Illegal immigration and abortion dominated Sunday's debate between the two candidates for Georgia's open 3rd Congressional District seat.
Republican Brian Jack and Democrat Maura Keller each focused on the issue that most galvanized their respective bases: immigration for Jack and abortion for Keller.
Jack, a former White House adviser to then-GOP President Donald Trump, said the Trump administration secured the U.S. border with Mexico only to see an influx of illegal immigrants after the Biden administration relaxed enforcement of immigration laws have.
“Every county in the country is now a border county,” Jack said during a livestreamed candidate debate at Georgia Public Broadcasting’s studios in Atlanta.
Jack cited the murder of a 22-year-old nursing student who was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in Athens as an example of what can happen in an era of lax immigration regulations.
“Laken Riley would still be a student at the University of Georgia if an illegal immigrant hadn’t taken her life,” Jack said.
Keller cited the deaths of two Georgia women, Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, in 2022 shortly after Georgia's six-week abortion ban went into effect as an example of what can happen to pregnant women following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade repealed the 1973 law that legalized abortion.
Thurman's medical care was delayed because her doctors feared violating Georgia's abortion law, while Miller did not seek medical care because of the same concerns.
“[Whether to obtain an abortion] is the decision of the woman, her health care provider, her family and her spiritual advisor,” Keller said.
Keller, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said the outdated and understaffed Veterans Administration needs to be overhauled to provide better service to those who have served their country.
“No one should be on hold for 45 minutes only to lose connection,” she said.
Jack said if elected to Congress he would push to move some federal agencies outside of Washington, DC
“If you’re in Washington, D.C., you have a workforce that is 95% Democrats,” he said. “If we leave Washington, D.C., we can find better policies.”
But Keller said moving federal authorities out of the capital would be inefficient.
“We don’t need departments that have different schedules [zones]” she said. “If we need them, we need them now.”
Jack and Keller are vying for the congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-West Point. Georgia's 3rd Congressional District in west-central Georgia stretches from Paulding and Polk counties south to Columbus.