They may have.
Georgia.
Couldn't see you.
Yes, absolutely OK. Absolutely in the
alright alright alright here we go.
Here we go your teeny tiny OK. I know.
Yep. Stacy, thanks for what you're doing.
Here. Good morning, good morning. I'm
just so excited to be here
on Election Day.
This is the neighborhood
I lived in for 15 years and this is an
important place not only for voting,
but it's emblematic of
what Georgia can look like.
This is a place that has struggled for years,
but has researched and is coming together.
It is a diverse community where people
may not have everything they need,
but they believe more is possible and
this is an example of why I'm running.
I'm running because I believe in one Georgia.
Whether it's bringing together
neighborhoods or bringing together counties,
or bringing together an entire state,
our responsibility is to see the needs
of every Georgian to make certain those
who are doing well continue to do well
with those who are trying have real
opportunities that those who are falling
behind that we catch them and lift them up.
I'm running because I believe in one
Georgia where everyone can thrive and
today is the beginning of the next phase
of this campaign where we fight together
for one Georgia and we win any questions.
Senator Perdue yesterday had this comment.
He said she ain't from here.
Let her go back to where she came from.
Would you care to respond?
Not at all. I will say this.
I have listened to Republicans
for the last six months attack me,
but they've done nothing to attack
the challenges facing Georgia.
They've done nothing to articulate
their plans for the future of Georgia.
Their response to a comment on their record
is to deflect and to pretend that they
have done good for the people of Georgia.
We are number one in maternal mortality,
#2 and the number of uninsured we are #6
in infant mortality #9 in gun violence.
We are #48 in the provision of mental health.
Services and the challenge I have is
that the answer from Republicans from our
former senator to our current governor
is to fight me instead of fighting
the problems that are facing Georgia.
And I urge everyone to pay less
attention to rhetoric and more attention
to the record and to the results.
And I'm here to provide results
for the future of Georgia.
Almost 400,000 Hispanic Georgia voters.
I'm sorry, say it. Your
message for the almost
400,000 is Spanish borders.
I want to say to all of the voters,
especially the Hispanic voters,
that your turn out is changing
the future of the state.
These are communities that have not only come
recently but have been here for generations.
And what we can do together in
Georgia is make certain that
every Georgian can thrive,
especially our Hispanic populations.
We care about education.
We care about job access and
good wages. We care about making sure
that our future is together.
We know that.
Hispanic population has actually
one of the lowest insurance rates,
which means when they get sick
or when they need mental health,
they're the least likely to get it.
I want to expand Medicaid to make
certain that we are solidifying access,
that we are guaranteeing opportunity
and that we're creating 64,000
jobs across the state of Georgia,
and I want the Hispanic community
to know that I've been with you.
Will stand with you and we'll stay with you.
I've never demonized,
but I've always tried to deliver,
and that's what I'll do as
the next governor of Georgia.
Republicans
have had a field day with your
comment about this is the worst
state to live in. Was that a mistake?
I had an inelegant delivery of a
statement that I will keep making
and that is that Brian Kemp is
a failed governor who doesn't
care about the people of Georgia.
If you look at record,
if you look at the results under
his four years of leadership,
there has been failure after failure.
When we face nightbeat knife
and gun violence,
his response is to create open season
on Georgians by creating criminal carry.
When we needed help for the not being
the number one state with HIV diagnosis,
his answer was to slash $4
million out of the state budget.
That would have helped those
families just recently.
This is the governor who,
in the midst of rising costs for
food and a baby formula shortage,
has decided to decline $120 million
in benefits for working families
in Georgia who need help with food.
This is going to hurt Georgia
across the board,
especially rural Georgians and Georgians
who are desperately in need of support.
Because while he may have declared
the pandemic over, it is not over.
For millions of Georgians,
and they deserve his help,
not his scorn.
I'm sorry I don't care for CBS.
How is this rematch with Governor
Kemp going to be different?
And you've seen former President
Trump get awfully invested in
the Georgia primary so far?
How should Democrats be running against
him since he's inserted himself in
four years ago? I warned about the
failure that Kemp was going to be,
and four years later I'm going to prove
that he was the wrong choice for Georgia.
We have seen a surge in democratic
voting despite not having competitive
races at the top of the ticket.
But what we've seen even more acutely.
Are people who are struggling who need
Brian Kemp to pay attention to their
needs and he instead is paying attention
to those who have and have more.
We need him to pay attention to those who
want more who are willing to work for more.
But they need a governor
in partnership with them,
not an opposition to them.
Brian Kemp doesn't care about
the people of George,
and you need only look at the fact
that three hospitals have shut down
under his watch during the worst
healthcare crisis in a generation.
If he cared about Georgians he would
be doing more to serve Georgians
instead of serving himself.
Why do you believe that your
personal brand is strong enough
in Georgia to outrun the headwinds
facing your National Party?
And is there anyone from the
Biden administration that you
would like to campaign with in
the general election? Georgia
is a state of greatness.
We have incredible opportunity and what
I want people to understand is that we
cannot achieve that opportunity if we
don't acknowledge the challenges we have.
I am here because I believe that
we can talk about our challenges
and work together towards success.
That's the point of this campaign and
that's the point of the work I've
been doing for the last four years.
Whether I'm in office or not,
my commitment is to Georgia.
That's why I paid off the debts
of 68,000 Georgians.
That's why I delivered Wi-Fi devices
across 150 communities when Brian Kemp
sat silent and let communities suffer.
I've done the work I can do when I
didn't have the position and now I want
the job of leading Georgia and that is,
I think, emblematic of what
every Georgian really wants.
What we know is that there are
going to be national headwinds.
There always are.
But what we can do here in George is
come together and fight together.
And I welcome anyone willing
to lift Georgia up.
To come to Georgia and help me get
it done? How do you plan to rebuild
the multiracial coalition that you
constructed in 2018 and 2020? We face this.
Sorry, the way we build that
coalition is by doing exactly what
we've done for the last 10 years,
and for the last four years,
I've never stopped talking to Jordans.
I've never stopped being in
community with Georgians.
We have worked with communities across
the state's racially diverse communities.
Ethnically diverse communities,
religiously diverse communities,
the responsibility we have is to
not show up when we want votes,
but to show up when they have needs.
And I have done that through organizations
I've created through work I've done
independently in the private sector and
the public sector and in the nonprofit.
I believe that we can rebuild that coalition,
and we're already seeing it turn
out in this primary despite not
having the resources of Republicans
or the competition of Republicans.
What we've seen is record,
turn out among communities of color among
Latino and Hispanic and black communities.
Those are voters who weren't
in the mix four years ago,
and they are showing up in this primary,
and we know they'll show
up again in November,
but it's my responsibility to
give them a reason to vote,
and part of my goal is to make certain
they know that I see all of them.
I hear them, and I will represent.
All of George Clooney.
What do the early voting numbers tell? It's
possible that Democrats will go
wrong and that the new law doesn't.
The question about voter suppression
and voter turn out is causation.
Without correlation we.
I'm sorry you can make mistakes
even when you know you're
talking about it's correlation.
Without causation,
we know that increased turn out
has nothing to do with suppressant
suppression is about whether or
not you make it difficult for
voters to access the ballot.
And in Georgia we know difficulty
has been put in place for too many
Georgians who wanted to vote by mail
who had to figure out a calendar
of applying just early enough,
but not too late.
Who had to have wet signatures
so they could print things out?
Take a picture, upload it?
We know that across the state counties
have taken advantage of county
election boards that have shifted
their dynamic and Spalding County.
They eliminated Sunday voting to target
a black community that was showing up.
We know that across this state voters
are still facing difficulties and
this is just the primary primary.
Voters tend to be more active
and engaged voters,
but despite the difficulty,
despite the outrage that
is legitimate and real,
we know voters want their right to vote.
To be made real and be held sacrosanct.
And so they are showing up.
We know that voter turn out is not
proof that there isn't suppression.
It is the antidote to suppression.
And that's we're gonna keep fighting
to make certain every Georgia voter
who wants to cast a ballot can do so.
CNN, when you speak to your
supporters across the state,
there are still some rawness from 2018.
They say things like you were robbed,
have you done enough to dispel the
notion that the 2018 election your 2018
election was illegitimate
in 2018? Voters across the state were
denied access to the right to vote.
They were denied the ability to
register and stay on the rolls.
They were denied the ability to
cast a ballot and the ability
to have that ballot counted.
I am not entitled to victory
and this election. The 2018.
Challenges were never about me,
they were about whether Georgians were
going to be treated as full citizens
in the state and to the extent that
the 2021 laws returned us to a time
when their votes were dismissed and
their voting histories were discounted,
then I'm going to keep fighting,
but my important message is that the
way we fight is by turning out more
voters by calling out voter suppression
from Brian Kemp and Brad Ratzenberger,
but not just laying there but standing up
and fighting for more voters to turn out.
And that's what the work we're going to do.
I'm looking for some.
Local
Hi Lionel is in with NBC.
After tonight you become
officially the Democratic nominee.
Talk to us about your
strategy going forward.
Does your campaign shift into
a new gear after today?
What does that look like? The
campaign that I'm running from the
day I launched is about 1 Georgia.
It's about traveling the state,
talking to Georgians,
and understanding that there is
incredible pain in the state that families
are struggling and they're worried.
But there is also extraordinary promise
in the state that more can be done,
and it's not going to cost
us new money and taxes.
It's just going to cost.
Ideas and new innovation.
We can work together to lift Georgia.
We can expand Medicaid,
give health insurance to
half a million Georgians.
Give mental health care to our poorest
Georgians and create 64,000 jobs.
We can do the work of serving
every single Georgian,
but only if we have new leadership
that actually cares about Georgia.
Hi to you from the AJC.
Can you talk a little bit about
what your campaign is going to
look like now that you're in
the general election season?
Can voters in every county expect
to see you like you did in 2018?
I'm not certain.
I'll make it to every single county,
but I'll make it to every region of
the state and I will have a presence
in every county in the state.
But what's even more important is
that I'm going to be listening
to all the voters in the state.
We've already built one of the most
impressive apparatuses for voter engagement,
and we're going to continue to expand.
This is going to be an expensive race,
but our investment is not going to be in tip.
Tat politics.
It's going to be in making sure
that every Georgia voter knows
how to vote knows why to vote,
and knows where to vote,
and we're gonna give them a reason to vote.
That's the mission of this campaign.
Do you plan to invite President
Biden to campaign with you,
or for you ahead of November?
I welcome President Biden because he's
delivered for the state of Georgia.
We have seen billions of dollars come
to the state now they've been regifted
by a governor who likes to take credit,
but without taking responsibility.
But I am proud of Raphael Warnock
and John Ossoff who've worked
with our President to make certain
resources are coming to Georgia,
that's why I'm so dismayed by the
decisions made by Brian Kemp to refuse to
deploy money for unemployment benefits.
To refuse to deploy resources for families
who are struggling with rental assistance.
He has refused to help the Georgians who need
him most at the time when they need him most.
It's because Brian Kemp doesn't care,
but I care about Georgia and I invite
anyone who cares about Georgians
to come down here and help me win.
I'm sorry I wanted to ask you,
you mentioned there fighting for one.
Georgia Republicans throwing everything
they got at you specifically.
How do you plan to bridge and
and win some of the support from
Republicans come November? Republicans
have the same challenges that
Democrats do and independents.
They want to have healthy families.
They want to have good jobs.
They want access to
housing that is affordable.
They want healthcare.
They want mental health support
and they want a brighter future.
That's the conversation I've been having.
With Georgia voters,
since the conversation,
I intend to continue to have,
but I also have plans
for how we make it real.
You don't have to raise taxes to
raise the quality of life in Georgia.
You don't have to raise taxes to
meet the obligations in the state of
Georgia and what we can do together
in the next four years is actually
achieve the promise of Georgia.
That's why I'm running and that's
why one Georgia is my mission.
Thank you all so much.