ATLANTA — Election Day is less than two weeks away and both major parties are making their final appeals to potential voters.
During an interview with The Georgia Vote taped with, Georgia Democratic Party Chair and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams laid out her case for supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Georgia Vote team interviewed state Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon last week.
You can watch the full interview with Rep. Williams in the video player above. Excerpts of the conversation are below.
The stakes of the election
Rep. Nikema Williams: "The stakes of this election could not be more clear. Our freedoms and our future are on the ballot."
"Our economic freedom, our freedom to vote, our reproductive freedoms are all on the ballot. And I know what I'm voting for and the Georgia voters that I'm talking to every day over the course of the next 14 days are equally as concerned about all of these issues." she added.
Abortion access
Rep. Nikema Williams: "Vice President Harris has been very clear: send her a Congress that will put a bill to codify Roe v. Wade across her desk and she will sign it into law restoring reproductive freedom across this country."
Inflation and border security
11Alive's Zach Merchant: "Some critics have argued that inflation has surged under Vice President Harris' role in the White House. Illegal immigration has surged during her roughly four years in office as well. And some critics say that she's responsible for that since she was the sitting vice president as this happened. What do you say to those critics?"
Rep. Nikema Williams: "I'm a member of the United States Congress. We had a bipartisan border deal on the table negotiated by conservatives in the U.S. Senate and the deal was ready to be brought to the floor. Democrats were on board. Republicans were on board until Donald Trump himself inserted himself into the process and said, 'oh no, we don't want a border deal because it might help Democrats in this election cycle.' That is the sign of someone who is not serious about leading this country because we had a deal on the table that was bipartisan and we could have done something to make sure that our border was secure, make sure that people could come here and have a legal pathway to citizenship, something that most Americans agree on. But Donald Trump said, 'no, let's not get a border deal done. Let's make sure that we don't give Democrats something that could possibly help them win the election.' So, I blame Republicans who agreed with Donald Trump and took his advice and stepped away from a deal that they negotiated."
The Georgia Vote airs every Sunday at 11 a.m. on 11Alive.