United States House of Representatives hopeful Mark Gonsalves (R) will face off with former District 6 representative Lucy McBath (D) in the redistricted 7th District on Tuesday, November 7.
McBath won District 6 in 2018 and 2020 but moved to the more Democrat-friendly District 7 after Republicans redrew state and federal electoral districts last year. District 7 represents most Gwinnett County and parts of Forsyth. The district includes the cities of Peachtree Corners, Norcross, Cumming, Lawrenceville, Duluth, Snellville, Suwanee, and Buford.
This year’s midterm election is not the first time that Gonsalves has run for office, either. Gonsalves ran in District 7 for the 2020 Republican primary but lost to Rich McCormick.
Gonsalves said he was motivated to run for Congress again because he disagreed with the direction our country was headed.
“Here we are, a number of years later, with even a greater sense of crisis as it relates to our country – the spending,” Gonsalves said. “Imagine burdening a generation of Americans with $31 trillion of debt currently that they did not create. So our kids and our grandkids are going to inherit that debt, a form of taxation to them without their representation. And if you think about it, that's really how America was founded 200 plus years ago.”
McBath could not be reached for comment, but according to her website, she became motivated to run in 2018 after the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“Since taking her oath of office in January of 2019, McBath has sought bipartisan solutions to end gun violence, uplift small business and our economy, protect and serve our nation’s veterans, and lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs,” McBath’s campaign website states.
Gonsalves said inflation is one of the biggest issues his constituents want him to tackle.
“Up into our suburbs, of which Georgia’s 7th District is one of those areas, inflation is at a 40-year high,” Gonsalves said. “Think about it – at 8.3%, we're talking about one month's pay, that now goes to just covering inflation. I don't know about you, but I haven't met too many Americans that say, ‘Yeah, I want to work for a month for free to take care of this Biden-McBath inflation that we're currently under.’ So this inflationary spiral has woken a lot of people up to the failed policies of the Biden administration.”
Gonsalves has a business background and started his career in IT Recruitment, later founding Integrity Software Resources, Inc. He was then recruited to become vice president of sales and marketing at Adams Golf, where he helped grow sales from $1 million to $90 million within four years.
“I know how to take small businesses and make them much bigger businesses,” Gonsalves said. “And as a matter of fact, it's one of my great ambitions in serving the people of the 7th District because I know small business is the incubator of opportunity in America. That's why I am so adamant in regard to free market capitalism, not crony capitalism. I want to sit on that small business committee. I know for a fact I would do a fantastic job for the people of the 7th Congressional District by sitting on that committee, giving them access to capital, reducing regulation and making the playing field fair.”
According to McBath’s website, protecting small businesses is also one of her campaign issues. Her website states that she has supported the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, which would strengthen the Paycheck Protection Program, provide more funding for SBA disaster loans and give small business access to more financial resources.
She worked as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines.
“She supports measures to strengthen the middle class while reducing taxes on small businesses,” McBath’s website states. “She will fight against all economic measures which exacerbate wealth inequality and burden our children with debt.”
McBath issued a press release on her website, where she applauded the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Health care costs have been far too high for far too long,” McBath said in the release. “The American people work hard and deserve access to quality, affordable care for their families. As a two-time breast cancer survivor, I know how harrowing it can be to receive difficult news from your own doctor and how important it is to have access to high-quality care. That is why we fought so hard in Congress and with President Biden to make a change and deliver a bill that helps the American people. With the Inflation Reduction Act, we are putting the needs of our communities, our families, and our future generations first. We are giving power back to families in America. And we are protecting care so that when a loved one is sick, no parent or family has to choose between keeping the lights on or paying for life-saving medication.”
She did not explicitly state what she would do to lower rising costs.
Gonsalves thinks that the key to reducing inflation starts with energy independence and returning to American manufacturing.
“We've gutted our middle class in America,” Gonsalves said. “We've allowed China to steal our intellectual property, we've allowed China to take our good-paying manufacturing jobs from America. So we have got to return manufacturing back to America, particularly with anything that has to do with a national security issue. Can you imagine being dependent on adversaries for technology that goes into our armaments as a perfect example? Or how about health care? Think about the drugs that we don't manufacture in the United States of America today. And antibiotics, we don't even make them here. So anything that has to do with the well-being of our citizens and our national security, those jobs need to return back to America. And that will allow us to get back on track and curb this inflation.”
He said that companies will be motivated to operate in America if they are given stimulus.
One major platform McBath advocates for is gun violence prevention. Her son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed at a gas station in 2012.
“After the loss of her son, Congresswoman McBath began demanding more from our leaders, which eventually led her to run for Congress,” McBath’s website states. “She serves as Vice Chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and one of her first legislative actions was co-sponsoring H.R 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February.”
Gonsalves’ website states he would defend the Second Amendment by supporting National Concealed Carry Reciprocity and opposing unconstitutional “red flag” laws.
Although Gonsalves did not bring up the Second Amendment in his nearly 45-minute interview with AccessWDUN, he did speak about crime at great length. He associated crime and drug trafficking with the Biden Administration’s open border policy.
“I certainly believe that every sovereign nation has the right – I would argue it's a responsibility – to its citizenry to secure their borders and enforce their immigration law,” Gonsalves said. “People who are working here, they don't want people coming to take their jobs, to suppress their income. There is a way to come to America legally. This administration implored people while he was on the campaign trail in the primary process and during the debates, literally waving his hand ‘Come, come across that border.’ It's shameful that we have a president of the United States of America who has never even gone to our southern border, given the fact that drugs are streaming over that border.”
According to McBath’s website, she wants to reform the nation’s immigration system.
“She believes we must work towards an immigration system built on basic dignity and respect for all people, while also investing in border security to ensure the safety of our nation,” her website states. “Congresswoman McBath supports a clean DREAM Act, and she plans to work across the aisle on immigration solutions.”
You can learn more about Gonsalves on his website, and you can learn more about McBath on her website. Election day is Tuesday, November 8.
