As Georgia Democratic Party leader, Charlie Bailey pledges to focus on 'foundational' issues

The Democratic Party of Georgia has a new leader, Charlie Bailey, a former candidate for attorney general and lieutenant governor. Elected with 53 percent of the vote, Bailey aims to unite the moderate and progressive wings of a party that has not held the majority in the Georgia legislature or the governor's office in more than two decades. Charlie Bailey spoke with GPB's Peter Biello.

Peter Biello: You're planning on trying to unite progressives and moderates in the party. So tell me a little bit about that. How do you plan on going about that?

Charlie Bailey: We're gonna do what I think is foundational to the Democratic Party, which is talk about the issues. The vast majority of people wake up every day and they think about: "Is my kid safe?" "How are they doing in school?" "If I get a hospital bill, can I pay it?" And all of those things have increasing level of anxiety for the people of Georgia because of the Republican leadership of the last 22 years. And at the heart of the Democratic party is, we fight for and protect the dignity of every person and the ability for them to achieve the American Dream. And in this state, that's been made harder by Republican leadership. That's how we're gonna unite, not just Democrats, but independents and others behind a party that is working to get things done for people and not just line the pockets of billionaires and big corporations.

Peter Biello: You mentioned health care, so let me ask you about Medicaid expansion, because that's one thing you've criticized Republicans for preventing — preventing the expansion of Medicaid here in Georgia. How do you plan on accomplishing the expansion of Medicaid as Democrats? Is it simply a numbers game for you, electing as many Democrats as possible? Or is there another strategy you'd like to try?

Charlie Bailey: Well, we're going to have to get more Democrats in the General Assembly because so far, not a sufficient number of Republicans have — have exhibited the courage to do the right thing for the people of Georgia. You know, Peter, you know this: over the last 12 years, 12 hospitals have closed in our state. And of the 30 rural hospitals that are open today, 18 are at risk of closure. And that is because of a choice. That's a choice that Republican leadership has made in this state to not honor and care about everyday Georgians and what they deal with and the fact that they might have to drive two hours to get to an emergency room. That's a public policy choice. So we're going to have to elect more Democrats.

Peter Biello: You've run two campaigns of your own in Georgia. You've lost both of them. But what lessons have you learned about what it takes for Democrats to win in Georgia based on your personal experience?

Charlie Bailey: And I will just note, I got 49% in 2018 against an incumbent. And in —

Peter Biello: So you came close.

Charlie Bailey: You know, Chris Carr didn't want to give me 49% of the office. So, you know, we came close. And in 2022 had the smallest margin of any Democrat not named Raphael Warnock. I say that to say, I understand how to cut into margins.

Peter Biello: Well, tell me a little bit about how you can cut into those margins. What is the thing you need to do?

Charlie Bailey: It's along the lines of what we've been talking about. You have to draw a clear contrast, and we are going to draw clear contrast with what our priorities are and what the Republicans have done with the power that they have.

Peter Biello: Let me ask you about housing because housing costs are rising across the country, including here in Georgia. Some have accused leaders of "blue cities" elsewhere in the country of making it too hard to build new housing, whether it's, you, know, restrictions or laws or environmental what-have-you. They're accused of this. I'm wondering if you see this happening in Georgia, and if so, what do you think Democrats should do in Georgia going forward to make it easier to build more housing and perhaps lower the cost of it?

Charlie Bailey: I think sometimes politicians — and some Democrats included in this — get in their own way. They forget that setting up barriers and not making government work is an anathema to, again, the whole — the whole point. And so we've got to make sure that, yes, we need to have environmental regulations, obviously. We need to make sure things are built safely and according to the kind of parameters where you want to have safe and healthy communities. But the NIMBYism that goes on — and we're not immune to it — that's not about protecting people's rights, safety or health. That's about trying to design what you want a particular neighborhood to be like and that kind of thing. We have got to be the party of expanding those kinds of opportunities and making it easier to build housing, which includes multi-family housing and condos and that kind of thing. And as you've got greater density, you gotta have that kind of housing so that — we cannot be a state where we've got an increased number of people living in their cars. That requires public policy decisions to be different than they've been.

View more of the discussion below.