Bishop a no-show as three congressional candidates debate at Atlanta Press Club event

His opponent, Democratic Congressman Sanford Bishop of Albany, who has represented the southwestern Georgia district since 1993, was represented at the debate by an empty podium. Bishop introduced former president Bill Clinton at a campaign event in Albany around the time of the debate. His campaign said they did not know he would be invited to speak until after the debate had been scheduled and the congressman could not logistically make both events. Bishop and Johnson faced off Friday at a debate hosted by two local TV stations.

The race is not seen as a likely pickup for Republicans. Bishop, first elected in 1992, won his last race in 2022 by about 10%, or 24,000 votes.

During Sunday’s event, Johnson sought to paint the congressman as an absentee legislator out of touch with the needs of the district.

“This is multiple times that he has failed to show up,” he said. “He failed to show up on President Carter’s birthday, for the Plains Peanut Festival, he failed to show up at the forum at Fort Valley, the candidate forum, he failed to show up even at the Democrat forum in Albany. And so my question to Sanford Bishop is, why do you think people are going to be better off if they give you two more years in office than they have been for the past three decades?”

Without Bishop there to rebut, Johnson got to answer his own question.

“The answer that I was expecting is he’s going to say that his many years of service gives him a demonstrated track record,” he said. “It does give him a demonstrated track record. It gives him a demonstrated track record of not doing much for the people of the 2nd District. He’s much more aligned with the interests of New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco than he is of the people of the 2nd District.”

Johnson blamed Bishop, who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, for Congress’ failure to pass a farm bill. The omnibus farm bill is more than a year behind schedule, as the bipartisan congressional coalition that has advanced farm bills for the last half century has been teetering on the edge of collapse.

Johnson said if he is elected, he will support using federal funds to support state school voucher programs, a position popular with conservative education policy proponents.

On the question of abortion, Johnson sought to stake out a more pro-choice position than others in his party, sharing the story of his daughter, who he said nearly died because doctors were afraid of operating on her ectopic pregnancy in Louisiana until she was critically ill.

“I believe that every woman should have the right to make their decision in consultation with their doctor, their God, and, quite frankly, their own conscience,” he said. “I do have serious concerns and reservations about late-term abortion.”

Johnson said abortion should be left up to states, adding that “many of the states have gotten it wrong,” and that Georgia’s law is “getting close to getting it semi-right.”

District 3

Another Georgia Congressional seat is guaranteed to have a new occupant after next month’s election, and both candidates for the state’s only open seat fought it out Sunday to represent Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District.

Either Brian Jack, an advisor to former President Donald Trump, or Maura Keller,  a retired Army lieutenant colonel and nuclear medicine technologist, are set to be the next representatives for the west Georgia district, which includes some of Atlanta’s southern suburbs and Columbus’ northern suburbs and stretches west to the Alabama border.

The seat naturally favors a conservative – its current occupant, Congressman Republican Drew Ferguson, won by more than 37% in 2022 before announcing he would not run for re-election this year.

Ferguson is considered a solid conservative, but some of his more far-right constituents took issue with some of his votes. Last fall during a battle over the U.S. House Speaker position, Ferguson notably withdrew his support for Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan after Ferguson said he and his family received death threats from Jordan allies.

Jack, who advanced from a crowded primary after being endorsed by Trump, sought to tie himself to the former president, declining to state any policy differences with him and saying he looks forward to working with Trump to improve the economy and crack down on unauthorized immigrants.

“I’m very proud of what we did working together in the White House for the four years I worked for him, and if you elect me to Congress, you’re going to get similar pro -growth policies to ensure that prosperity is reached across our country,” he said.

Keller also tried to tie him to Trump, focusing on the former president’s less popular aspects, including his role in appointing U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the country’s constitutional right to an abortion and the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol riots.

“I am a common sense candidate with common sense policies and I am respectfully asking for your vote,” Keller said. “Unlike my opponent, he only cares about one person, and that is Donald Trump and the extreme agenda that he has.”

The debate was largely civil. On immigration, Jack indicated he will support Trump’s plan to deport large numbers of undocumented migrants, while Keller advocated a pathway to citizenship for people in the Deferred Action for Early Arrivals program that protects them against deportation. Both expressed concerns about artificial intelligence and advocated for regulations on the new technology.

Keller said the U.S. needs to kick climate change deniers from Congress and address the issue by providing more funding to prepare for extreme weather events. Jack said he would reduce carbon emissions by bringing manufacturing and energy production  to the U.S., lowering the carbon footprint of international shipping.

Keller said she wants to support Georgia farmers by passing the farm bill and codifying the right to repair farm equipment, a major bone of contention between farmers and the manufacturers who produce large equipment like tractors.

Jack emphasized a plan to eliminate federal departments and move their responsibilities to the states.

“I’d like to see more agencies and departments moved outside of Washington, DC,” he said. “If we move the Department of Agriculture to Georgia, I think you’d find much better farm policy for our farmers and our cattlemen across our district and across our state. If we moved to the Department of Homeland Security, to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, I think you’d find the most secure border in the history of our country. And we started doing that in the Trump administration.”

Keller pushed back against that suggestion.

“Now what Brian Jack is talking about moving the departments out of D.C., I don’t agree with that at all. It needs to stay there because we don’t need departments all over different time changes because we need them and we need to talk to them now.”

Election Day is Nov. 5, and early voting in Georgia begins Tuesday.

This story was provided by WABE content partner Georgia Recorder.