ATLANTA — Georgia Senate Democrats now have a new caucus leader.
Senator Harold Jones of Augusta was recently elected by his colleagues as Senate Minority Leader for the upcoming legislative session.
That session begins in January and is expected to be a busy one. Ahead of opening day, Jones sat down for an extended interview with 11Alive's Sunday politics show: The Georgia Vote.
See excerpts below and watch the full interview in the video player above.
His priorities headed into the new legislative session:
Obviously, one of our priorities is going to be Medicaid expansion, which we came close to doing last year. Another top priority will also be childcare expenses and then the third will also be like rent expenses and housing costs.
How he plans to pursue priorities in a state where Republicans control the governor's mansion and the state legislature:
We always want to make sure we get our bills passed. We want to make sure that happens. We want to get these big things that we're talking about passed and while we're trying to do that, one of the things that will take place is we're going to bring that conversation more to the people of Georgia. So if we're not successful, and we hope to be successful, and our number one goal is to get these measures passed, make no mistake about that, but at the same time, the key also is going to be that now the people of Georgia, we think, are going to hear a lot of alternatives and say 'these are things that we agree with and we like to see them go forward.
How Democrats move forward from Vice President Kamala Harris' loss in the general election:
We've always talked about Medicaid expansion. We've always talked about childcare issues. We're not going to change that. We're going to continue to move forward on those particular issue. Now, if persons on the national level believe that they've lost track with the American people, that's not us. That's not how we've been operating. We've always talked about those quote unquote kitchen table issues that everybody's talking about now, but the Georgia State Senate has always been talking about those issues.