Rick Jackson is drawing attention after delivering a fiery response to questions about Mike Collins, making clear that his focus remains on winning his own race while drawing a firm line against racism and bigotry.
In his remarks, Jackson said his priority is “this race” and stressed that there is “no room for racism or bigotry, period.” His comments are fueling discussion over his position on Collins and the broader political battle surrounding the race.
Watch the full report for Rick Jackson’s fiery remarks, his response to questions about Mike Collins, and the political reaction to his strong stance against racism and bigotry.
#RickJackson #MikeCollins #Politics #USPolitics #Election2026 #GOP #RepublicanPolitics #PoliticalNews #BreakingNews #Congress #Racism #Bigotry #ElectionNews #USNews #PoliticalDebate
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In his remarks, Jackson said his priority is “this race” and stressed that there is “no room for racism or bigotry, period.” His comments are fueling discussion over his position on Collins and the broader political battle surrounding the race.
Watch the full report for Rick Jackson’s fiery remarks, his response to questions about Mike Collins, and the political reaction to his strong stance against racism and bigotry.
#RickJackson #MikeCollins #Politics #USPolitics #Election2026 #GOP #RepublicanPolitics #PoliticalNews #BreakingNews #Congress #Racism #Bigotry #ElectionNews #USNews #PoliticalDebate
~HT.410~PR.462~ED.420~GR.510~VG.HM~
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NewsTranscript
00:00There's no room for racism or bigotry period.
00:03If you're if you believe what God believes that all people are created equal
00:12in the sight of God, there is no place for anything other than respect.
00:20Well, thank you very much for coming. I really appreciate that early in the morning.
00:25I want to start with what this block used to be. Auburn Avenue was one of the richest streets
00:32in the world, not the richest in Atlanta, not the richest in Georgia, but in the world.
00:38There was a bank on the street, an insurance company, a newspaper, doctors and dentist offices
00:44and pharmacists, barbershops, restaurants, a theater and a funeral home. Georgians who had
00:50been locked out of everything else built their own everything right here. A family
00:56with nothing walked onto the street and walked off it with something when it was in its heyday.
01:02Now roughly half the properties on this commercial stretch are boarded up,
01:06abandoned or empty lots. Twice now in 1992 and again in 2012, the National Trust put
01:15Auburn Avenue on its list of the most endangered historic places in America. Now some of you are
01:22going to ask why would a Republican nominee for governor standing here on Auburn Avenue. Well,
01:27let me tell you why. I grew up in Techwood projects about a mile and a half from here.
01:32Atlanta was my playground. I never met my father. My mother was a sixth grade educated waitress who
01:38battled alcoholism. I had seven stepfathers by the time I was 12 years old. I lived in five foster homes
01:45and went to 13 different schools. I had been called white trash and when I was a kid,
01:50there were parents who didn't want me near their daughters because I was a foster kid.
01:54So when I tell you I know what it is to be written off, that's not a campaign line. That's
02:00my story.
02:02Years ago I testified at the state capitol about foster kids and I walked out of there and realized
02:07something. These kids don't have a single lobbyist to help them. That is why I went and built
02:15a company called Fostering Success Act with the nonprofit to help kids that aged out. We have over
02:22700 children with a scholarship right now because I care about everybody. 70% of those are minorities.
02:31Auburn Avenue does not have a lobbyist either. Neither does the golden blocks in Augusta or the
02:37West Broad in Savannah or the Liberty District in Columbus or the Harlem District in Albany
02:43or Cotton Avenue in Macon. I run toward problems to solve. I do not run away from them or sweep
02:51them
02:51under the rug. I call it like it is. So today I'm proposing something that George has never done.
02:57I call it the Legacy Corridors Initiative. It's a brand new state designation for Georgia's historic
03:05commercial districts and the first serious effort any governor of this state has ever made to bring
03:11these neighborhoods back. Six corridors to start. Sweet Auburn, Augusta's Golden Blocks,
03:17West Broad and Savannah, Columbus's Liberty District, Albany's Harlem District, Cotton Avenue
03:23and Macon. And let me tell you why this matters to the whole state, not just these six streets.
03:28Georgia has almost 17,000 black owned businesses with employees, second most of any state in America.
03:36Atlanta has the highest share of black owned businesses of any major metro in this country,
03:41fourth year running. Now those businesses are not all on these six streets. They are in business
03:47parks like in Gwinnett and home offices in DeKalb, trucking yards, warehouses, clinics and contractors
03:54and farms in South Georgia. A whole lot of them do not have a storefront anymore. And that is exactly
04:00how it ought to be when people can build anywhere that they can and will. That's what it should look
04:07like when you're the number one state that does business. But nearly every one of them traces back
04:13to a street like this one where the first ones had to build the bank and the insurance company
04:18themselves because nobody else would let them in the door. So we start where it all started.
04:25We are not short on entrepreneurs here. We have more than them here in Atlanta and in Georgia,
04:33just about anywhere else. But being the number one state for business means nothing if it doesn't apply
04:39to all our businesses in all our neighborhoods. So here is what the legacy corridor initiative does.
04:49First on day one, I'll issue an executive order creating the legacy corridor designation and ensure
04:55a navigator is assigned to work with every corridor, not a brochure, not a website, a person
05:02with a phone number whose entire job is to make these blocks alive because Georgia has tools sitting on the
05:08shelf that we have never used and been aimed and we're going to aim it here. We freeze the assessed
05:15value of the historical building that you fix up. We have a historic rehabilitation tax credit.
05:21We have business development centers across the state. Every year we hand out rule zone designations
05:28for courthouses, squares in South Georgia, and I'm glad we do. But we haven't treated these corridors
05:34the same way. That ends on day one. Next, we're going to fix a property tax system that is running
05:41Georgians out of their homes and out of their businesses that families have built. The cruelest thing
05:47in this whole story is what happens when a neighborhood like this finally starts coming back.
05:53The tax assessment comes for people who never left. You held on through the hard years and
06:01reward of the neighborhood getting better is a tax bill you can't pay. You get punished for surviving,
06:08but not anymore. I will freeze property taxes and work to lower them. I will also stop surprise
06:14assessment spikes from turning into hidden tax increases. Ownership is worth nothing if you cannot
06:21afford to keep it. We're also going to build a real path from tenant to owner. On a street like
06:28this,
06:28the wealth is in the deed. Everything else is just rent. You can run a good business for 30 years
06:35and
06:35have nothing to pass on to your kids because somebody else owned the building the whole time.
06:40As governor, I'll bring private investors to the table and convene in Georgia's community lenders
06:45and our banks to build financing that fits a long-term operator who wants to buy the building
06:50the RA works in. And we will also ensure that Georgia's small businesses receive the same attention
06:59as large corporations being recruited to do business here. Supporting our small businesses and our
07:06entrepreneurs is the way that we build this state, hire jobs, and create more revenue for this state and
07:13and lift everyone up. We have the ability to not only keep Georgia the number one state for business,
07:19but also make Georgia the number one state for entrepreneurship. That is my goal, is that Georgia
07:25be the number one place to be an entrepreneur. And this initiative is just one part of my plan
07:31to achieve that goal. But we cannot stop there. Affordability is not a talking point to me. It's a crisis.
07:40I had a mother that could only read at the third grade, sixth grade level. I will also get health
07:48care costs. I have spent
07:50my life in it and I know exactly what the waste is. I know what some folks may say about
07:55me being here. They will
07:57say a Republican has no business of being on Auburn Avenue. I've been told many times that I had no
08:03business in being
08:04somewhere my entire life. But that's okay because I'm working every day to make sure Georgians know my heart
08:09and that I'm fighting for them because God didn't send Jesus here to save Republicans or Democrats. He
08:17came to save everyone and that's who I'm going to love and that's who I'm going to take care of.
08:21I don't
08:22care what party they're from and who they are. I am going to earn their vote the same way I
08:27earned everything
08:28else in my life by showing up and actually doing something and delivering. Here's what I believe.
08:35Every Georgian deserves a shot at the American dream and everybody deserves respect. These corridors
08:41were built by people who neither got one and built it anyway. They were not asking the state
08:47for a handout. They were asking not to be forgotten. When you grow up the way I did, you never
08:54forget
08:54the people who are still fighting. Auburn Avenue is still fighting and when I'm governor, starting one day,
09:01it is going to have somebody in this corner. That's me. Thank you.
09:11All right, and we'll go ahead and start with a couple of questions.
09:15You want to start? Yeah, sure. Mr Jackson, you often say that you don't have to go into proposals
09:21that are less than home runs. You don't have a single or double step. Why do you think this proposal
09:26is a home run? Do you have the state resources that require legislation to make this actually happen?
09:31Well, first of all, the way you build a business, you start with singles. You can't start with home
09:38runs. So you got to build from the small. The way I've started a lot of more small businesses than
09:46I
09:46care because I failed at a lot of them as well. So I learned from that. But building small businesses
09:52lead to big business. But small businesses employ more people in the United States than big businesses
09:59do. So that's where the action is. But the other reason I like entrepreneurship and small businesses
10:04is it gets people out of an opportunity to have the American dream. I mean, entrepreneurship
10:12and the free market and capitalism has spurred on entrepreneurship to start businesses.
10:18And there are many, many people in Atlanta that came from nothing, started a small business,
10:25and now they have a good paying job and they're wealthy and they're doing well and they're passing
10:30that on to their family. And so I think that's what we need. So I'm really pro small business from
10:35that
10:35standpoint. Home runs is in reference to larger companies to try to make a difference and so forth.
10:41But my number one requirement is it is a return on investment for the state. Anything that that gives a
10:50return on investment, that's what I've learned in business. If it's a return on investment,
10:54we're going to apply every resource and additional ones if we have to, providing incentives for
11:00capital and so forth to let people earn a living and start a business. One of the things that I'm
11:06concerned about, we have Georgia Tech has the best AI program in the country. They lead. But half of our
11:14kids are, sorry, young people leave Georgia Tech, go to Silicon Valley because there's no money here.
11:20Well, we've got to provide the capital base in order to do that and to start any kind of small
11:25business. And so since I've been a small business person my whole life, that's why I'm leaning into
11:31that. I understand the economic opportunity of starting a small business and being able to get
11:36out and experience the American dream. And if we provide guidance, teaching on how to be entrepreneurs
11:43and capital, then we're really going to spur this on.
11:48Can you talk about the campaign and this outreach to the minority community?
11:56Traditionally, Republicans don't always do that.
11:59Or they kind of have hard to do it. Can you talk about your campaigns and outreach?
12:05Well, I don't know about other campaigns and what they do and so forth like that. But as I said,
12:11you know, some people criticize me because I said something about DEI. This is the opposite of DEI.
12:18I treat everyone fairly. If God respects you, I respect you. And this is treating everyone fairly.
12:25And so people just want a chance. They don't want to be ignored. They don't want to be forgotten.
12:31They don't want to miss the American dream. They don't want to have people not give them money
12:37because of who they are, just like me. I couldn't get money and capital and so forth. It's very,
12:43very difficult. So from my standpoint, by doing this, we're helping everybody and we're treating
12:49them equal. We're going to bring capital and entrepreneurship and studying more than any other
12:56state as far as I'm concerned. And we're going to use more things, Mr. Blue Steam. We're going to
13:01actually use more things that we can. Anything that the state can do to stir on our businesses and
13:07help them be successful all over the state, starting here in Sweet Auburn, we're going to apply that.
13:14Mr. Jackson, there's been a long position of politicians. Once they get into office,
13:22to sort of put their businesses aside, maybe put them in a blind truck or something,
13:27and do the work of government about intermingling them. President Trump has sort of changed that
13:34over the last couple of years. He made a $1.5 billion with his private company while performing
13:41as president. What would you do? Do you think there's value in setting your business aside
13:48if you become governor? And what do you think about what president does?
13:52One of the things I have learned in life is that focus is very important. So number one,
13:57I won't have anything to do with our businesses when I get through. You don't have to set them
14:01inside in the trust. It's just my focus is going to be driving the business of Georgia
14:05and helping people that don't have a voice in Georgia. I can't do that and actually have another
14:10job, to be honest. I think that's a full-time job, seven days, 24 seven. So that's what I'm going
14:16to be focusing on. So I don't need to say that I will never do business with the state of
14:21Georgia.
14:21We have because it actually is legal, but that's not the issue. I don't want the even appearance
14:27that there's impropriety or ethics and all that. I'm going to have the biggest legislative ethics
14:34reform bill in the world. We should not have people downtown promoting bills that help them
14:40personally to make money. That's going to stop when I put our ethics bill together. So I believe that,
14:46you know, I have votes. We have minority shareholders and all that kind of stuff,
14:51and we give them complete access and they get to approve any allocations, those kind of things.
14:56So from my standpoint, you know, everybody ought to have ethics and you should never vote on
15:02something or be involved in something where you have a personal benefit. I can assure you that none
15:07of our business will have a personal benefit. In fact, we'll probably lose business, but that's okay.
15:12That's the investment I want to put in Georgia.
15:14We're going to go chomp the elbow on a couple of these. Increasing access to capital
15:18is a major concern in the black community, absolutely. The overall majority, however,
15:23African American weight earners that you have to work with somebody else's business. What will your
15:29proposal do to increase weight loss to benefit stagnant throughout the post-COVID recession?
15:37Well, first of all, I'm going to bring capital to everybody. And I understand that it's difficult
15:44for the black community to get access to capital, but it really isn't based on color. It's the fact that
15:50you don't know what you're doing. And I didn't know what I was doing at that time. So here's my
15:54point. We're going to bring the capital, but I'm going to show you and we're going to train
15:58all of our young guys and they can be a wage earner. I started my own business as a wage
16:04earner. And
16:04so I think you've got to transition out of that if you have a good idea and so forth. And
16:10I'm going to
16:10teach you guys how to do that. Everybody, every entrepreneur, because they don't really know how to
16:15get capital, I can tell you. I didn't know for 10 years. There are certain things you've got to do
16:20and certain things you've got to say and so forth like that. Your business plan has to be bulletproof,
16:25all that. I'm going to, I'm going to, we got to teach people how to get the capital because they
16:29have the smarts. They have the savvy. They have the street smarts on how to make money. What they
16:35don't have is enough capital to really grow. And so I'm going to bring that. As far as wages,
16:39having better jobs and more jobs, if we have more jobs and more demand, wages are going to go up.
16:45It's just, I mean, we've seen it during COVID. Wages went up because of lack of supply of people,
16:52especially in health care and other areas and so forth like that. So to me, growing new jobs grows
17:00more salaries from that standpoint. Thank you.
17:04Mr. Jackson, we've seen Paige Lance Bottoms and Senator Ossoff campaigning together,
17:09making public hearings together. And it's been quite the same amount as you and
17:16Congresswoman Mike Collins. Is there a reason behind that, especially as there have been
17:21a lot of Democratic attacks that give ties to white nationalism and arts? Do we expect to see you
17:28guys together publicly supporting each other? Well, first of all, focus is the way I've been
17:34successful. So I'm focusing on this race period. And from that standpoint, there's no other agenda
17:40other than whatever it's going to take to win. Look, there's no I'm going to wait till that flies by.
17:47I got you. Hopefully that's not my helicopter. Now there's no room for racism or bigotry period.
17:59If you're if you believe what God believes, that all people are created equal in the sight of God,
18:10there is no place for anything other than respect. Our number one foundation of the value for me
18:15is respect for the individual. I treat everybody the same because I was mistreated. I don't like class
18:22systems. I'm telling everybody if I'm a governor, you can call me Rick. I don't want there to be a
18:28perception that I'm better than you because I'm not better than you. And neither are you better than
18:32me. That's what I found out a long time ago. So from my standpoint, we're focusing on treating
18:37everybody with respect, everybody with respect, giving everybody an equal chance to the American dream.
18:43And nobody's going to fight harder for them than I will. Thank you.
18:47Thank you, everybody.
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