Show full transcript 0:39 from a previous candidate, Teresa Lin, 0:43 who had already been running, hitting the campaign trail, 0:46 knocking doors and building a campaign. 0:49 And so walk me through kind of where you were 0:55 when you got the call, 0:56 what your action steps were considering taking this on. 1:01 I was getting a pedicure when I got the call from Melita Easters, who's headed Georgia 1:07 Windlass. 1:08 Well, first I got a text from Representative Betsy Holland, who is my friend. 1:12 I am her current chief of staff and campaign manager, and I worked with her on and off 1:16 over the last six years. 1:18 She texted me that Melita wanted to call. 1:20 This was confidential information that Teresa Lim was withdrawing. 1:24 And she's like, you might know someone who wants to run. 1:27 And then there was like a little PS. 1:29 There's no way you would want to run. 1:30 when you and I was like, oh, absolutely not. 1:32 But I'll gladly talk to Melida. 1:34 But Melida has this habit of just talking 1:36 as if it's a done deal. 1:38 And she just kept on saying how great I would be. 1:41 And this was a real ego boost when everyone tells you 1:44 how awesome you would be at this. 1:46 I was just, you know, it took me about 24 hours 1:49 and multiple conversations with many people 1:52 to get from no to yes. 1:54 But it became clear to me that I think, 1:57 I know I was the most qualified person, 1:58 But not only that, I knew no one would work harder than I would at flipping this district. 2:04 Yeah. Yeah. Because you've got so much experience under... 2:07 I do. 2:07 You said working for Betsy, so representative of Holland. 2:12 But last time we talked, you were mid-primary, CDC, DOES, whole reason you got into this 2:19 in the first place, right? And you won that primary pretty handedly, very handedly. 2:26 But for anyone just tuning in, like what's changed since then, what's your 30 second 2:36 version of like coming out of that primary and has anything changed for you from why 2:42 you're in this and what you're trying to do this for? 2:46 No, the reason I got into this was the policy issues that I feel really strongly 2:51 about. Really strongly about expanding Medicaid, giving people health insurance, very strongly 2:57 about gun safety. And so now I'm able to focus on the policy issues and the real differences 3:03 between the Republican incumbent and myself on those policy issues. So that's kind of 3:09 my love as the policy part. So I'm getting to focus on what made me say yes, what made 3:15 me run this race. 3:16 Yeah. 3:17 I mean, it's funny to me because you both had such a different path. 3:20 It's like Sarah got to skip the primary, but then had to fight through one, but I'm not 3:26 sure which is actually, neither one is an easy route. 3:32 So one of you, like I said, inherited the sprint, but does the way you got here, and 3:38 we'll throw it to you first Beth, but does the way you got here and having to do that 3:42 like change you think maybe how you'll govern? What were your lessons coming out of a primary 3:48 that you were able to take advantage of? You know, how much I believe in democracy, right? Because 3:55 sure, it would have been easier for me to not have a primary and to just go to the general. 4:00 But I believe in democracy and that means that people can run for this race and hopefully the 4:06 most qualified person comes through the primary and is the representative for the party, for the 4:12 general. So I do think that the the primary helps me solidify my message. It 4:18 helps me build relationships. It helps me get out there and knock doors earlier 4:22 than I probably would have. So it was a little bit of a push to get me going. 4:27 And you know, it was not an easy, you know, the results were very favorable, 4:32 but the process itself is not easy. Running for office isn't easy. So I did 4:36 take a lot of lessons learned from the primary that I am getting to apply 4:40 now. Have you, before we jump to Sarah, like have you seen your opponent was Tim 4:45 Doerr? I've seen pictures of him out knocking doors. Has he been helping on 4:49 your campaign at all? Yeah, we're really unified despite differences going in. 4:53 We're really unified that our goal is the same and that goal is to flip the 4:58 seat and the goal is to put a Democrat under the dome. So he's a 5:02 precinct captain with North Fulton and he's donated to my 5:07 campaign, and he's all in to help me achieve the goal that we all have as Democrats, which 5:14 is great. 5:14 That's awesome. 5:15 That's awesome. 5:17 Sarah, like we mentioned, you've spent a good amount of time under the gold dime, but 5:21 what has being the actual candidate, has it changed maybe your views once you're 5:28 in there, like how you'll govern, or do you think it's changed anything for you? 5:34 Not necessarily. 5:34 I just never thought I would be in a position to govern. 5:38 I've always worked under somebody 5:40 and I'm very supportive of Betsy Holland 5:42 and the way that she governs. 5:44 It made me realize that I actually do have 5:46 a lot of opinions of my own, 5:48 particularly around public school funding 5:50 because I'm a PTA mom and I was PTA president 5:53 at the Title I elementary school. 5:55 And I feel strongly that the schools aren't fully funded 5:58 and I can speak very passionately about that 6:00 because I do feel very passionately about that. 6:02 So it was just trying to find my lane, what was important to me, what I wanted to talk to people about and I've been knocking on a lot of doors. 6:09 And I find that there's more that we agree on than disagree on. 6:14 I've had some great conversations with people on both sides of the aisle. 6:18 And, you know, everyone can agree. 6:20 If you live up in North Bolton, you are likely sending your kids to public schools and you're also being asked to fundraise. 6:27 So, yeah. 6:29 I know that PTA president life. 6:31 Yeah. 6:33 You're both knocking doors in your districts. You both got segments of your district in Raw 6:40 as well. One, Sarah, you're up against a 23-year incumbent on his home turf. And Beth, you're 6:49 in the single most competitive seat, potentially one of the two seats in the state for flipping. 6:58 But what's actually happening on the porches when you're knocking doors, Sarah? 7:04 Like, what are you hearing from people as you talk to them? 7:08 I mean, oh, sorry. Yeah. Well, the one thing I talk about mostly is education. 7:13 And I have been knocking on doors, particularly in Roswell, so these are my neighbors. 7:17 They live right down the street. Our kids go to some of the same schools. 7:21 And when I mentioned that half the problems that could be solved in our 7:28 building, more teachers, more class size, more paraprofessionals, 7:32 more math and literacy coaches. And everyone agrees with me that 7:38 I've talked to about that, including some Republican 7:40 teachers who are very much on board. My opponent says the 7:44 schools are fully funded. And I disagree because the funding 7:47 formula has not been updated since 1985. And certain cost 7:51 sharing things have reduced over time. So that the the 7:55 The Fulton County Schools are paying more for health insurance for non-teachers such as our bus 8:01 drivers and our custodians and our cafeteria workers. We're putting more money in for transportation. 8:07 So the state is contributing less over time and we are contributing more. And my opponent says 8:13 that he's lowered property taxes. He has, but Fulton County Schools is raising their 8:17 millage rate for the first time in seven years. So we're just paying for it in other ways. 8:20 Yep, we'll get to that too. Beth, what about for you? What's happening? What are 8:27 the conversations that you're having? I think there's a lot of fear about, you 8:33 know, what's happening in our country. And fear that people's children are not 8:39 going to be able to have the kind of world that the parents grew up in. So 8:43 I've had parents say, you know, we, you know, we're doing well. I'm worried 8:48 for my kids. I'm worried what my kids are, you know, what kind of job can they get? Will 8:53 they be able to, you know, basically launch and support themselves in a world where everything 8:59 is going up. Our power bills are going up. Groceries are going up. The cost of everything 9:03 is going up. So there's a lot of concern around the next generation and children and 9:09 how they're going to live. I've also heard from a lot of parents that they want 9:15 sensible gun control that or you know gun safety that they don't like their 9:20 kids going through so many lockdown drills at school that that the children 9:25 are you know shouldn't be exposed to all those kind of drills and I agree 9:29 with Sarah that there are more similarities than differences when I 9:33 say that I'm in public health and I see everything through kind of a health 9:37 lens I have not had one person say oh my health insurance is perfect I love 9:43 it. It covers everything I need, my medications, you know, every single person has a story for 9:49 themselves, someone in their family or a neighbor who needed care, either couldn't get it or 9:54 couldn't afford it, or it took, you know, the finances of the family took a huge hit. 10:00 So across the spectrum and across income levels, education levels, everything, people 10:05 know that healthcare is a problem. And there's not an easy solution, but there are things 10:11 it can be done to make it better. So that's a common thread that I hear every day that I go out. 10:19 Yeah, yeah. It seems everywhere you go, you can't escape the conversation about any of these things 10:24 and they just seem to be structurally doing what they were built to do, which is not working for 10:30 us, the people. So it's going to take a lot of effort to try to get things back. Sarah, 10:38 You're going up against the 23 year incumbent, we mentioned that in Chuck Martin, are, honestly, 10:50 he's been in office since before some of your voters could probably drive, or be born. 10:56 Yeah. 10:57 So, what are, do you feel like people know who he is and understand who their legislator 11:04 is? 11:06 Well, as chief of staff to a state house rep, I'm always telling people you probably don't know who your state house representative is. 11:12 I think that's okay because I'll tell you. 11:14 But the truth is we should all know who our state house representative is. 11:17 And I will be the first one to say then I knew nothing about how state politics work until I literally started working for Betsy as her chief of staff. 11:25 I had to learn on the job. 11:26 It's a lot to keep up with in this day and age of everything that is happening because it's not just state 11:33 It's federal and it's county and it's city and there are so many things to keep up with 11:39 So I think some people know who Chuck Martin is he was mayor for Alfredo some time ago 11:43 I've had several people went up doctor and doors say they don't like it that he's been in office for 23 years 11:48 I don't think Chuck Martin meant to be a career politician 11:51 but that's definitely what he's turned into now. And I think a lot of people don't know who he is. 11:57 And I think he's not great at speaking to certain subsets of his constituents. I was at a Fulton 12:04 County Community School Board meeting this week. I did not know he was going to be there, but he 12:07 was he was there. And I talked to some people afterwards. He clearly wasn't speaking to the 12:12 audience in the room, which was principals and PTA moms who had, you know, a couple hours 12:18 for you on a Tuesday morning. I did leave the principles had to be there. I chose to be there. 12:23 But just not knowing, I think just not relating to the struggles that people are feeling and seeing. 12:30 And there's a lot of talk about redistricting right now and how that's going to affect the 12:33 schools. And people have real concerns. And we don't want to hear about, you know, some things 12:38 that he may have done that does not affect us on a personal level. I agree with you, Lindsay, 12:42 that we need government to help us. And I think we're very clearly seeing that it is not, 12:47 it is not doing that. Yeah, yeah. It's these, they turn into career politicians, they kind of 12:54 sit back on their incumbency and they're not necessarily in the communities day to day. 13:00 I would wager, no, you probably shouldn't say it, but I would wager, I don't think 13:05 Jeff Martin's been to a FCS community meeting and quite some time. 13:12 It's maybe quite some time. 13:13 Yeah, quite some time. 13:16 But your, we mentioned earlier, like your district 13:19 is potentially, is when it labeled 13:22 as one of the most flippable. 13:26 And does that, from a party structural standpoint? 13:31 And unfortunately, I think I know the answer to this, 13:34 but what does that do for you? 13:35 Does it bring in money? 13:36 Does it bring in volunteers? 13:38 How, from the, like, what kind of support 13:40 Does that mean that you get that others may not or does it? 13:46 Um, I don't I don't I can't speak fully to that because I don't know the intricacies of 13:52 You know, every campaign is different, right? So every 13:55 Every campaign across the state is different. I think there's a lot of momentum here 14:01 because Kamala Harris did win this district by you know, a decent margin and so 14:06 So there's a lot of appetite for making sure that we talk about the policies that matter 14:12 to people and that there's a representative in the district who reflects the values of 14:19 the district, not the values of the Republican leadership. 14:23 So I think that's one reason that there's so much emphasis on this area. 14:27 And also the fact that it was gerrymandered for the incumbent, but it's close every 14:35 single year. So, I feel like this is the year with the momentum and just the fact that 14:42 people are realizing that the Republican policies that have been in place are not serving us 14:48 well and that there needs to be some change, that there's a lot of momentum and a lot 14:53 of excitement. And not to mention the fact that we're in Fulton County, which has 14:58 been, you know, on Trump's radar as a county who wants to shut down. But I love 15:04 my Fulton County because what happened in the primary is they did the opposite and they showed up 15:08 and so you know our vote is not going to be silenced and all communities matter in this district 15:16 communities of color every single community matters and so we're going to do all we can 15:22 to turn out the vote in every single community up and down the district and so I think there's 15:27 a lot of people who care about that. Yeah let's talk about that energy. Have you been 15:34 surprised about it, this cycle, I mean, the volunteers, smaller donors, people who've 15:39 never canvassed before, has that kind of surprised you or have you, is it, it's very humbling? 15:46 Like, you know, when you, when you see that people are willing to give their Saturdays 15:51 to campus for you to share your message of wanting everyone to have health care. 15:55 So it makes you feel, I think there have been many times over, you know, ever since 16:00 Trump got elected to be honest, where I've been in my kitchen raging to my husband and 16:05 I feel very alone. But in this process, you don't feel alone because you realize there 16:10 is a big group of people who also want society that takes care of each other, that we can 16:16 live in a society where the policies aren't cruel and there's a real feeling that so many 16:23 policies that are coming down right now are just plain cruel and we don't need to live 16:26 that way we can we can it's okay to take care of each other it's okay to take 16:32 care of your neighbor it's okay to base policies on what's gonna make the 16:35 healthiest strongest community and so it's a real value so it's a time of 16:42 looking what your values are and then voting along your values and so the 16:48 amount of one day the last Saturday we had a canvas it was pouring and I was 16:55 And they were like, oh, no, it's not, there are people out there in their ponchos right 17:00 now waiting on you. 17:01 And I was like, what? 17:03 You know, so I get in the car and I drive there and we're all in our ponchos soaking 17:06 wet. 17:07 And I asked some woman, I said, you know, you could have stayed home today. 17:11 What made you come out? 17:12 And she goes, this is a five-hour-long fire. 17:14 Like there's no time for sitting around and rain is not going to hurt me, but, 17:19 you know, losing our democracy will hurt me. 17:21 And I was like, thank you, you know, because in that moment, you know, I might have sat 17:26 out, but like she was like cheering me on. 17:29 Yeah. 17:30 So it was, that's when, you know, there's so many things like that that happen and it's 17:33 very humbling. 17:34 That makes me. 17:35 It's part of the whole move. 17:36 What about you? 17:37 Oh, sorry. 17:37 Yeah. 17:38 What about you, Sarah? 17:39 Has, you've been through this before. 17:40 You've been a campaign manager. 17:42 You've seen some of the cycle. 17:44 So has anything stuck out to you about the grassroots stuff, this cycle in particular 17:49 for you? 17:50 Yeah, I mean, I agree with Beth that it's humbling, but also there's so much attention on the 17:54 state of Georgia right now and that that has trickled down to us is that we have a coordinated 17:59 campaign through the Democratic Party of Georgia and their whole job. 18:03 If you sign up, CarmobilizeLink, they will call you to make sure that you come. 18:08 They will call you all the time. 18:09 Yeah, I know because I accidentally signed up for one and then it felt so bad that 18:13 I was getting these calls. 18:15 Yeah, there's been so much volunteer recruitment and training and a real emphasis of hitting 18:21 the doors and that we're being very thorough. 18:24 We're trying to hit doors that we've never had before, you know, and talk to those people 18:27 who maybe haven't knocked on the door. 18:29 I've been going out a lot because I see there's real value in the candidate knocking 18:33 on the door. 18:34 I've had several people open the door once they found out it was a candidate. 18:37 One person was like, I've never had a candidate knock on our door before. 18:39 So, I historically have never liked canvassing and never felt I was very good at it, but then 18:47 when I was up, I will say that nothing will make you feel more like you're contributing 18:50 and making a difference than going out and knocking on doors. 18:53 And if you don't like to talk to people, we always need drivers. 18:55 That's how I started. 18:57 I was with someone who was very enthusiastic and very good at it. 18:59 And I realized that you're not really convincing anybody of anything, you're just talking 19:03 to them. 19:04 You're having a conversation. 19:05 You're making a connection. 19:06 and you're telling them your values and what you believe in, 19:10 and you hand them their wall card, 19:11 and you tell them, you know, 19:13 give me a call if you need to talk about this further. 19:14 I'm happy to do that. 19:17 But yeah, there's definitely a lot of energy and enthusiasm, 19:20 and I think Beth and I are able to capitalize on that a lot. 19:24 Yeah, that's fantastic. 19:26 It was always, I've talked about, yeah, 19:29 I was not great at canvassing for myself, 19:32 but now I'm like, when I'm talking about other people, 19:38 We're going to shift gears a little bit and talk about some topics that are kind of in 19:43 the zeitgeist, as I said to you, Sarah, and happening locally as well, starting to happen 19:50 locally. 19:51 But data centers, obviously, have quietly become one of the biggest land use and energy 19:56 fights in Georgia. 19:57 The other issue, and these are, the other one is flop cameras, and not just flop, but 20:04 the type of system that does track and local law enforcement uses. 20:09 And these are both national topics as well as happening locally, including right here 20:16 in Raw as well, but there are issues that are bringing people together from across 20:21 the political spectrum, which is interesting. 20:23 But lots of cities are canceling contracts. 20:27 There's lawsuits over data sharing, 20:29 even conservative lawmakers are calling for the guardrail. 20:31 So where I was gonna ask you guys, 20:34 and maybe you don't have an opinion yet 20:37 or haven't looked into it enough, 20:38 but Sarah, do you, where do you land on this? 20:44 Is, do you, where do you land on the flock cameras 20:46 to start out or? 20:49 Yeah, I mean, one, it's already becoming a problem 20:52 with data privacy concerns and people misusing the systems to 20:57 Georgia has the most 20:59 Density of flock cameras in any other state in this color. Oh, I didn't read. Yes. I looked that up before this 21:06 But also like I'm a mom. I have kids in school. I am 21:11 Very wary of things like school shootings. I understand that there can be a real need for this kind of data 21:17 I think like everything else. So just we need to have some guardrails around it 21:20 We need to have need warrant similar to search past, you know, past video cameras or 21:27 some 21:28 Rules around how long we keep the data for, you know, there I think those can be a lot of ways to 21:35 Minimize the abuse that we've seen of police officers looking up their their ex-girlfriends and trying to find out their whereabouts 21:43 But I also agree that there might be a need for this kind of surveillance 21:48 we're just, we're all wary of trying into a surveillance state. I'm hoping there's some sort of 21:52 medium, happy medium or common ground that we can find. I don't know yet if there is. It's still so 22:00 new. Yeah. You know, many states are enacting the state legislature can do a lot to curtail 22:06 some of the abuses that are happening now that I do know. That's what I was going to ask you, 22:09 Beth, do you see this potentially being a state-level, 22:16 creating a state-level policy 22:19 or should it be left to the municipalities? 22:23 Or maybe there's a medium, I don't know. 22:25 Yeah, that's tough. 22:29 I usually believe in local control 22:32 because the community knows what's best for it. 22:37 But I think we just need more information. 22:42 Like my questions would be, 22:44 I always hear that this was designed, 22:46 it was first developed by some Georgia Tech graduates 22:50 and it was to help the police 22:52 because I think there were some break-ins 22:54 that the police didn't have evidence for. 22:56 So, but now how many of the scanned cars 23:02 are involved in a crime? 23:03 Like what's the data surrounding it? 23:05 But I really come from a data science background, so I'm always like, well, what's the evidence? 23:12 And is this playing out the way it was intended, or is it getting misused, and our rights 23:17 are getting trampled on? 23:19 But I don't have a lot of information about it. 23:23 And from what I've been reading, it's kind of hard to come by, the information. 23:28 Where is the data? 23:29 How is it used? 23:31 What has it led to? 23:32 I mean, you hear anecdotes of people that were pulled over because of a, you know, misread 23:38 of the license plate. 23:40 So you hear anecdotes, but I'm more interested in the broader evidence base, like what is 23:46 going on. 23:47 So I would ask for more transparency and understanding the system. 23:54 And maybe the guardrails can be built around that when we know more and we understand 23:59 more. 23:59 It seems like there's a lot of secrecy around it, to me. 24:03 Well, it's the private company, right? 24:05 Yeah. 24:06 But they have contracts with the police departments. 24:08 They have contracts. 24:09 Yeah. 24:10 And there should be some type of a dashboard or something that citizens can access to 24:15 see, not necessarily who was apprehended or what happened, but just like there seems 24:23 It seems to be the need for a type of dashboard to say this many incidents, this many people 24:28 were apprehended in like, you know, you could have those numbers of like, how many it's 24:35 helped. 24:35 But with it in, and we don't know as a municipality, I'm sure we can ORR the information, but 24:41 like, I've been thinking about it for Roswell in particular, and it's like, oh, I'm 24:45 going to have to ORR what our contract is and what we spend with it and like, 24:50 I mean, I'm not doing it, but that's some other things, but also it flows into the same conversation 25:03 that's happening with data centers, it seems. 25:05 It's all being hidden, kind of behind closed doors with deals, and then the public doesn't 25:11 get insight into that. 25:13 Have you seen anything, Sarah, from your end on data centers, bigger AI data centers 25:18 or like, what has the conversation been? 25:22 Is that getting brought up to you at all? 25:24 Yeah, I mean, the nice thing about data centers 25:26 is everyone hates them. 25:27 And I've never been a NIMBY person, 25:29 but I think with data centers in particular, 25:32 it's not that it's not in my backyard, 25:34 but not in anyone's backyard. 25:36 Like, I don't think data centers need to be near 25:38 where people live in any way, shape, or form. 25:41 I know there's been a lot of mobilization, 25:44 small grassroots mobilization of people fighting 25:46 against the data centers, because you're right, 25:48 There isn't a lot of transparency over what's getting built where and when I also know that they're still getting tax breaks 25:54 There was a bill that passed the house this year, but did not make it all the way through to the Senate 25:59 So they're still getting tax breaks data centers don't employ anybody 26:02 They employ the construction workers who build them and then security guards, but we definitely I mean you talked about 26:08 Transparency earlier with block cameras. We need the same thing with data centers 26:11 We need to know what they're going to be built and what 26:14 strain they're going to be on the systems, the power systems, the water systems, how 26:19 it's going to affect the local residents. 26:21 And we need, you know, hearings, public hearings, a certain amount of public hearings that data 26:25 centers need to have before they even break ground. 26:28 I think that's what can be done on the state level. 26:31 Yeah. 26:32 That makes sense. 26:34 It does. 26:35 It just seems to be these backdoor deals that are- 26:38 It does seem to be that. 26:39 Yeah. 26:39 So gross. 26:40 And I do think we need more education around data centers. 26:44 Like I had talked to Beth previously about something about these and I don't think that 26:50 public generally understands like we need data centers for our phones and for different 26:55 things like these smaller ones, but there's it's the bigger AI ones that are being the 27:00 super drain on society and our resources. 27:05 So there's a bigger discussion that needs to happen around all that. 27:08 Her best suggestion, we also need more data on this. This is still very new and things 27:14 are plowing ahead quickly and maybe it's time to pause and look at the strain on the systems 27:19 and what Georgia taxpayers are being asked to pay. They're increasing power cost. I mean, 27:24 they've increased already. They're ridiculous at this point. But yeah, we need to stop 27:29 and look and and and it pauls on it. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I agree. So after the 2020 election, 27:38 Martin your opponent backed a performance review of Fulton County's own election administration 27:44 while Trump was, you know, continuing. He's still doing it on proven fraud claims. We know 27:49 this. Absolutely no evidence. As someone who's running to represent the same district. Yes. 27:57 How do you read that decision now? We already talked about how most voters probably don't even know who he is 28:02 They probably don't know he made that but what does that tell you in hindsight about him doing that I? 28:10 think 28:12 It's funny because I don't think check Martin is a mega Republican not at all 28:16 But I did go to a town hall the Richmond Cormac was hosting on the election security and check Martin went on and on 28:23 about how he was making the elections safer with SB202, which if you remember is the one that 28:28 curtailed a lot of voting access, but also said you couldn't bring bottled water to people. 28:32 And he honestly was just seemed very sad that he had been criticized so much for it, 28:37 like just legit sad that he had been vilified. But I know SB202 and there are certain things 28:43 like when I filled out an absentee ballot in 2020, I was able to put it in a draft box 28:49 outside the library, and I could have gone at any point. I could have gone at 2 a.m. Maybe that's 28:53 when my work schedule would have allowed me to do it, and that would have been delivered to the 28:59 place it needed to be, but now those are located inside the early voting locations. Most of them 29:04 are taken away, the ones that are left, so you can only access those during the early voting 29:08 location hours. Not everyone has that schedule. In fact, the people who are more likely to 29:12 absolutely vote are doing it because possibly they can't get to an early voting time in order 29:17 to vote in person. So that really upset me. And Nat, I don't know if anyone else knows that the 29:23 absentee ballots must reach the Secretary of State's office on the day of voting. How long does it 29:29 take for a ballot to reach there? Nobody knows. Nobody knows. Yes, but if you put it under Rob 29:36 Box, it is guaranteed to get there by election day. So we have, we can't rely on the coastal 29:42 service right now to deliver these ballots. So I think, okay, I'm not really answering your 29:47 question. Chuck Martin is definitely harder, but I think he's also trying to take power away from 29:53 the counties, but Fulton County in particular, because of how Fulton County has voted in the 29:57 past, like the area that we live in North Fulton is not exactly that blue, but the rest of the 30:02 county is. And so he's trying to make it harder and he's trying to take control of the elections 30:07 away from the county. Yeah. Oh, Beth, for you, Silcox is campaigning pretty hard about 30:16 these property taxes right now and reducing them, removing them completely. It seems to be a 30:22 Georgian Republican line. I don't know if it's happening elsewhere, but 30:30 we know that if you take something away, you've got to reduce over it too, right? So 30:39 do you feel like that's a vulnerability that voters understand that, like when they're hearing 30:44 her talk about it or do you think they just see more money in their pocket? Is it coming up at all? 30:51 It is coming up and I think people, if you say lower your property tax, that sounds good 31:00 until you talk about what the trade-offs are with that and the reduced public service, 31:06 the reduced fire, police, all the things that we need and the fact that how you're 31:11 pay for it is to raise the sales tax. And that disproportionately impacts certain populations. 31:18 And so when I'm not already disadvantaged, they're already because they're not homeowners. So now 31:26 there's some are. Yeah. It's, I feel like this is one thing that I've noticed when knocking 31:32 on doors. People are pretty tired of the soundbites and are pretty tired of just the things 31:38 that sound good. And so I like it because it pushes me to really understand issues and to 31:46 talk about issues and to study them. But the people I've talked to are, they're not satisfied 31:52 with little sound bites. They want to know more. They want an analysis and they want details. 31:57 And so I don't think the Republican sound bites are going to work because I think people 32:04 understand that if you cut some place, the money has to come from somewhere else, unless 32:10 you're willing to give up services. 32:13 In our district, we are blessed with great first responders, great police. 32:19 We have good schools. 32:21 We have really good services, and I don't believe that people would be willing to let 32:26 those go. 32:27 It's one of the main reasons that people choose to live here, and it's a fantastic 32:31 place to live and raise kids. 32:33 and multiple things can be true at the same time. 32:36 I can love this district. 32:38 Think it's a great place to raise kids 32:39 and see lots of room for improvement 32:43 in our district and in our state overall. 32:45 So both of those things are true at the same time for me. 32:48 Can I agree more? 32:49 One more about Silcox though. 32:52 Has she taken any, like, has she led any legislation 32:56 that's of no, like, has she taken a real stand 32:59 on a certain bill? 33:00 Is there something there for her 33:02 her that she's really leaned into during her tenure? 33:07 You know, I don't see her as a super bold policymaker. 33:12 I see her kind of falling in line and following the Republican leadership. 33:19 I think she has done a good job with anti-discrimination, specifically anti-Semitism, and I think 33:27 that's something that we all care about. 33:29 like we all want to talk about. What did she do? Well, she's very vocal and a discrimination bill 33:37 that brought anti-Semitism under a discrimination definition so that those kind of hate crimes 33:48 and hate speech and all those things were taken seriously. And something is a bill I would have 33:54 signed too because I believe that we all want our district and our state to be a place 33:59 where all faiths, ethnicities are protected and not just protected, but celebrated. 34:05 So I don't disagree with her on everything. 34:08 There are certain policies that I really do disagree with her on, namely on health care and gun safety. 34:15 And I think taking on Trump and speaking up in defense of the CDC 34:22 and speaking up in defense of science and in defense of research. 34:26 So we have a lot of differences, but that doesn't mean that we don't have some areas of 34:32 overlap and 34:34 That we both believe in and I think it's good to recognize that in each other 34:39 I mean it do you have 34:41 stuff in common 34:42 Me policy is a trade-off right like people believe different things and the way in policy is so that we can all live together 34:49 You know in the best way possible, and we may have different ideas of how that works 34:53 I mean, you know and 34:55 And that's okay. 34:57 We can have policy discussions that are based on respect and based on evidence and still 35:03 disagree. 35:03 And so I disagree with a lot of Silcox's votes and her policies. 35:08 It's not a personal thing. 35:09 It's a policy thing for me. 35:11 Yeah. 35:12 How is it? 35:13 Sarah, we'll start with you. 35:14 Like, what has it been like on the campaign trail as you're running into other candidates 35:18 and like being at things with them? 35:22 How's that camaraderie been? 35:24 Is it building up? 35:24 like, do you hope to be in the office with them? Like, talk to me about that process. 35:28 We formed a little support group where we complain about fundraising. No, it's been really nice 35:35 because I'm a librarian by trade and it's very important. I would love to collaborate with people 35:40 and I hate reinventing the wheel. So Beth's district covers part of Raul's, well, my district 35:45 covers part of Raul's, well, we are always going back and forth. Are you going to this 35:48 event? Are you going to this event? So that heart has been really helpful. We have a signal 35:53 group where we can chat about things like messaging and what's resonating when you speak to people 35:58 not resonating. I think it is very important for yeah it's Yumi, it's Adam Cleveland, it's Maggie 36:05 Goldman, and Maggie is like you know she's the warrior. Yeah but she's just been doing this for 36:12 so long that she will know the answer to every question if we ask it. I definitely feel that 36:19 But we're all running against one other person, but we're all running together, specifically 36:24 for me, Beth and Adam, being on the list of 10 seats to flip. 36:29 Yeah. 36:29 Do you think that changes anything once you're under the gold dome? 36:32 Should you all magically win somehow, or even just four review or a few of you? 36:40 Oh, well, I think there are a lot of policies that we align on, like Adam and I did a 36:45 protective health fundraiser together. 36:49 So, you know, we did the fundraiser together 36:51 and I know we will vote to repeal the ban together. 36:54 Like, so there will be a lot of things 36:56 that we still do together. 36:58 And, you know, but at the same time, 37:00 everybody's an individual and they have their own, 37:02 you know, particular passion and interest 37:03 and we become leaders in different areas. 37:06 So I'm really excited to get Democrats 37:09 and our expertise under the dome 37:11 because I think it's great to have 37:12 all these different perspectives that'll come together. 37:16 But it has been really nice. 37:17 And actually, that was a surprise to me. 37:19 When I said that I would run for office, 37:21 I didn't think, I didn't think about, 37:23 oh, I'll have a new group of friends. 37:26 You know, also work out on policy 37:28 and love to talk about it on a Friday night. 37:31 So I kind of feel like I found some people 37:33 that I, you know, I jive with, 37:35 but we are moving towards a common goal. 37:38 And the goal is an urgent one, 37:40 But it's also fun to be on a team where we all share a goal and the goal is to have better policy in Georgia. 37:51 Yeah. And this is going to be for both of you, but Sarah, we'll start with you. 37:57 I mean, Beth got let go from the CEC during the dogera. 38:03 Like we went through, is that right? 38:06 Yeah. 38:06 I was like, wait a minute. 38:10 But there is an increase, and we're seeing it here in Roswell with property taxes, that 38:16 people want to know that budgets have been gone through and that not necessarily a samurai 38:22 sword or a chainsaw to things. 38:25 But are there areas that you've recognized that do need review and potentially need to 38:35 be reviewed for that spending? Like, is there something, an area that you've identified 38:40 yet that you've recognized like, hey, this could probably be better? 38:46 I feel like we're not spending enough with the schools. So it's sort of the opposite 38:52 problem for me is that for the schools, it's been death by a thousand cuts over many, 38:56 many years. It's the deliberate choice not to expand Medicaid in Georgia because 39:00 that we just cover so many more people. So mine is a little bit of the opposite of, 39:06 I think, we should be spending more on these things to cover the services that are necessary 39:11 for Georgians. And I've had several people ask me, like, what is the matter to me if Medicaid 39:16 has expanded? And I'm like, you know, hospitals are closing in rural Georgia. Doctors are not 39:21 wanting to come practice in Georgia because of our abortion policies. And every time someone 39:27 goes to the ER for a problem that could have been solved by early intervention by having 39:34 a regular doctor that they went to, were the ones paying for it, the prices rise for all of us to 39:39 cover that gap. So yeah, I sound very democratic when I say this, but I think we're not spending 39:46 enough money. We have a huge budget surplus. The budget is a moral document that should 39:52 reflect our beliefs and values. That's a great point. What about you, Beth? Have you seen 39:57 in any areas that could potentially process efficiency improvement, anything like that? 40:04 I think that's one thing that I'll look at when I actually see the budget. 40:11 My big thing is effectiveness. 40:14 So if a program is not effective, then we shouldn't be funding it. 40:21 But I feel, you know, so I'm, again, coming at it from a science and evaluation perspective. 40:26 Is it working? 40:27 Is it doing what it was intended to do? 40:30 If not, can it be tweaked? 40:32 And if it's just not effective, let's move it off and let's move something else that's 40:35 on there. 40:36 But agree with Sarah in that we're leaving a lot of federal money on the table by not 40:40 expanding Medicaid, and it affects the whole healthcare system, not just, you know, 40:48 of the people that get extended to get coverage, 40:50 but it affects the whole system. 40:52 It affects people's premiums, it affects hospitals. 40:55 When a parent gets covered by Medicaid, 40:59 it's been shown that it impacts 41:01 that child's education outcome, the child's health. 41:04 So it makes the whole family healthier. 41:06 And the more families that we have healthy in Georgia, 41:10 the more healthy Georgia is, 41:12 we can cut back on other things. 41:14 I would love, love, love to see 41:16 where we don't have to spend so much money 41:17 incarcerating people because we give them the services they need to live productive lives 41:23 in the beginning. 41:24 So I think a lot of times we refuse to spend money on things on prevention and then we 41:30 end up paying for it at the end, other side. 41:33 So that's just how I see things. 41:36 And I think it's a pretty public health perspective, but I also think it could be very beneficial 41:40 to put that lens in the government and budget analysis. 41:45 That's great. 41:46 All right. 41:47 All right. 41:47 We're wrapping it up here. 41:49 So, two fun questions. 41:51 What is something that's making you laugh these days, whether it's a show or a podcast, or 41:56 is there something that you're watching to like zen out while you're running? 42:01 Sarah? 42:02 Oh, I just started. 42:03 Margot's got money troubles, some late three episodes in, but it's pretty funny and 42:07 I'm enjoying it. 42:08 I feel like there's always something that I'm watching right now. 42:11 I'm waiting for the return of the Great British Bake Off. 42:14 and All Creatures Great and Small, 42:16 which if you've not watched on PBS, 42:18 it is just a delightful family show 42:20 and my whole family loves it, 42:21 even my tween and my teenager. 42:24 So, All Creatures Great and Small, 42:27 it takes place in rural England in the 30s and 40s. 42:30 It starts off pre-war and then you got the war 42:32 and the next season will be post-war. 42:34 Yeah, it's just, it's about a vet. 42:36 And it's, yeah, it's just like. 42:38 What about you, Beth? 42:39 What are you into to make you keep it going? 42:42 I wish I could say I was a big reader, but to be honest, like when I my after like these long days 42:47 I hit the pillow and I'm out 42:53 No reading it but what I'll have been doing is I've been 42:58 my son is 43:00 Seven he's a junior in high school and I'm starting to feel like I don't have that much time left with him 43:06 So every time he comes in the door 43:08 I stick to him like glue and I chase him around and we've been playing a lot of ping-pong and a lot of pool and 43:16 So and we're just having a really good time together 43:19 So I'm starting to feel the the oh my gosh 43:22 This child isn't gonna be with me forever and I better just enjoy every single second I have with him 43:27 So that's my kids right now are giving me a lot of happiness and joy and I'm being 43:33 Chasing them and stuff. It's they're like mom. What's happening to you? I'm like, I don't know 43:37 I've been sitting at a desk all day, like, let's go play some basketball. 43:40 Let's go! 43:41 Yeah. 43:42 Get the Zoomies out. 43:44 Um, last one. 43:46 Sarah, what's the first thing you do after you win? 43:50 I don't know. 43:52 I don't even, I can't even think that far. 43:55 Like, I can just think about today. 43:58 Yeah. 43:58 And then tonight I'll start thinking about tomorrow. 44:01 I don't know. 44:02 Like, I would honestly just love to sit down with a book and read all day or 44:07 or just binge watch a show from beginning to end 44:10 and maybe not leave my couch. 44:12 I have met so many people, 44:14 but I've never in my whole life talked to as many people 44:16 as I have over the last month. 44:19 I can do it, but it's exhausting. 44:21 Yeah, yeah. 44:22 You're like, I just want a quiet room. 44:24 Yeah, yeah. 44:25 What about you, Beth? 44:27 Well, I, my husband and I are gonna go biking in Tucson. 44:32 I- 44:32 Oh, you've already played that. 44:34 Is a recovery city for me. 44:36 I just I love being out west and so 44:40 That's been my kind of carrot on days where I'm tired or something and I'm like, okay 44:45 I want to do this because of the policy issues 44:48 And when I get through this we can spend some time together biking through the desert 44:53 So that's what I'm planning on now. I may be a lot more exciting than mine 44:58 I don't know if I'm too tired to actually do it 45:00 So we might be, we'll see you again, see you again. 45:05 Well, ladies, I have just appreciated getting 45:08 to know both of you. 45:10 I appreciate you stepping up to run. 45:12 It takes a lot. 45:15 And so sincerely, thank you for doing it. 45:20 So thank you for joining me today as well. 45:23 Thank you for everyone that has listened so far. 45:25 This is another episode of App & Media's Georgia Politics 45:28 podcast. Can't wait for you to join us on the next one.
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