Just taking a look in one’s mailbox or at their social media feed, and it will quickly become apparent that campaign season is in full swing, with political ads seemingly inescapable.
Now, with the political debates on the horizon, candidates are heading out to all corners of the state to meet constituents and make their case. Congressional candidate Kandiss Taylor, running to represent Georgia’s First District, held a meet-and-greet in Pierce County last Wednesday morning.
Taylor, her family and campaign staff met, chatted with, and took photos with supporters.
Taylor was not able to stay for long, as her schedule has been packed with visits around the district — Wednesday alone also saw visits to Alma, Waycross, Folkston, Nahunta, Hortense, Patterson, Screven, and Jesup.
Taylor briefly spoke during the stop.
“Affordability is the number one issue we’re hearing about everywhere we go,” Taylor said, emphasizing the economic struggles being faced in the state. “People are really feeling it at the gas pump and the grocery stores, so we really need to get focused on energy and gas.”
“It’s been rough. People are trying to build houses, trying to pay the mortgage they already have, trying to buy a car, and interest rates are through the roof, and that’s what I hear about wherever I go.”
Taylor went on to tout the First District’s resources, from Plant Hatch, to the ports, to agriculture, while encouraging tariffs against external products for some industries.
“We have to get better with our fishing and our shrimping industry, tariffing out-of-country seafood — our seafood is worth more,” she said. “Also, the tariffs on produce that are coming from out of coun-try. We have blueberry farmers that had to leave blueberries in their fields, because they were getting blueberries from other countries cheaper. That’s a problem.”
Taylor responded also spoke about the recent closure of several pulp mills in the area.
“We have to look at the industry change and what’s going on,” she said. “I want to figure out a way to fix the timber prices in this area of forestry. We need to find a solution to the problem. It’s something that should have been prevented, and they did not think about it ahead of time.”
She was also critical of recent pushes for solar panel farms, describing them as being shoved “down our throat”, and expressed concerns over them replacing planted pines and damaging the land.
Taylor, an Appling County resident, used her residence to distinguish herself from her opponents.
“There’s six Republicans running, five from Chatham County, I’m the only one from rural Georgia,” she said. “I’ve lived in Appling County all my life. Most everybody moved into the district within the last five to 10 years, or they moved here just to run for this seat.”
She concluded by reiterating her committment to her constituents.
“I’m not going to D.C. to be a quad-millionaire, I’m going to represent the people in this district,” Taylor said. “And, I’m gong to be accessible and live here. I’m going to go serve there and come home every week.”
