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By Terry Lewis

ALBANY — Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Stacey Abrams rolled into Albany Monday as early voting officially opened. Abrams, the former House Minority Leader, is pitted in the May 22 primary against Stacey Evans.

Early voting will end on May 18.

As with other Democrats running for state office, Abrams said if elected her top priority will be the expansion of Medicaid.

“If we expand Medicaid in the state of Georgia and draw down $30 billion over the next seven years, that will not only restore heath care, it will also restore rural hospitals throughout south and southwest Georgia,” Abrams said. “We are now in the phase where we put in 5 percent and draw down 95 percent. But that is the state’s responsibility in cooperation with local governments.

“But we have the money to do it, and in every state that has expanded Medicaid — and is in a situation like Georgia — has actually made money and helped improve heath care.”

Abrams then took aim at K-12 education, saying while she appreciated the General Assembly and Gov. Nathan Deal’s restoration of QBE funding, it is still not enough to make a real impact to rural counties of southwest Georgia.

“I think it is important that the state is finally starting to meet its responsibility. Unfortunately, in smaller communities like Albany, they are still taking money away from transportation, which is a big issue in southwest Georgia,” Abrams said. “As important as it is to meet our QBE responsibilities, it is just important that we meet every facet of our childrens’ needs, and we need to do more. Rural children are more expensive to educate. Children who speak English as a second language or who have special needs also cost more to educate.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t done enough to not only guarantee basic education in Georgia, but to guarantee excellence in education. And that’s what our children deserve.”

Abrams said that while mass transportation is not a huge local issues, it is still a statewide issue.

“That means we have buses where we need them, that we start talking to shortline railroads about whether they can be converted to passengers as well as commercial rail,” the candidate said.”We need to make sure we are connecting people not only through the roadways but actually putting transportation objects on the roads. That is something the state can do and we have to talk about.

“If you live in Talbot County, you have to go to Columbus in Muskogee County to get to a grocery store or to get to a hospital. We should think about that for all of Georgia as an option for the entire state.”

Abrams’ South Georgia organizer, Shakya Cherry Donaldson, briefly addressed the crowd before the candidate’s arrival.

“Our time is now,” Donaldson said, “We have the numbers. If everyone goes to the polls and votes, we will win.”