Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson skipped an Atlanta Press Club debate Monday, leaving Democratic candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms to answer questions beside an empty podium, according to the source report.
Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor and senior adviser to President Joe Biden, criticized Jackson’s absence during the forum. The report says she accused him of avoiding questions about his record and said she was running to serve as governor.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Jackson would be the first major-party gubernatorial candidate to miss an Atlanta Press Club general-election debate in the series’ history. Press Club officials told the newspaper that an attempted debate in 1994 did not take place because neither the Democratic incumbent nor the Republican challenger could attend.
Jackson said Monday that voters had not asked him about a debate and that affordability and rising gas prices were more important concerns. His campaign had not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment at the time of its report.
The candidates had both taken part in an Atlanta News First town hall-style debate on Oct. 6. Jackson is a businessman and philanthropist. The report also says President Donald Trump endorsed him after he won the Republican primary and runoff against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, whom Trump had supported in the primary contest.
