Decision 2024: Meet Juawn Jackson, candidate for Georgia House District 145, Democratic Primary
Early voting began on April 29 and ends on May 17. Election Day will be May 21.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Three Democrat and three Republican candidates are qualified for the upcoming Georgia House District 145 election.
Donald Druitt, Juawn Jackson and Tangie Herring are competing to win the Democratic nomination in the upcoming primary election.
41NBC’s Monica Diaz-Meek spoke with each candidate ahead of the May 21 election.
Candidate name: Juawn Jackson
Running for: Georgia House District 145
Occupation: College Access Coordinator
Campaign Website: juawnjackson.com
MONICA- Good Afternoon. Today we have Juawn Jackson who’s running for Georgia House District 145. Thank you for being here.
JUAWN- Thank you for having me today.
MONICA- I’m excited because the races have officially started today, early voting. I have a few questions, wanting to learn more about you. First off, what do you think is the biggest issue or challenge that needs to be addressed if elected and how do you plan on solving that?
JUAWN- I think the biggest challenge that we have right now are our issues that are related to your pocketbooks, right, and our wallets. For too many hardworking families, the cost of living in the state of Georgia is just too high. We need to take action in order to make cost of living more achievable for Georgians. We do that as relates to issues surrounding inflation. Right now, big corporations are price gouging a lot of different basic needs such as deodorant. We have to take issue to address those issues as they relate to price gouging. But we also think about things such as healthcare. Right? For too many Georgians, over 500,00 Georgians, currently do not have access to affordable healthcare. Just a few weeks ago what we saw was the government kicked 500,00o additional individuals off of healthcare. So we have to ensure that healthcare is a right and not a privilege in the state of Georgia, while also addressing the issues, as relates closing the Medicaid gap. That gap is for individuals that for a lot of working families they make too much money in order to receive Medicaid , but not enough money to make to be able to afford private health insurance. We have to take action on issues as relates to that.
MONICA- Right now, how has your background and experience prepared you for this position?
JUAWN- Most of my entire life has been in service to Macon. I was born here, raised here. I live here, work here. I worship here. What I’ve been able to do over the past 30 years is be able to be of service to my community. For my entire adult life, I have been in service to our most vulnerable population which is our students, who are also our most valuable resource. So as a college access coordinator, I work with over 680 students every year to remove barriers that relates to them being able to achieve college access. Over the past 3.5 years, I’ve been honored to serve as a member of the Bibb County Board of Education. Most recently, completing my turn as President of the school board. During these past 3.5 years, what I’ve noticed is that there are underlying issues, underlying systemic issues that impact our students in order to be successful in life you know. It’s hard to learn when you’re hungry, right? It’s hard to stay focused in the classroom when you are worried about where you are going to lay your head at night. So being able to be at the table of the Bibb County School Board of Education for these last 3.5 years, but also my years of service to this community whether it’s been on the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, the ESPLOST oversight committee, the NAACP youth council or the Macon-Bibb healthcare and retirement committee. It’s all been in service to our community and making Macon-Bibb, as well as Monroe County , the best place to live , work and to raise a family.
MONICA- Now typically democrats have been in the minority for several elections for this position. How do you think you can be effective as the minority group and creating change?
JUAWN- Most definitely. It’s all about relationships. You know, you have to be able to reach across the aisle in order to get things done. When I was first elected to the Bibb County Board of Education, District 4 was then a primarily white, highly conservative district. I was able to win that race because I was able to reach across party lines. You know in our politics today , there’s so much rhetoric that thrown on a national level, and a lot of times that’s trickled down here on the local level. What I have come to realize is that as a public servant, you have to listen beyond the rhetoric and hear directly the persons heart to see what is it that they’re trying to say. When you hear their heart, ignore the rhetoric, then you’re able to move forward and find a common cause in order to take action on the issues that matter most to us.
MONICA- Thank you. To find out more about Juawn Jackson and Georgia House District 145 and the races that’ll be happening, head on over to 41nbc.com. Thank you for being here.
JUAWN- Thank you for having me.
Snippets from all candidates’ interviews will air on 41NBC News at 6 p.m., 11 p.m., DayBreak and 41Today. All interviews will also be posted in full on 41NBC.com on the following days:
Monday, April 29 – Juawn Jackson
Tuesday, April 30– Donald Druitt
Wednesday, May 1 – Tangie Herring
