“Hyundai invests billions of dollars in Georgia, and they were raided with what appears to be a clerical error on the majority of the folks that were detained,” Duncan said. “This is not putting our best economic foot forward.”
On that score, Duncan also said he’d opt Georgia into the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. “There’s no reason why millions of people in Georgia can’t go to the doctor for fear of bankrupting themselves or not having insurance,” Duncan said, adding that the failure to expand Medicaid was harming the state’s rural hospitals. Georgia is one of just 10 states that haven’t accepted the expansion.
Duncan faces a tough Democratic primary against former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former state Senator Jason Esteves. Duncan said he would appeal to Democratic voters by emphasizing government investments in day care for single working moms and affordable housing, ideas that are also anathema to many Republicans.