{"id":2391,"date":"2024-11-05T16:05:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T21:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/?p=2391"},"modified":"2025-01-22T18:56:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T23:56:42","slug":"redistricting-sparks-battle-for-georgia-state-house-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/palette.atljewishacademy.org\/?p=2391","title":{"rendered":"Redistricting Sparks Battle for Georgia State House Seat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Palette<\/em> Investigates the Barnes-Zisholtz District 86 Race<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Oliver Mason and Shira Oami<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until the 2024 election cycle, none of AJA High School\u2019s Toco Hills families resided in Georgia State House District 86,  which includes neighborhoods such as Clarkston and parts of Decatur. Now, half of the heavily Jewish Toco Hills community lives in this district, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revised 86th district<\/a>, signed by Governor Kemp in December 2023, includes parts of North Druid Hills with streets such as Empire, Houston Mill, and half of Biltmore. It is represented by incumbent Democratic Rep. Imani Barnes, who\u2019s opposing Republican candidate, Dr. Barry Zisholtz (or Dr. Z, as he is widely called), is running to support the interests of the Jewish constituency new to the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diverse makeup of District 86 poses a challenge for both candidates to reach its various constituencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Rep. Barnes, networking is the key to staying in tune with the needs of the whole district. She focuses on \u201cstaying involved with local stakeholders who understand the subject and the issue more than I do.\u201d Rep. Barnes said she\u2019s particularly \u201cstrong when it comes to fighting for our youth\u201d and has engaged in conversations with students, parents, school boards, and security officers to draft policy. Another major constituency she represents is the refugee community in Clarkston, where she\u2019s hosted meet and greets with constituents. As a woman of color and member of the LGBTQ community, Rep. Barnes has \u201ca passion for helping [her] community,\u201d regardless of \u201cwhat race or culture you are.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the reshaping of her district, Rep. Barnes said she is prepared to represent Toco Hills now, too. She grew up in the area and looks forward to \u201cunderstanding the specific issues\u201d of that community in her next term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an Orthodox Jew and member of the Toco Hills Jewish community, one of Dr. Zisholtz\u2019 main priorities is standing up against antisemitism and representing the Jewish constituents of District 86. \u201cWith all that is going on on college campuses and in Israel, the least I can do is stand up for the Jewish people,\u201d he said. Growing up attending frequent protests in New York to support Soviet Jewry, Dr. Z learned to fight against hatred, and he now plans to support Jewish students on college campuses if elected, particularly at local Emory University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Z works to meet members of his district outside of the Jewish community; he and his team have knocked on 11,000 doors so far. Dr. Z plans to host town halls in the district\u2019s various neighborhoods if elected, including \u201cthe immigrant community of Clarkston, the black community of Memorial or Woodridge, or the Jewish community on Lavista Road.\u201d He acknowledged the support he has received from throughout the district to help canvas, and he hopes to impart a belief \u201cthat we can be more unified if we work together as a community\u2026 to not allow all of this hatred to fester.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local Policy Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Rep. Barnes and Dr. Z  both place importance on their constituencies\u2019 interests, they differ in their focus in addressing those needs.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Rep. Barnes (top right) pushed for the “Healthy Start” Education (HB510), which would provide breakfast and lunch programs for all public school students, while in office \/\/ Photo from imani4ga.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

During her term, Rep. Barnes\u2019 predominantly focused on the safety and needs of students, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. In particular, she secured \u201c$12.6 million to help get lunch for students\u201d in public schools, \u201cwhose parents can\u2019t afford for them to eat lunch and breakfast.\u201d Though a bill she developed to provide breakfast and lunch for all Georgia public school students was not passed (HB510<\/a>), she plans to continue her fight for school meal programs and other student interests. Specifically, Rep. Barnes is set on ensuring students safety through her Safe Teens Act (HB914<\/a>), an initiative that would return drivers ed classes to high schools, giving \u201cmore teenagers practice behind the wheel before they get their driver’s license\u201d without placing a large financial burden on their parents, and legislation she drafted last year creating \u201csilent alarms\u201d in schools that would alert students of an emergency without tipping off an intruder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to Rep. Barnes\u2019 legislation, Dr. Z\u2019s approach to educational legislation centers around his \u201cfavor of school choice\u201d and the voucher program. The program would give students who qualify the equivalent of approximately $6,500 in the form of a voucher to apply to a charter or private school tuition. Dr. Zisholtz believes that the program is a \u201creally good option for kids\u201d who qualify by living in a \u201cfailing school district\u201d with parents that make under $120,000 a year. Despite allegations that school vouchers would divert funds away from public schools, Dr. Z believes that the vouchers would give students from lower and middle class backgrounds an opportunity to access quality education outside of the worsening public schools. He pointed to the success of states like Florida and Arkansas, in which \u201ceverybody gets a voucher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dr. Z (left) worked as a surgeon in Atlanta for 36 years. Part of his platform includes “affordable healthcare for all and lower prescription drug costs” \/\/ Photo from votedrz.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As professionals in the medical sphere, both Dr. Z, a retired surgeon with 36 years of experience, and Rep. Imani Barnes, a scientist with a nearly completed PhD in public health, share perspectives on healthcare. In particular, the two believe that Medicaid should be expanded. According to Dr. Z, hospitals are \u201cgoing out of business because people are going to emergency rooms without any insurance,\u201d and the hospitals cannot \u201cabsorb all of these costs\u201d required to help everyone that walks in the door. To address this issue, Dr. Z plans to \u201cfight with the insurance companies to lower their premium and deductibles\u201d on a local level. In her time in office, Rep. Barnes has been fighting a similar battle, attempting to expand Medicaid to make healthcare more affordable for financially disadvantaged communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the vote to expand Medicaid did not go in Rep. Barnes\u2019 favor so far, her plans for healthcare do not stop there. Throughout her time in office, Rep. Barnes fought and plans to continue to fight for mental health legislation. She developed the Georgia Empath Act (HB913) to \u201cput psychiatric mental health units in our hospitals\u201d and \u201cfastrack\u201d people in an active mental health crisis \u201cstraight to that unit instead of going through the emergency room process.\u201d In the future, Rep. Barnes plans on stationing community officers and placing mental health professionals in police cars to help in the event that a person in custody is having a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the understanding that Medicaid should be expanded since so many of the district\u2019s residents are hardly in a financial position to afford healthcare, the two candidates are also concerned over increasing housing prices and intend to focus on affordable housing legislation options. Dr. Z finds that financially-struggling families are \u201csuffering\u201d because they are forced to \u201cchoos[e] between medications, food, health insurance, and paying their rent\u201d since they \u201cdon\u2019t have the funds to cover all those expenses.\u201d Rep. Barnes also sees that residents are burdened with the inflated cost of living associated with a lack of affordable housing and wants to continue to fight for increased support for housing assistance and \u201cremoving roadblocks for our health and well-being.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candidates\u2019 Stances on Israel and Antisemitism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barnes and Zisholtz agree that Israel\u2019s war with Hamas and surrounding military threats is of national importance, with less relevance in the Georgia State House. Both told Palette<\/em> that they view antisemitism as a hate crime. They differ, however, in their positions on recent Israel and antisemitism related legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2023, Rep. Barnes abstained from voting on House Resolution 4EX<\/a>, which condemned Hamas terrorism and expressed support for the Jewish people. In March 2023, she voted against House Bill 30<\/a>, which adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition<\/a> of antisemitism into Georgia state law, and she abstained from a subsequent vote on the bill in January 2024 after it passed through the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Dr. Z, a major \u201ccatalyst\u201d for his campaign was Rep. Barnes\u2019 voting practices on these pieces of legislation. He sees these votes as evidence of lack of support for the interests of the Jewish community from Rep. Barnes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Rep. Barnes, however, her nonvoting on these bills is not a reflection of her beliefs towards the Jewish people or the State of Israel. She said that it is \u201coverly simplistic\u201d to \u201cdefine [her] stance on Israel as a whole and [her] relationship with the Jewish community off of these two votes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding the antisemitism bill, Rep. Barnes explained, \u201cGeorgia already has a comprehensive hate crime law, and it covers\u2026 all religions, all people without bias. \u201d With antisemitisms’ inclusion in religious hate crimes, Rep. Barnes felt that a separate law defining antisemitism would \u201ccreate problems for other cultures and individuals within our state,\u201d who would question \u201cwhy the Jewish community got specific hate crime legislation and [their] community didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Z, on the other hand, said he supports the antisemitism bill, which was signed into law on January 21, because it creates stronger legal punishments for antisemitic hate crimes that would not otherwise be classified as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using IHRA\u2019s definition clarifies what counts as antisemitic activity when prosecutors deal with hate crime motivated by religion, according to Rep. Esther Panitch of District 51, one of the bill\u2019s sponsors. Research by the Antisemitism Research Center and the Combat Antisemitism Movement<\/a> published this year shows that college campuses in states that have adopted the IHRA definition have lower rates of antisemitism, pointing to the potential for HB30\u2019s impact on the state level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding House Resolution 4EX, Rep. Barnes clarified, \u201cI definitely condemn Hamas, but I did not feel that the state should be tackling this issue.\u201d She added that she needed \u201cmore information and education\u201d at the time of the resolution\u2019s vote but that she sees the October 7th terror attacks and the subsequent war as \u201ca national issue,\u201d one \u201cwe needed to handle as a nation and not just Georgia as a state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Z agrees that government actions pertaining to Israel and Gaza are federal in nature. Still, his campaign website platform includes \u201ccalling all terrorists, including Hamas, pure evil in no uncertain terms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Barnes hopes to engage in conversations and discuss ways \u201cwe can address [Israel] from a state level that makes an impact.\u201d She said, \u201cwe have to sit down and talk,\u201d because \u201cI don\u2019t know if these legislations will actually help\u2026 our immediate community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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