ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia attorney general candidates Tanya Miller and Brian Strickland used a Monday Atlanta Press Club debate to stake out competing positions on automated license plate readers, crime legislation and who is ready to run the state law office.
Miller, a Democratic state representative from Atlanta and former federal prosecutor, said she would enforce the Open Records Act for footage captured by plate-reader technology so journalists and the public can obtain those recordings when the law allows. She also called for guardrails against abuse by law enforcement and the private companies that run many of the camera networks.
Strickland, a Republican state senator from McDonough who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he wants an Open Records Task Force inside the attorney general office to help local governments answer records requests. He said the legislature should set clearer limits on how private plate-reader companies collect and share data, and that he would push those companies to follow those rules if elected.
The two also clashed over courtroom experience. Miller framed her years prosecuting violent crime as the core qualification for the job. Strickland pointed to crime bills he backed in the General Assembly, including a 2023 update to the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act that set a minimum five-year prison term for adults convicted of street-gang crimes and a 10-year minimum for recruiting minors into a gang.
Both are lawyers and sitting legislators running to replace Attorney General Chris Carr on the Nov. 3 ballot. Early voting in Georgia began Tuesday, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
