2020 Georgia Senate #2 Candidate Guide

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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT – Support Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare?

Doug Collins – No. Has “voted more than 50 times to repeal the ACA.” ACA “shattered … insurance market.”

Kelly Loeffler – No. Supports lawsuit to end. Calls Medicare for All insidious attack on liberty.

Raphael Warnock – Yes. Would “protect, improve, and build upon the Affordable Care Act.”

CLIMATE CHANGE – Is human-caused climate change a top priority?

Doug Collins – No. Does not believe it is human- caused. Co-sponsored bills to end EPA renewable fuel program.

Kelly Loeffler – No position found. Her company previously lobbied for cap and trade when they’d likely have gotten contracts to administer it.

Raphael Warnock – Yes. It “is not something that is coming, it is here. It is way past time for all of us to get serious.”

COURT—SUPREME COURT – Pick Ruth Bader Ginsburg replacement now, or let November winner choose? See CEEP Supreme Court guide.

Doug Collins – Now. With Trump “nominating a replacement that values human life, generations of unborn children have a chance to live.”

Kelly Loeffler – Now. “Our country’s future is at stake and Trump has every right to pick a new justice before the election.”

Raphael Warnock – Wait. “The voices of the people that [Ginsburg] stood up for time and time again ought to be heard before there is a vote.”

COVID-19 – Support administration’s response to coronavirus pandemic?

Doug Collins – Yes. Sees Trump as “pushing to fix the COVID-19 issue but also to get our economy back.” Trump also “saved lives.”

Kelly Loeffler – Yes. “Trump and his administration have taken the threat of COVID-19 seriously from the beginning.”

Raphael Warnock – No. Both Georgia and Trump have stumbled on pandemic response. “We need leadership that believes in science and will act with integrity.”

EDUCATION – Public funding for private or for-profit schools?

Doug Collins – Yes. Voted to reauthorize publicly funded vouchers for private D.C. schools.

Kelly Loeffler – Yes. Let states send federal funds for low-income students to both public and private schools.

Raphael Warnock – No position found.

ENVIRONMENT – Tighten or loosen environmental regulations?

Doug Collins – Loosen. Co-sponsored Stopping EPA Overreach Act and Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act.

Kelly Loeffler – Unclear. Wants to “look at what we’re doing with regard to the economy and the environment collectively.”

Raphael Warnock – Tighten. “Environmental justice is on the ballot.” Nothing is “more important than honoring and protecting the only home we’ve been blessed with.”

GUN RULES – Enact more restrictive legislation on guns?

Doug Collins – No. Co-sponsored bill to allow concealed firearm carry across state lines.

Kelly Loeffler – No. “Strong Second Amendment supporter.” Sponsored bill barring national firearm database.

Raphael Warnock – Yes. “The answer to America’s gun violence isn’t to encourage masses of people to carry guns.”

IMMIGRATION – Expand border walls? Reduce immigration?

Doug Collins – Yes. Co-sponsored Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act and bill to eliminate citizenship if parents aren’t citizens.

Kelly Loeffler – Yes. Co-sponsored Asylum Abuse Reduction Act. Undocumented should not get free health care.

Raphael Warnock – No. Immigration is “desperately broken.” Cites Jesus as an “undocumented immigrant.”

IMPEACHMENT – Support calling witnesses and convicting Trump on impeachment charges?

Doug Collins – No. “He did nothing wrong. The call did not show anything wrong.” Impeachment was “unsupported by evidence.”

Kelly Loeffler – No. “This impeachment sham is an attack on what was a free and fair election.” Advertises her “100% Trump voting record [as] the most conservative senator in America.”

Raphael Warnock – No position found.

LABOR – Support “right to work” laws, barring unions from mandating dues?

Doug Collins – Yes. Co-sponsored National Right-to-Work Act, establishing right to work on a national basis.

Kelly Loeffler – Yes. Co-sponsored National Right-to-Work Act, establishing right to work on a national basis.

Raphael Warnock – No. Supports “pay equity” with “honest wages, protected retirement, and fair overtime compensation.” Endorsed by Georgia AFL-CIO.

LEGAL ABORTION – Keep legal or ban?

Doug Collins – Ban. “Unapologetically pro-life.” Co-sponsored bill giving legal protections to unborn.

Kelly Loeffler – Ban. “Unapologetically pro-life.” Has co-sponsored “four bills to protect the unborn.”

Raphael Warnock – Legal. Supports “a woman’s right to choose …, a decision between her and her doctor.”

LGBT RIGHTS – Protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation?

Doug Collins – No. Voted against Equality Act. Argued that the bill would harm children and set back women’s gains.

Kelly Loeffler – Not if it interferes with religious faith. “People of faith should be protected.”

Raphael Warnock – Yes. Will “protect members of the LGBTQ+ community from housing, financial, and employment discrimination.”

MARIJUANA – Legal or ban?

Doug Collins – Mixed. Supports letting states legalize, but opposes federal legalization.

Kelly Loeffler – Ban. Is “concerned about the negative effects that legalizing marijuana would have.”

Raphael Warnock – Legal. Wants to decriminalize marijuana.

MINIMUM WAGE – Raise federal hourly minimum wage above current $7.25?

Doug Collins – Unclear. Voted against raising the minimum wage to $15 over a seven-year period.

Kelly Loeffler – No position found.

Raphael Warnock – Yes. $7.25 an hour “is not a living wage.” Will “fight to raise the minimum to a livable wage.”

PLANNED PARENTHOOD – Allow receiving public funds for non-abortion-related health care?

Doug Collins – No. Co-sponsored Defund Planned Parenthood Act and bill banning any entity that provides abortions from receiving paycheck protection loan.

Kelly Loeffler – No. Called for investigating Planned Parenthood for receiving taxpayer funds under the Paycheck Protection Program.

Raphael Warnock – Yes. Opposes “all partisan attacks defunding health care providers like Planned Parenthood.”

POLICE/COMMUNITY – Restrict police use of force and increase public oversight?

Doug Collins – Mostly no. Supports Trump executive order on “safe policing.” Opposes defunding or “wholesale condemnation” of police. Stands “with our men and women in blue!”

Kelly Loeffler – No. Co-sponsored resolutions supporting “Back the Blue” and opposing calls to defund. Critics failing “to support law enforcement at a time when they need it most.”

Raphael Warnock – Yes. Wants increased accountability and bias training and a uniform standard for the use of force. Does not support defunding.

STUDENT FINANCIAL AID – Support lower interest or forgiveness on student loans?

Doug Collins – No. Co-sponsored an education reform bill that “eliminates loan forgiveness for borrowers.”

Kelly Loeffler – No position found.

Raphael Warnock -Yes. Work to fully fund Pell Grants and strengthen loan forgiveness programs to ensure graduates can pay their loans.

VOTING RIGHTS – Support stricter ID requirements and other rules on voting?

Doug Collins – Likely yes. Opposes voting rights bill, which “would essentially federalize state and local election laws;” that is “unconstitutional.”

Kelly Loeffler – Unclear. Introduced bill to raise penalties for voter fraud and illegal ballot harvesting.

Raphael Warnock – No. Supports restoring oversight provisions of Voting Rights Act, which made voting restrictions harder to enact.

NOTE: Matt Lieberman (D), Brian Slowinski (L), and Ed Tarver (D) are also running. CEEP only includes candidates polling 15%, but do check out their websites.

Campus Election Engagement Project is a nonpartisan effort to help colleges engage students in elections. Sources include Votesmart.org, FactCheck.org, Politifact.com and candidate statements. Vote411.org and Ballotready.org offer guides to local races.