(The Center Square) – As eight men stood on the stage during the Atlanta Press Club’s Republican gubernatorial debate, much of the attention was centered on the two front-runners exchanging insults with each other.
Attorney General Chris Carr, in response to a question by businessman Rick Jackson, said if he weren’t in the middle of the race, he would consider opening an investigation into Lt. Gov Burt Jones.
“Is it appropriate for the lieutenant governor, a statewide elected official, to threaten legislation of members that supported his political opponents or demanded up to $100,000 in campaign contributions just to have a meeting?” Jackson asked Carr during the debate.
“Folks are saying, ‘Is it true that bills were passed or not passed?’, or committee hearings held based on who was supporting the lieutenant governor or you or me or some other folks,” Carr said. “Look, I’ll be honest, if I wasn’t running in this race, there’s enough out there that I would have started an investigation.”
Jones said two representatives supporting Carr were able to pass their bills.
“There was nobody, just because people that you had paid endorse you might not have gotten some of their bills done, they want to blame me for it not happening,” Jones said. “There was nobody holding anybody’s feet to the fire.”
Jackson and Jones are leading the field that also includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Clark Dean, Gregg Kirkpatrick, Ken Yasger and Tom Williams.
The InsiderAdvantage poll shows Jackson leading among 800 likely Republican voters with 32%. Jones followed with 25%, then Raffensperger (11%) and Carr (6%). Three percent of respondents picked “other,” while 23% are still undecided.
Jones accused Jackson of “telling lies about me” and telling lies about himself to the public. The lieutenant governor said an article in the New York Post said Jackson hired “illegal immigrants” to work for his company. Jones asked if he had any “illegals” working for him right now or in the past.
“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “I hire thousands of people. Other people hire them. We use the I-9 every day.”
Raffensperger defended his office’s record on elections amid questions about election security. He said that the Heritage Foundation and Fox News had said Georgia’s elections were among the best in the country.
“You guys can continue to fight among yourselves and have that personal grudge match,” Raffensperger said. “But I’m focused on what the future looks like.”
Early voting for the May 19 primary continues through May 15. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held on June 16.