DALTON, Ga. – The two Republican runoff candidates vying to be Georgia’s next governor met for the first time Saturday after the heated primary.
A 100-seat meeting room in Dalton was filled beyond capacity for a four-contest debate headlined by gubernatorial candidates Nathan Deal and Karen Handel.
Mr. Deal, a former 9th District congressman, and Ms. Handel, the former Georgia secretary of state, waged a bitter primary fight in a crowded seven-person field, and neither held any punches Saturday evening.
Now they are gripped in a struggle for their party’s nomination and the chance to run against former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who lost re-election in 2002.
Ms. Handel, who led in votes Tuesday, continued to brand herself as a “lifelong, conservative Republican,” a jab at Mr. Deal, who served in the Georgia Legislature and Congress as a Democrat before switching parties in 1995.
“I am not a career politician,” Ms. Handel said. “I know that we need a next-generation leader in Georgia.”
In the end, Mr. Deal shot back on Ms. Handel’s attempt to label him.
“There are a lot of labels being thrown around, but I am someone that stays with a job until its done,” Mr. Deal said. “I am not someone who has never served a complete term in office and looked at or sought three elected offices over the last few years.”
Mr. Deal knocked Ms. Handel for criticizing legislators and branding many as corrupt during her primary run. Ms. Handel said she’d be the kind of governor that wouldn’t be afraid to criticize members of her own party as governor.
Candidates for the 9th Congressional District seat, Rep. Tom Graves and Lee Hawkins, also appeared at the debate, too.
The debate was sponsored by the 9th Congressional District Republican Party.
In addition to candidates for governor and for Congress, other statewide candidates debated the issues. Candidates for attorney general, Sam Olens and Preston Smith; candidates for insurance commissioner, Ralph Hudgens and Maria Sheffield; and candidates for public service commissioner, Tim Echols and John Douglas, participated in the debate.