Getting Candidates on the Record:What We Learned, and Why It Mattered 

From Laurie Ott, Executive Director, Georgia

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Higher Education Healthcare Initiative (GHEHI) 

In August and September, GHEHI sat down separately with both candidates for Governor and asked them the same questions about Georgia's healthcare workforce and health outcomes. Georgians now have a record. 

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That format had limits. Neither candidate saw the other's answers nor could respond. One candidate used part of her time to raise allegations about her opponent's business record, which he had no chance to answer. That is a format issue, and GHEHI will address it in any future effort. 

Both candidates also spoke largely in generalities; fifteen minutes is not enough for an issue this important. Each made assertions that held up and ones that didn't, which is why GHEHI is publishing what holds up and what doesn't alongside the interviews. 

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Why do it? According to a WANF survey of Georgia voters, healthcare is a top-three issue, yet neither candidate has been pressed on the record about physician and nursing shortages or how they would measure success. Georgia ranks near the bottom in physicians and registered nurses per capita. That is a documented crisis, and the next governor will inherit it. 

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A record is a starting point. It gives Georgians a baseline for measuring what happens after January, and it tells whoever wins that constituents are paying attention. 

Thank you to both candidates, to WRDW and Gray Media for co-producing and airing the interviews, and to every Georgian who watched wanting answers to hard questions. 

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The work continues.