ATLANTA — Shawn Harris, a Democrat, hopes to unseat Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and become the next representative of Georgia's 14th congressional district.
In an extended interview with 11Alive's Sunday politics show, The Georgia Vote, Harris laid out his views on abortion, school safety, immigration, and more.
See excerpts of some of his answers below and watch the extended interview here.
The Georgia Vote also spoke with his opponent. See the extended interview with Rep. Greene here.
Abortion access
Harris said he does not support Georgia's so-called 'Heartbeat Bill' and wants to reinstate the protections of Roe v. Wade.
"I want to make sure that a woman, a female, has the ability to make her own decision with her doctor," said Harris. "I'm not sure if you looked at my background, my wife is a doctor. And I just believe that that is a decision between a woman and her doctor and her family."
School safety
Keeping campuses safe was top of mind for many Georgia voters following the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School earlier this year. 11Alive asked Harris what he'd do:
I spent 40 years in the military. Most of my training and what I did for people in the military was training senior leaders around the world and part of that was training them with with our weapon systems. Ok? I personally carry, ok? I live in Northwest Georgia in the country. So I'm not coming to take anybody's guns. However, what I will say is this, the AR-15, we need to get our hands around it because right now that is the weapon of choice when it comes to young people going to schools and shooting up kids. What I mean by that is this, we need to put more restrictions on that and we need to make sure that we're holding parents accountable just like what's currently happening right here in Georgia right now.
The economy
When asked how he would fix America's inflation problem if elected, Harris said he would seek bipartisan compromise.
When I go to DC, the first thing I would do is make sure that I'm going to reach across the aisle with Democrats and Republicans to get to yes. Because right now what's actually happening in DC is there's no real adults in the room and the individual that I'm running against is one of the main ones that creates this chaos. So how do I get to yes? It's being an adult in the room, reaching across the aisle, and saying 'where can we agree?' and let's get that passed and move forward.
Immigration
"I'll be the first one to tell you that the border is open," said Harris. "We must close it. And I'll be the first one to reach across the aisle and say, 'You know what, the bill that we had on the table from our Senate side of the house with Republicans, we just need to get that passed."
Accepting results of the presidential election
With the contested 2020 election still on the minds of many voters casting their ballots this year, 11Alive asked Harris if he'd support the winner of the 2024 presidential race -- regardless of the outcome.
"The answer to that is absolutely yes," said Harris.
"I will say this, as somebody who spent 40 years in the military, I believe in our Constitution," he continued. "I plan that if Vice President Harris wins or if our past president Trump wins, whoever that is, I'm going to work with that individual when I get to Washington, DC."
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