He’s building a coalition of Democrats, independents and fed-up Republicans to flip the state
Geoff Duncan has never been afraid to call honest balls and strikes — even when it costs him politically. The former lieutenant governor of Georgia spent years as a Republican pushing through hate crimes legislation when his own party refused, standing up to a sitting president who tried to steal an election and publicly admitting he was wrong about the heartbeat bill. After a long personal reckoning, he crossed the aisle entirely. Now running for governor of Georgia as a proud Democrat, Duncan is making the case that he is not only the most electable candidate in the Democratic primary but the one most ready to govern from day one — with a plan that targets healthcare, affordable housing, DEI, the economy and the future of 11 million Georgians.
Why did you switch from Republican to Democrat?
It’s a question I get asked most often on the campaign trail. Folks will walk out of a meeting with me and say, I like what you’re saying. I think you’ve got the best chance to win. But I want to know what was that moment in time? What was that one situation or policy that really broke the camel’s back and made you switch?
The reality is it opens up this awesome opportunity to talk about this long journey that I’ve been on. This started years ago kind of in my mind and in my heart of really trying to figure out what’s the best way to serve the needs of Georgians. Early on as a state representative in 2013, we realized really quickly that there was kind of two piles of people at the Capitol. There was those that picked really good fights and there was those that solved problems. And I just naturally gravitated towards wanting to solve problems. And to do that, you’ve got to work across the aisle. You’ve got to build consensus. You’ve got to really look at the data. You’ve got to be an honest umpire and not just worry about your next reelection or what a campaign mail piece is going to look like in two months.
That really kind of started the process of me asking tough questions. Then things like the hate crimes legislation that was so hard to pass — Republicans didn’t want to pass it. It made all the sense in the world to pass. We were one of only five states who didn’t have hate crimes on the books. So I worked with Democrats to do that. Then of course, taking on a sitting president who tried to steal an election. And also really starting to dive into some of these issues — it made no sense to not pass common sense gun legislation. No sense at all. And Republicans know that, but they don’t have the courage to stand up and say it out loud. Expanding Medicaid, that’s another issue. How can we pass up a nine to one federal match? How can we send people to the hospital without health insurance?
Probably one of the most poignant issues that had really worked on my heart is this heartbeat bill. I was wrong as the lieutenant governor to sit there and think that the state senate knew better than millions of women do. The reality is they don’t. When you start to hear those complicated medical stories and personal situations, the only way to fix that is to let women choose. So it’s been a journey to get here. I’ve lived out loud. I’ve been on CNN. I campaigned with Kamala Harris. I have done all of that work. And so I think most folks aren’t surprised that I’ve switched.
What does the governor actually do for cities like Atlanta?
My view of what a governor does with cities like Atlanta and Albany and Augusta and Macon and Valdosta and all those places in between, is to work with them, figure out how we amplify their successes. Mayor Dickens is doing an incredible job on so many different fronts. Economic development, FIFA is coming here. There are so many great steps in the right direction that him and his administration are taking.
For example, affordable housing. He’s made it a priority since day one. He’s raised the capital. He’s committed the budget money there. And I think the state’s job in that situation is to give them additional resources to help them scale up what is already successful. Not to come in and create a competitive model, not to reinvent the wheel, but give them those resources.
What Mayor Dickens is doing, specifically around the affordable housing projects — what’s unique about it is it’s modular based, so it’s quick and dollar efficient. He’s got wraparound services on site, behavioral health services, physical health services, childcare, career services. He’s really attacking the problem, which is giving these folks that one jumpstart that they need. And so I think the job of governor is not to create friction. It’s to create partnerships with those communities. And irregardless of their politics, it’s more important when somebody is poorer or less — they don’t care if an R or a D shows up to save them. They just need somebody to show up there and meet them.
Is homelessness a state problem or a city problem, and what can a governor actually do?
My faith calls on me to say it’s my problem. It’s everybody’s problem. I think the faith that I attached myself to wants to figure out ways to help somebody and not demonize them in poverty. That’s one of the big issues for me.
Why I sit here as a proud Democrat is because Republicans in too many circles have tried to demonize poverty or politicize it. And I think it’s really led me to be aggressive with what I’m calling my jumpstart fund. I want to take 10% of the state’s rainy day fund, which is $17 billion. I want to take 10% of 1.7 billion, put it in that jumpstart fund and start wrapping it around the axle of poverty. Whether it be homelessness, whether it be affordable housing programs, whether it be the TANF program, which allows temporary needs to be met, like a power bill that somebody can’t pay for a few months, a ride to and from work.
And also, how many single parents can’t go back to work because they can’t afford childcare? We can better fund the CAHPS program, which is already existing, so that families or single parents can finally go back to work because they can afford that childcare through a scholarship program. But you’ve got to be intentional about it. And to me, that’s what this is all about — being intentional about taking the $38 billion state budget and instead of just aiming it in the direction of a few million people that may have voted for you or support you, aiming it towards all 11 million Georgians, even if they don’t vote for you. I think that’s what most Georgians wake up wanting to see happen.
How do you attract companies to Atlanta while addressing the affordability crisis?
The affordability crisis is going on everywhere. Donald Trump has destroyed any attempts at trying to peel back this affordability crisis that’s out there. We’ve got $4.5 gasoline, and who knows where it’s going next. We’ve got tariffs that are ripping apart entire industries. We’ve got unemployment concerns playing out.
Figuring out ways to attack it — we’ve got to start by making sure that we continue to attract the biggest and brightest logos to come here and hire. To do that, we’ve got to make sure we have a K-12 system that’s producing 21st century ready students to walk into those jobs. Whether or not they’re coming out of high school with enough skills to be able to walk into those programming jobs or skilled trade jobs, or walk into a union apprenticeship program that allows them to be in a skilled trade. Or maybe they walk into a technical school and pick up enough training along the way so that they can walk into that software engineering job. Or maybe they end up at Georgia Tech or Georgia State or somewhere on HBCU.
We’ve got to invest in education. Another big concern is traffic, and the lack of investment in transit, mass transit in Atlanta. For some reason, R’s and D’s have fought about transit because Republicans are typically outside of the metro area in their districts. And the problem lies inside the metro areas. So I think we’ve got to get back to where we invest in transit in a meaningful way that allows folks to get in and through the city, to their jobs, to their schools, to their next stops, to their churches and throughout their community.
We can’t over-incentivize companies. We can’t just throw out tax credits every which way so that folks come here and then five years later they go find the next place to call home. We want them to come here because this is a great place to run your business, but also to raise your family because it’s safe. And I love it when Andre Dickens talks about Atlanta — I love to steal it for Georgia — the best place to raise your kids. To get that right, a lot of things got to be going right. It’s got to be a safe neighborhood. It’s got to be a quality school. It’s got to be good job opportunities.
How important is Savannah to Georgia’s economy, and what are your plans for the city?
We spent a lot of time in Savannah. We spent a lot of time with Mayor Van Johnson. He’s doing an incredible job down there. I actually went in and sat through some of the city council meeting a few weeks ago and watched them go to work.
There’s a lot going on in Savannah. It’s a huge lifeline for a number of reasons. There’s a lot of businesses and because of the ports that are there, there’s a lot of jobs and new skilled manufacturing positions that are opening. That port is such an important part, not just to Georgia, but to really the entire eastern coast of the country. Watching those imports and exports come in, watching the jobs that they create on both ends of that — looking for ways to continue to invest is critical. As my time as lieutenant governor, there’s so much focus put on the transportation needs outside the ports. With all that truck traffic coming in there, how do we continue to look for better ways, more efficient ways to get those trucks into those ports and out of those ports and then across our interstates across the state?
Savannah has had so many wins with affordable housing programs. One of those is Dundee Cottages. That is much like Mayor Dickens’ program — it’s really pulled together a public-private partnership, pulled a number of public community programs together to work together. They’ve got up to seven different organizations involved with providing affordable housing programs, taking somebody that’s homeless or home insecure. Some of the stories we heard were single moms raising kids in the backseat of a car even though they’re working full-time, just because things cost so much. Working to problem-solve around that is important.
As governor, what power do you have to control pricing and make Georgia more affordable?
Just to be clear, I don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver, but when Donald Trump is dead set on destroying this country like he is right now, with unexplainable tariffs, with wars that have no end, with gas prices directly escalated because of his decisions, it’s hard. Interest rates to buy a home are over 7%.
As governor, looking for ways to wrap around the axle of some of those folks that are having trouble staying there, making sure that we’re getting students in and through the education system, making sure that they have opportunities to enter technical schools and those four-year schools, making sure that we make whatever investments we can to create capital flows for small business startups. I think the most important thing we’ve got to do is continue to create a safe place to call home and really promote this notion that Georgia’s in a good place, but to get to a great place, we’ve got to do some things better. We’ve got to educate better. We’ve got to expand Medicaid. We can’t leave people sitting there. James Talarico said this really well a few weeks ago. He said, we all want people to thrive, but how can we genuinely expect them to thrive if they haven’t had a warm meal in a week, if they haven’t slept in the same bed in a week, if they haven’t taken a prescription in a month that they need to take every day? So we’ve got to go figure out that before we start getting them into those places.
What’s the solution to healthcare disparities in the Black community?
Infant and maternal mortality rates are off the charts, especially amongst the Black community.
The first step in the right direction is to expand Medicaid. As a former Republican, I was on the other side of the enemy lines on this issue. I sat for a few years trying to figure out a way to improve our healthcare system without expanding Medicaid. And the answer is you can’t do it. You have to expand Medicaid. And that’s the first step. No excuses can be made because we don’t have the money. We have the money to do it. So there’s literally billions of dollars that have been left on the table over the last 10-plus years. I look forward to leading that charge and helping them see the right thing to do and actually getting it done.
But that’s only a first step in the right direction. A lot of the problems are that we have 50-plus counties that don’t have OBGYNs or pediatricians or primary care physicians. A step in that right direction is when you expand Medicaid, those providers will start to get deeper into those rural communities. But we’ve also got to make sure that we’re investing in hospital systems and making sure that we invest in technology so telehealth can reach in. If you want to improve infant and maternal mortality rates, you’ve got to make sure you’re delivering prenatal and postpartum care to that community no matter where they’re at — making sure that we step in those right directions.
It’s a cumulative program. When you expand Medicaid, you help solve a little bit of the problem with hospitals and doctors — a percentage of folks that show up to a hospital or clinic without insurance still have to get healthcare, and that cost is then charged to those folks that do show up with insurance. So it helps to spread that out. But we’ve also got to figure out better ways to retain more doctors and nurses and technicians in our state. If somebody’s not healthy, they’re not going to be able to work. If somebody’s not healthy, they’re going to have a hard time taking care of their family. Healthcare has got to be a cornerstone for us.
Georgia’s film industry took a hit. What about new economies like TikTok and the creator economy?
Through my time in the legislature and as lieutenant governor, that film tax credit was a huge part of our economic growth opportunities here. We literally have got films and entertainment that have come here from all over the world. The pandemic threw a wrench in that. It changed not only viewing patterns — it went more towards streaming, which became a little bit more complicated — but also technology has been working against us. AI, CGI and other techniques have really kind of put a little bit of a damper.
I think we need to go back to the drawing board on trying to figure out ways to expand and revise our current tax incentive structure around that film tax credit. Looking for ways to kind of separate ourselves, not only from other states, but other countries. I know Europe has made a big push in trying to take some of that business from us.
Some of the things that we’ve done in the past was trying to expand post-production. Those are those 200-plus jobs that stick around 12 months out of the year after the movie is produced and stay there full time and work with the actual post-production of it. I think there’s other ideas around that as to how we incentivize that, because not only is it a great quality, high-paying job attractor, it also really plays into that culture that’s made Atlanta and Georgia specifically special, just stand out across not only the South, but also across the country.
What’s the difference between you and Keisha Lance Bottoms when it comes to Black voters?
First and foremost, I show up day one ready to roll. I’ve been behind the curtain of the process of being governor in the state. I understand every line item in that budget. I understand exactly what needs to be done. I understand the relationships inside the capital that are going to be open minded to move in the ball on a number of these important issues.
My record — yes, there’s some votes that I regret, some positions that I took that I regret — but I really put on display working across the aisle, building those coalitions, working on hospitals in rural parts of our state, working with law enforcement to embolden our public safety, working with our education system.
From an electoral standpoint, there’s no doubt that I absolutely represent the best possible chance to beat whoever the Republican is in this race, because I’m building that coalition from day one of Democrats, independents and even disgusted Republicans to show up and vote for me. And not just me, but other Democrats up and down the ticket, folks running for state house seats and state Senate seats and statewide offices. I’ve got a strong case to make that I can beat the brakes off any Republican that shows up, but also can show up day one on the job and be ready to roll to represent 11 million Georgians.
Why has politics always been us vs. them, and how do you cut through that?
It’s unfortunate. Politics always gets watered down to just winning elections and then everybody shows up as damaged goods, right? They’ve pulled so many pins and thrown grenades at the other team that when they show up, they’re like, oh, let’s all go work together now. It’s become so personal.
For me, I’ve been very intentional about this. I’m just trying to call honest balls and strikes and stick to the policies that I feel like we’ve got a better frame of mind for. And I think at the end of the day, so many people are hurting right now. This affordability crisis is tackling the toxicity around Donald Trump and his approach to trying to lead this country. And what is hard to argue is probably the worst direction this country’s been headed, at least in my lifetime.
Most folks are waking up now. Even folks that voted for him in 2024 are realizing he’s probably the worst mistake this country’s ever made. If you’re a farmer and you’re about ready to lose your farm because of tariffs, because you can’t sell your crops, or your rural hospital is closing, or you’re in your 20s trying to just afford your first apartment and you can’t do it, or you just lost your health care, or you’re being attacked by ICE raids that nobody can explain — the list goes on and on. I think most folks are realizing, for the first time in nearly 30 years, let’s do something different. Let’s win this race. It’s been 1998 — Roy Barnes — the last time a Democrat won the governor’s race. And the realization is you do have to win that bigger coalition. You’ve got to win more than the base to be governor in Georgia.
How does Trump’s national leadership affect state governors, and how do you push back?
The leaders that I’ve always respected the most are the ones that lead by example. And I think Donald Trump’s example is the exact opposite of what most folks see play out in their communities, in their homes, in their businesses.
As governor of Georgia, I want to lead by example. I feel like Donald Trump’s outright racist attacks on the Black community by trying to demonize DEI — as governor, I want to have the most diverse governor’s cabinet and state government as a whole and be able to put that forward as an example, not only to Georgians, but to other states.
Not demonizing public education, working around the issues of poverty in a comfortable way that really is problem-solving one on one — that’s the kind of leadership I want. Am I going to have to push back on Donald Trump if he wants to use state assets to implement ICE raids? Yes, and I will. Am I going to have to push back on Donald Trump if he wants to put National Guard troops in the city of Atlanta for the sole purpose of picking a fight? Yes, I’ll push back. I’ll use the courts. I’ll be public about it. But this isn’t only about not liking Donald Trump. This is about representing Georgians. It’s about getting our state’s agenda back to solving their problems and not trying to play this national political game.
What’s your stance on DEI, and is it optional or mandatory under your governorship?
The most important part about DEI is that it builds perspective. When you show up, it’s not about checking a box. It’s about building perspective. When I show up and run my companies, I want folks from all types of communities to help me problem-solve. I want folks with all walks of life that have come through different tracks, different parts of the state to sit there and talk about how we better serve our customers, how we better solve our problems, how we better tackle our healthcare issues.
The most egregious example of Donald Trump’s racist attacks on the Black community through unwinding DEI is what he’s doing to the city of Atlanta airport. He’s withholding tens of millions of dollars of funding — and I applaud Mayor Dickens for standing up and signing on to the court case — tens of millions of dollars only because they want to contract diversely. Maynard Jackson’s name is on the side of the building. How can we not acknowledge that? How can we stand behind unwinding a generation’s worth of progress in what is the home of the civil rights movement?
As governor, I want to use it as an example. I want to push this narrative forward. I know corporate America is comfortable with it in most settings. I know most of the logos that are the biggest companies in the world that call Atlanta home are comfortable having DEI initiatives in their companies because they’re comfortable gaining that perspective. They know the value of that perspective in those decisions and in those jobs.
Can you turn Georgia blue?
I think so, and not only do I hope so, but I think so because this is not just going to be about winning this election. I think we are positioned well. One is because Donald Trump is that bad, but two is I think Democrats are ready to win. They’re tired of second place trophies.
The most important part about turning it blue is not just about winning elections. It’s about governing well once you win those elections. It’s about putting on display for 11 million Georgians what it feels like to have honest umpires that are paying attention to real information, that are ignoring the deep left and deep right corners of politics and policy. I looked at Andy Beshear in Kentucky. Andy Beshear, who has become a good friend throughout this process, is a Democratic governor in a red state. Georgia’s already got two Democratic senators — Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff — who have already proven that it can be done statewide. And proven that once given the chance, they’ll do a great job.
Everybody begging for Donald Trump’s endorsement, whether it be in the governor’s race or the Senate race or any other race — we need to make sure they own that endorsement come November.
Which endorsements do you have, and do they matter to this campaign?
When I started this process, there were a lot of skeptics — former Republican now running for governor as a Democrat. A lot of skeptics said we couldn’t raise the money, we couldn’t get the endorsements and we couldn’t climb high enough in the polls to be relevant. We’re going to report well over $2 million in fundraising. So we’ve checked the box there.
On the endorsement side, it has been so humbling to get some of these incredible folks in all communities, especially the Black community, that have said, Geoff Duncan, we’re ready to win. We’ve seen your heart on display. We’ve heard you talk about these issues with a very articulate tone. To see Senator Freddie Powell Sims, to see state Senator Donzella James, to see James Woodall, past president of the NAACP, show up, Dr. Walker with Georgia Men for Democracy Now, labor unions coming our way — and not only endorsing us, but they’re literally running on everybody’s televisions now in our TV ads saying that they trust me to do the different things that I’m talking about. That’s meant a lot to me.
When somebody endorses me — used to be a Republican — they inherit some of those headwinds that show up. But it speaks volumes to where I think they not only see the electability that I’ve got, but also they’re trusting the job that I’m going to do once in there to meet those 11 million Georgians’ needs.
Let’s talk about the Voting Rights Act and voting access in Georgia.
One of the challenges Republicans have had is that they’ve done this pretty out of the process to kind of guarantee an outcome. And that’s obviously in the face of democracy as a whole. The more people that vote, the more democracy happens. And we can get four people to the moon and back in 10 days — we can certainly figure out if somebody’s legally able to vote when they walk in the doors of the polling station. It shouldn’t take days or weeks or even months to validate that somebody can vote.
When the Voting Rights Act got repealed back by the Supreme Court, it was a huge step in the wrong direction. Once again, watching generations’ worth of progress be undone in trying to balance these districts. But the even more disappointing thing was within minutes of that ruling, to turn on the TV or the radio or the internet and see almost every statewide Republican in Georgia running to the microphone saying we need to call a special session, we need to blow up this election cycle, we need to delay it, we need to redistrict. They’re talking about racially gerrymandering districts in response to the Supreme Court.
I think that’s wrong. I was glad to see Governor Kemp squelch any sort of attempts to redo the districts for this current election. I am concerned that after the election in November, the General Assembly comes back in and tries to rework those districts. I’ve promised as governor any gerrymandered district that shows up on my desk, whether it’s Democrat or Republican gerrymandered, I’ll veto it. And I’m going to continue to work to have a third-party process involved in how we redistrict. The next governor, if reelected for a second term, will oversee reapportionment in 2030. And that’s big. Making sure that we have this process fairly and squarely run, just like the Constitution affords us.
What really happened with the Fulton County raid, and what about the threats on poll workers?
Just a few months ago, Donald Trump’s FBI raided that Fulton County warehouse with those ballots from the 2020 election, and they tried to make it out like it was about continuing to relitigate that 2020 election. That had nothing to do with the 2020 election. That had everything to do with casting seeds of doubt for future elections, and specifically these midterms. That’s what this is about — they just want to drop little morsels on the ground for that MAGA crowd to grab on to and act like something’s rigged.
It’s even more egregious that they’re trying to fight in court to get the names and phone numbers and contact information of those poll workers to act like they were part of some fraudulent scheme. When I stood up to Trump in 2020, our family got death threats. We had to have state troopers outside our house. Our kids couldn’t really go to school some days because they were getting picked on. Neighbors stopped waving. It was real. And to put those people in that arena of dissent is just disgusting to think that they’re going to continue to act like that election was rigged. It wasn’t rigged. Even Republicans know it wasn’t rigged.
What is the clear path to victory?
It’s talking to all communities and really painting that vision forward. Capturing the momentum of Georgia’s best days still being in front of us. But to get there, we’ve got to have leadership, we’ve got to have a direction and we’ve got to have a plan to get there.
It’s not about arguing with my opponents. It’s not demonizing them. It’s literally putting a plan in place every day that talks about how you can actually improve their lives by getting them better healthcare, by improving their public schools, by making their neighborhoods safer, by letting them have higher-paying quality jobs. I’m in the idea business. My whole time in the legislature, I came up with big ideas. My time as lieutenant governor, I came up with big ideas. And as governor, we’ll continue to foster big ideas and meet millions of Georgians where they’re at.
The plan is to get to the runoff. Early voting ends May 15. May 19 is the election for the primary. Then June 16 is the runoff. I think we’re positioned well. Mayor Bottoms is going to talk about her resume, and I’m going to talk about my resume. And we’re going to go head to head. And I feel comfortable that I’ve got a better story and I’ve got a better plan.
When we fast forward to November — does anybody think our economy is going to be sailing with all the headwinds that we’ve got with inflation? Does anybody think that these ICE raids are going to continue to play out in a negative direction? Tariffs are still going to be a disaster. If we can articulate a better plan, I think we’re not only going to build the case for Democrats to vote for us, independents to vote for us, but yes, even those disgusted Republicans to show up and vote for us in November.