ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — State Senate District 12 candidate Tracy Taylor, a firefighter and NAACP leader in Dougherty County, is pitching himself as a negotiator who can deliver resources to southwest Georgia, prioritizing infrastructure investment, health care access and workforce development if elected.

Watch Taylor’s full interview with WALB:

Taylor said he helped revive the Dougherty County NAACP branch after it was inactive for about seven years, eventually serving as its president. He said his work as a firefighter shaped his view of public service and injustice.

“I’m a public servant at heart,” Taylor said, describing his job responding to fires and crashes. He said that work — and his NAACP experience — informs his desire to advocate for people without a voice.

Priorities: infrastructure, nurses and marijuana decriminalization

Taylor said his top legislative priority is infrastructure, arguing that upgraded roads, bridges, sewer systems and electrical grids would help attract manufacturing and support affordable housing.

His second focus, he said, is workforce development in health care. Taylor cited what he described as an estimated shortage of 13,000 nurses in Georgia by 2030. He said he wants to fund education pathways that help students transition into jobs, including during clinical training.

Taylor also said he would support policies aimed at loan reimbursement for nursing students.

His third priority, he said, is decriminalizing marijuana, arguing that minor charges can limit job opportunities for young people.

Switching parties, focusing on bipartisanship

Taylor, who has run as both a Democrat and a Republican, said his experience gives him the ability to work across the aisle.

He said he believes politics too often becomes partisan, preventing elected leaders from delivering results.

“For me to be able to walk on both sides of the aisle—that would give me the advantage to make sure that District 12 is getting exactly what they needed,” Taylor said.

Taylor said he joined the Republican Party after researching local political history, citing a Reconstruction-era Black Republican state representative from Albany.

Jobs and keeping graduates in Southwest Georgia

Taylor said Southwest Georgia’s economic future hinges on attracting industries that fit the region, particularly manufacturing. He said local colleges and universities could partner with employers to train workers for skilled jobs.

He pointed to major investments in other parts of South Georgia, including new manufacturing and distribution projects — and argued Southwest Georgia needs infrastructure funding and local incentives to compete.

“You can fight to get money allocated in your district for infrastructure,” Taylor said, adding that city and county governments may need to offer tax or utility incentives.

Healthcare: maternal health, Medicaid expansion, rural hospitals

Asked about maternal health outcomes, Taylor said he supports expanding Medicaid and Medicare coverage in Georgia and said he would work with Phoebe Putney Health System on a plan to expand services.

Taylor, who said he is a father of four, said maternal healthcare is a “dire need” in southwest Georgia.

He also said he would like to see a pediatric hospital built in Dougherty County.

On rural hospitals, Taylor again pointed to Phoebe as the district’s major provider and said health care facilities need additional resources and supportive state legislation.

He also cited the Georgia HEART Hospital Program, which allows taxpayers to redirect state income taxes to support rural hospitals through grants.

Utility rates, data centers and agriculture

On utility costs, Taylor said Albany’s water, gas and light rates are set by city commissioners and that he wants to better understand why bills remain high, noting the city’s long-standing contract with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia.

Taylor said he favored investing in renewable energy to offset costs and criticized how past credits from the electric authority were distributed.

On data centers, Taylor said he is “in the middle,” citing potential job creation and infrastructure upgrades but raising concerns about long-term strain on water resources and electrical grids. He said he wants more research and monitoring to ensure residents are not stuck with higher costs.

Asked how he would balance agriculture with data centers and solar farms, Taylor said he would consult with state agriculture officials and consider whether projects would strain resources farmers need for irrigation and power.

Redistricting

Taylor said the impact of redistricting depends on population shifts and community input, and he cautioned against partisan map-drawing.

“If you redistricting are trying to add another, we’ll say, just hypothetically speaking, a state senate seat or congressional seat, you have to look at the population first and take that into account,” he said.

Taylor said lawmakers should also consider residents’ ties to current elected officials.

“Secondly, you have to honor the voices of the citizens, of the people,” Taylor said. “People tend to have an attachment to their current state rep, state senator, their current congressman, and they don’t feel comfortable with somebody else coming in, trying to govern their day-to-day life.”

Taylor acknowledged partisan pressure in the process but said it should not drive decisions.

“Yes, it’s part of politics, partisan politics. You got Republicans looking for having an agenda. Then you got Democrats having an agenda,” he said. “And we cannot get into a partisan fight over resources. We have to look at the best interests of the people.”

Taylor said redistricting can help or hurt and argued lawmakers should not ignore voters’ assessments of whether their representatives deliver for the district.

“So, it could be beneficial. It could hurt,” he said. “But if the people keep speaking and saying that this congressman is delivering resources and allocating money in my district, you should be able to honor those people and honor those voices.”

He criticized what he described as inflammatory rhetoric around the issue.

“You cannot get nothing done by using inflammatory remarks saying that ‘this is racist’ and ‘this is that’” Taylor said, adding, “This comes with negotiation. You need people in this seat that are willing to negotiate and see what is fair.”

Closing pitch

In his closing statement, Taylor urged residents to vote and framed the race as a turning point for Southwest Georgia.

“We are at a crossroads. We are at a crisis,” Taylor said. “District 12 have been suffering for too long.”

“We had a former senator that was in office for 22 years. You see the results,” he said. “You see the candidate that she’s endorsing. And you have to ask yourself, are these the policies and the way we want to continue for the next upcoming years?”

Taylor tied his pitch to his work in public safety.

“I am a fighter. I am a firefighter,” he said. “If you trust me to go in your house and put out your house fire to save your property, you can trust me to be able to do extrication and pull your loved ones from a wrecked vehicle... You can trust me to stand up and be a voice to those that has lost their life to gun violence in our city,” Taylor said.

“I have been marching. I have been protesting. I have been raising money on the behalf of families that are out here struggling,” he said.

“I have sat down with weeping mothers that lost their children and feel like that they have been abandoned, feel like they don’t have no help and people have lost hope,” Taylor said.

“My campaign is here to give you hope,” he said. “My campaign is here to inspire you, inspire the next generation of leaders. My campaign will help lead our district in a direction where we need to go.”

WALB reached out to Corey Morgan and Edward Brown for similar interview opportunities. Brown’s full interview is available below.

Morgan said, in-part, “My schedule is fully committed to in-person voter engagement during these final days of the campaign.”

>> READ MORE: ‘We have to fight back to ensure Black voices are heard in South Ga.’: Edward Brown answers your questions ahead of election <<

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