Just over two weeks before the Nov. 4 election, gubernatorial hopefuls Jason Carter (D), Nathan Deal (R) and Andrew Hunt (L) face off tonight at Georgia Public Broadcasting studios. The candidates are set to begin the debate, moderated by 11 Alive’s Brenda Wood, at 7:00 p.m. Check back for live updates during the event.
7:00: Wood introduces panel members Jim Galloway, Christopher King and Sandra Parrish.
7:02: Deal says first meeting between Ebola response team is upcoming and will increase Georgia’s preparedness for the disease.
7:04: Hunt promises less than 5 percent unemployment through his economic plan.
7:05: Carter offers condolences for Mack Burgess, the Deal staffer killed last week.
Carter also says his plan for the Hope Scholarship will make college cheaper and more attainable.
7:07: Deal rejects Hunt’s poor assessment of Georgia’s economy, saying that under his leadership, family and household incomes have increased, Georgia has ranked sixth in job creation and grew from the country’s tenth largest to eighth largest state.
7:10: Carter: “We’ve got everything we need to be a powerhouse.” (He ended up saying this sentence, or a variant about four times in the debate.)
7:11: Hunt: “Do I agree with Obamacare? No. Do I want states’ rights and the 10th Amendment to be the rule? Yes.”
7:13: Deal: Hunt wants to expand Medicaid and other entitlement programs, which is at odds with his Libertarian Party platform.
7:14: Carter: “What we need in this state is a governor who will stand up and say, ‘I take responsibility’ … this state has languished long enough with no vision.”
7:15: Deal: Carter has never held leadership in the Senate, in his party or in his Dekalb County caucus.
7:16: Hunt and Carter blast Deal’s comments last week that water can prevent Ebola as inaccurate.
7:18: Carter employs a lengthy sports metaphor that causes him to run over on time. Here’s the breakdown:
Deal and Carter are both Georgia football fans. If Georgia was losing game after game to Tennessee, Florida and Alabama, Mark Richt would lost his job. Why, Carter then asks Deal, should Deal keep his job given Georgia’s last-place ranking in unemployment?
Deal’s response: Job creation (Georgia came in sixth nationally last year) is far more important than unemployment (economists do not even look at unemployment as an important statistic).
7:20: Wood grants Deal a rebuttal to remarks about his Ebola water gaffe. Deal says his Commissioner of Public Health, Brenda Fitzgerald, misinformed him in regards to water’s curative powers. Hunt questioned why Deal neglected to retract the statement.
7:21: Hunt on medical marijuana and marriage equality: “I will be a strong proponent of medical cannabis,” but says he will allow courts to decide on the issue of same-sex marriage.
7:22: Deal on medical marijuana: His executive order allowing research and clinical trials of cannabis oil will put Georgia ahead of other states in terms of developing medical cannabis.
7:24: Carter on medical marijuana: Says Georgia needs to develop medicine derived from cannabis, and that government should dole out rights equally in respect to marriage.
7:25: Deal says he intends to make his tax returns available to the public. On Carter’s claims that Deal used his position in Congress to secure a contract for a business he owned: “I do not agree with the proposition that the government made our business successful.”
7:27: Deal says the recent ethics reform bill should improve Georgia’s standings in terms of ethics laws.
7:28: Carter on Medicaid expansion: “Right now the federal government has $36 billion of Georgia’s money, and the governor has fought for the federal government to keep that money.”
7:30: Deal on Medicaid expansion: Laments that Georgia has already payed over $300 million to comply with Affordable Care Act requirements, and should not have to come up with the $2.5 billion over the next decade Deal says Medicaid expansion would demand. Carter pressed the fact that Georgians pay taxes to the government and deserve that money back, which the federal government would accomplish by funding the expansion at first.
7:32: Hunt on Medicaid expansion: Georgia should adopt free-enterprise based systems like healthcare co-ops.
7:33: Hunt on Todd Gurley’s suspension and money in college football: Allow “impoverished” college athletes to make a reasonable amount of money instead of having to violate regulations that prohibit commercial activities.
7:35: Deal: Treat all cases equitably when dealing with rules violations like Gurley’s. Deal says UGA has followed the rules by suspending Gurley, but not all college programs do the same, allowing some rule-breakers to play.
7:36: Carter links Gurley to high college tuition, saying he would try to make postsecondary education more affordable.
7:40: Hunt says he believes each new law erodes the constitutional rights of Americans. “We have too many lawmakers and we need more law erasers.” He says that before a law could be passed, lawmakers should have to repeal three or four existing laws.
7:42: Deal promises to revisit the state’s Quality Basic Education system to ensure more reliable and efficient funding. Carter responds that Georgia’s foundation of public education “is crumbling.” Deal points to Carter’s vote against the last budget, which increased the state’s education budget. “You say you support education, but your votes don’t support that.” Carter responds that he did not vote for the bill because it still underfunded education by over $700 million.
7:47: In response to a University of Georgia student’s question about the state’s jobless rate, Deal reiterates that job creation rates better represent the state of the economy.
7:48: On sunday voting: Deal says he would support Sunday voting as long as it was uniform and took place in every county in the state. Hunt calls for a paper trail of every vote, which electronic voting machines do not produce currently. Carter applauds Georgia’s move to allow Sunday voting.
7:51: On giving churches a choice to allow firearms: Deal, Carter and Hunt voice support for giving churches the choice to allow guns on their property.
7:53: The candidates make their final statements. Carter emphasizes the areas where Georgia lags behind (education, the economy), Deal focuses on where it succeeds and Hunt promises tax cuts, tort reform and more liberty before reminding voters to “hunt for Hunt on the ballot” in the Nov. 4 election.
Registered Georgia voters may cast their ballots on Nov. 4, or vote early any day before then. Find information on your polling place
