INTERVIEW: Keisha Lance Bottoms Speaks On Georgia Governor Race

Charlamagne Tha God (0:02)

Keisha Lance Bottoms is joining us again. Good morning, KLB.

Keisha Lance Bottoms (0:05)

Good morning. It's great to be with you.

Charlamagne Tha God (0:08)

I was looking at the polls, man. Only 0.03% separates you and Rick Jackson. What does that mean exactly?

Keisha Lance Bottoms (0:19)

I mean, it means that it's gonna come down to the wire. We always knew that this is gonna be a close race, but to put it in the context, this man has spent over $220 million in this campaign, over $100 million against me alone, and we are tied. So it speaks to the power of the movement that we have with this campaign, and we're just reminding people don't get comfortable with those early vote turnouts. You gotta turn out today, run through the tape, and then we'll celebrate later.

DJ Envy (0:51)

Have you been seeing anything that looks a little crazy at the polls out in Georgia at all?

Keisha Lance Bottoms (0:56)

There were a few flags that we've had. Nothing that seems to be systemic. It all seems to be one-offs. People, some people had gotten letters questioning their registration. Someone was told they had to take a class in order to vote, but we don't see a pattern yet, but hopefully, you know, those were just one-offs, and it's not something larger going on.

Charlamagne Tha God (1:21)

Gotcha. You know, Keisha, Georgia has become one of the most politically important states in America, right? But there's still a lot of distrust toward both parties. What would you say to a voter who's sitting at home right now, deciding whether they want to go out and vote, who believes politicians only come around when they need votes and disappear once they're elected? What would you say to that person to get them off the couch this morning?

Keisha Lance Bottoms (1:43)

I would say that it's understandable, but not to give up on our democracy, that our voices are reflected through our votes and everything that you care about comes through government. Whether it is, will a hospital stay open in your community? Will there be a library? How your schools will be funded? Would that pothole be filled? Will that bridge be repaired? I mean, it all boils down to government. So when you stay home and don't vote, you are voting for something, and most likely, it's not in your best interest.

Jessica Moore (2:20)

Also, just to piggyback from what Charlotte said, more specifically, how would you activate the youth? Because that's a big part. That's a big part of the people.

Keisha Lance Bottoms (2:29)

Well, you know what? Thankfully, we have seen a significant uptick in our young voters turning out to vote. But again, we need more, because people have to understand there's still enough votes out there on either side for it to go either way.

Young people, I've heard them loud and clear when they've talked about wanting access to mental health services. That's probably the number one concern I hear from high school students and college students. They're concerned about AI and is it going to take away their possibilities of having jobs in the future and then the cost of living. You know, they're questioning, is my education worth it? So I've heard them, I've been working on policies to address these issues that we've heard, like expanding our 988 mental health access services, making sure that we have a pathway to free technical and community college, and then proposing things like eliminating our grocery taxes in Georgia and taxes on diapers, baby formula and feminine hygiene products.

DJ Envy (3:32)

We've had, I'm not sure, the gentleman, I'm not sure if he was running for governor. I can't remember, but he was talking about house taxes, right? Home taxes, and he was saying that a lot of times, especially in our community, generation of wealth comes from families passing down homes from years and years and years.

Charlamagne Tha God (3:47)

You're talking about Dr. Jermaine Johnson of South Carolina.

DJ Envy (3:49)

Yeah, Dr. Jermaine Johnson. And he was talking about how you can pay off your house in 30 years and you own that house, but you don't pay your taxes in two or three years and they automatically take your house. What's your thoughts on that? Because it seems like that's a way that we're losing a lot of our quote unquote generational wealth and these houses that's been passed down from our grandmothers, great grandmothers, our great great grandmothers. What are your thoughts on that?

Keisha Lance Bottoms (4:10)

Yeah, and my family is experiencing this. My mother owns the home that my grandparents built a few weeks ago and when those taxes come due, my mom's a senior and she is trying to figure out how she's going to pay those taxes in lump sum. So what I did when I was mayor of Atlanta was I created an affordable housing trust fund and it allowed us to do just that to offset rising property taxes. The first legislation I proposed was when I was on city council and we did it outside of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium because we knew gentrification was going to hit that area hard. We now expanded it citywide and I want to expand that and fully fund it statewide. It not only helps people be able to pay their property taxes, our seniors, or people who may not be able to afford to do it, but also with down payment assistance, rental assistance, and then just one other thing, I'll say another challenge we have is with air property, where grandparents leave the home and they don't leave a will. So that's a huge issue, especially in black communities. So we are working on policies to help make it easier for people to clean up those titles.