VALDOSTA — The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hosted a Meet the Candidates Saturday in the City Hall Annex for residents to hear candidates running for state offices.

Five of the candidates for state and federal offices attended the meeting including Lisa Ring (D) for Congress, District 1; Barbara Seidman (D) for Congress, District 1, Fred Swann for Congress, District 8; R.J. Hadley for secretary of state; and Sid Chapman for state school superintendent.

Candidates were each given seven minutes to present their respective platforms to attendees. Then, the floor was opened for a question-and-answer session.

For Ring, health care for all is her primary objective if she is elected.

“I believe in a Medicare for all system,” she said. “Its time is past due. We have been fighting for health care to be a right and not a privilege for decades. … It is time for a single-payer universal health-care system in which every person is covered from birth until death.”

Along with health care, Ring wants to focus on taking better care of the veterans and the currently enlisted soldiers.

Seidman focused on the role of a congressional representative to constituents.

“We have a lot of issues that affect our district that our current congressman doesn’t want to address,” she said. “He thinks that’s his job. He thinks it’s his office. But it is we who put him there. We pay him to be there. We have to demand of him what we pay him to do. Otherwise, he’s fired.”

Seidman later asked the group if she gets elected and goes against what her constituents want, they need to call her up and fire her.

She also wants to champion veterans and ensure they are receiving the benefits they deserve.

Swann, also an advocate for health care for all, shared a story of how his wife and daughter were in an accident several years ago. But he prefaced the story by stating that had he not had the insurance coverage and the ease of access to a hospital, his wife would have lost her foot.

“I’m running for Congress, one, to fight for health care for all,” he said. “… I think that we live in the richest, most powerful nation, not only in the world, but the history of the world, and we have the ability to make certain that every man, woman and child has access to affordable health care. It’s just a matter of if we are willing to do it.”

Swann also focused on economic development and raising the minimum wage. Specifically, Swann said he would fight to ensure all of his district had access to broadband internet.

Hadley’s platform is based around several aspects but the part of his platform he shared with Valdosta residents is voter reform in the shape of election security and election integrity.

“Our voice in government is our vote,” he said. “And that has been under attack for quite a while. Limiting the number of places you can go vote. Raising the requirements of what it takes for you to vote. Dropping people off the roles, you have to take people to court to get people back onto the voting roles.”

Hadley said he wants to help third parties get on the ballot to ensure more voters come to the polls and speed up the process of residents receiving professional licensing.

Chapman’s speech emphasized ensuring all schools are funded equally and pushing for more vocational education programs in high schools.

“We must fully fund every single school,” he said. “What that means is just because you live in a particular zip code, you shouldn’t have a better school than someone else. Every zip code should be funded the same and every child should have the same opportunity.”

During the question-and-answer session, residents asked for more information on health care, immigration, loyalty to campaign promises and what makes the candidates different from the status quo.

All of the participating candidates are campaigning for the primaries that will take place May 2018. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1256.