcare- Medicaid expansion is not a partisan issue. Mike Pence expanded Medicaid as the Republican Governor of Indiana. Chris Christie expanded Medicaid as the Republican Governor of New Jersey. Across this country, Republicans and Democrats expanded Medicaid because no disease has ever asked what party you are before it decides to visit you. What has been turned into partisanship is really about peaopleship. Who do we serve? As Governor, my intention is to make certain that we go back to the basics: housing, healthcare, education and making a good living. I believe that if people watch what I’ve done for the last 15 years, I’ve been lauded by both sides of the aisle for my ability to not only work with people from other parties but taking the lead to publicly bring people together. In recent years, I’ve been castigated because my fight is for democracy with a small d, which led to more Democrats with a big D getting elected. But that’s not a function of partisanship or ignoring the middle, it’s about making sure that everyone has access so their voices can be heard. If I do my job well as Governor, we all rise. That is why my mission statement is “One Georgia.”
Brodsky’s take:
Abrams’ response should be compelling no matter where one falls on the political spectrum because of her focus on solving widespread issues rather than getting caught in the political mud. That being said, her team’s choices to take the high road are emblematic of many Democrats’ failure to play the political game. Last year, I noticed a standout Snapchat geotag while celebrating the Atlanta Braves’ World Series victory. Paid for by the Georgia Republicans, the message read, “Stacey Abrams and Raphael Warnock couldn’t lock this celebration down!” The ad was childish and questionable in its targeting of two well-known Black politicians, especially when Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) held office at the time and Abrams did not. However, the connection between the lively and communal celebration being antithetical to Democrats’ goals was a memorable attack. In order for Abrams and other liberal candidates to win, they may need to address popular issues in creative ways, mature or not, as many Republicans have.
***
On jobs for students after graduation (Nolan Scoretz, Viking Fusion):
Abrams:
Medicaid expansion sounds like health insurance for poor people. But what we know is that it is the single largest economic development opportunity in the state’s history. It will create 60-65,000 jobs in the state of Georgia, and those jobs will be regionally located because those jobs are directly connected to the communities that are underfunded. When we expand Medicaid, we create jobs across the state instead of cherrypicking certain communities to get certain benefits we instead can spread out the economic opportunity across the state. Second, I want to create advanced energy jobs, running the gamut. They include coding, finance, manufacturing, it’s marketing. I want to make certain we are investing in these advanced energy jobs, and because of the Inflation Reduction Act, Georgia is in line to get hundreds of millions of dollars to incentivize new growth here. We can couple that with the money from the bipartisan infrastructure plan that will also draw down billions of dollars to create new job opportunities but we need a governor who is actually willing to fully maximize those dollars to spread job opportunities across the state. It is not only access to a job, but where you have to go to get the job. I want to make certain that our communities, especially our young people, can live where they want, and that means having job opportunities spread out across the state. Number three, I want to invest in small businesses. We know that small businesses employ 43% of Georgia, so if we create more small businesses, especially for young people coming out of college, instead of working for someone else, why not work for yourself? With Medicaid expansion, you will have the opportunity to grow that business without having to worry about paying for healthcare, as if you make less than 9 dollars an hour, Medicaid expansion will provide coverage, and at the same time, I want to create a capital investment fund so you have the opportunity to create your business, get the investment that you need, the entrepreneur’s learners permit will help you navigate the red tape and cut through some of the fees.
Brodsky’s Take:
I was very excited about Abrams’s ideas to create jobs with expanded healthcare and energy industries. Entry-level jobs are an important way to offer graduates of Georgia schools opportunities to stay in state, and finding positions that apply to Emory and public university students is a very relevant issue for student voters. I was less compelled by the prospect of relying on Medicaid as a small business owner, as I have a hard time imagining Medicaid being a strong enough incentive for competitive college graduates to turn down out-of-state offers in favor of entrepreneurship.
I would like to thank Abrams’ team for the professionality and thought put into such an important interview. Despite political standing, the intention to include college students as key constituents in a pivotal election is an extremely respectable move on the part of the campaign. As I mentioned earlier, Kemp did not respond to the Wheel’s requests for interviews, disallowing students from having a bipartisan piece to gauge differences in policy. As we head to the polls, I urge Emory students to reflect on which of these issues are most relevant in their lives, voting based on merit rather than party or record.
Ben Brodsky (25C) is from Scottsdale, Arizona.
