Candidates for Georgia House District 143 address key questions on voters' minds based on Listening Lab Results

Q: How do you plan to address rising inflation and its impact on everyday expenses for Bibb County residents? 

Anissa Jones (D): " You got to make sure that the money that people are making is rising with those times. I do believe that we need to pay pay more for what we're doing. People deserve to have a livable wage to be able to take care of their needs and the needs of their family. And the only way that we're going to be able to do that is by giving some type of incentive to our small business owners so that they're able to do that. It where they comes by some type of tax incentive, or whether or not it comes by doing something, maybe a low interest loan, it's gonna we're gonna have to be able to feed that engine, because most of the jobs that we have are being done by our small business owners." 

Barbara Boyer (R): "Furniture stores are going out of business, they're hanging on by a thread. We used to have a dozen antique shops in Macon, there's three now and I'm one of them. I really want to see small businesses and other businesses come to Macon. And I think that would help with all the inflation we have, if we have some businesses and we had lower gas prices I think that would help a lot. And being in the state, there's different ways that we can have lower gas prices, I know the governor did a good thing in taking the tax off of gas for a while, and that helped a lot of people, and a lot of businesses." 

Q: How do you plan to engage with community leaders like Sheriff David Davis here in Bibb County or commission leaders to create safer neighborhoods? 

Barbara Boyer (R): "I think everybody should get together and have meetings, you know, on a regular basis to talk about the different issues that are affecting this community, and just put our heads together to see what we can do to make everything work better for everybody in the community, not just for certain sections of the community, but for everybody." 

Anissa Jones (D): "People want to make sure that they're safe. People want to make sure that their mental health is taken seriously. People want to make sure that when it comes to their health care that they're getting the best and they're able to afford it. So you need to make sure, first you go to the people where they are, you talk to them first, and then you sit down with your city leaders and you come up with a plan to address the needs of the folks that you talk to." 

Q: What comprehensive strategies do you propose to address the root causes of poverty and homelessness in our community, and how will you measure their effectiveness?  

Anissa Jones (D): "We want to work with groups that are already boots on the ground with this thing. Homelessness is something that I see every day, I live downtown. It's it's something that you can't close your eyes on. It affects everybody, because it is a public safety issue. The reason why I say that is many of the people that have found themselves in that position is because it could be due to mental illness, it could be due to drug use, and it could be because they just don't have the finances to be able to support themselves. And so there are a lot of things that we can do." 

Barbara Boyer (R): "Everything is interconnected. And you can't just look at poverty. You have to look at education, you have to look at jobs. You have to look at bringing people here. You have to look at road conditions. You know, everything is interconnected, so it's like a big jigsaw puzzle that we need to work on.  I think that's why I really got interested in doing it, because I've been looking at these situations, you know, from just a personal level and saying, what can we do about it?" 

Q: What specific strategies will you advocate for at the state level to secure funding for road repairs and improvements in the area, and how do you plan to prioritize these kinds of projects? 

Barbara Boyer (R): "I think that is a big priority, not just for Bibb County, but for every county in Georgia. I know that for every legislator that's big on their list to get our roads fixed and our bridges fixed. It's kind of scary when you think about how old some of the bridges are around, the state and driving over some of them, some of the oldest parts of the country. But that would be one of the things that when we start legislating and, you know, divvying up some money for the different counties that people would be trying to vote on getting money for this county." 

Anissa Jones (D): "Here in our area, we don't have the best roads that we should have in some areas, and so I don't want folks' cars to be getting messed up. I don't want our children to be harmed as they're going back and forth to school in the school busses. It's very serious to me to make certain that our roadways are safe for us to drive on, and also safe for goods to be coming in and out of our city, so that we don't find ourselves in a situation where we don't have the goods that we need to survive. So that will be something that I will definitely be working on if duly elected in the state, to get make sure we get the funding that we need to fix our roads." 

Q: What specific policies or initiatives do you propose to attract new businesses to Macon Bibb County, and how will these initiatives prioritize the creation of good paying jobs for local residents? 

Anissa Jones (D): "We have such great real estate here in this area, both in Bibb County and in Houston County. We have stretches of land that is just vacant, that's ready and prime to be able to bring industry here to do business with us. One of the things that I would like to see leverage more is our airport. I believe that our airport could be a wonderful regional hub take some of the pressure off of the Atlanta airport. We do have room for more industries to do business with us here in the Bibb County, Houston County area. So we need to use that as a leverage to get industry in here by giving them tax incentives, tax incentives to do business with us." 

Barbara Boyer (R): "I want to see businesses come back to middle Georgia. We need different things to make them come here. They want to bring business here because they want to have workers to work at the businesses, right? So they want educated workers. We need our children to be educated. I'm very big on educating children, because I think that's the core, where it starts, we really need to support our teachers. We want teachers to come here and teach, and so we have to pay them. We need good paying teachers that are attracted so we have an educated population here, and we have businesses wanting to come here. They'll have they'll have workers that can work in their businesses, and they'll be able to pay you more, and we'll have a better economy for all." 

Barbara Boyer

• Early Life: Barbara Boyer began working at age 14 as a waitress and held various jobs in retail, government offices, and other businesses while attending school.
• Education, Career: She attended Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University, graduating in 1983, and has been a full-time lawyer since then. She is also trained as a mediator.
• Community Involvement: Boyer has been active in non-profit organizations such as Georgia Legal Aid, Historic Macon Foundation, the Macon Arts Alliance, and the Middle Georgia Food Bank, where she previously served as president.
• Family: She is married to her husband Wes, who is also her law partner. They have a daughter Whitney, a son-in-law Jeremy, a granddaughter Ophelia, and a family dog named Sunny Bunny
• Passions: Boyer is passionate about history, antiques, and historical homes. She and her husband own an antique shop called 3250 Antiques & More in a historic building in Macon, Georgia. She enjoys spending time at the family farm in Linton, where they have a horse named Brownie and a donkey named Ollie.

Anissa Jones

• Education: She attended Fort Valley State University and holds a B.S. in Biology – Pre-Medicine, graduating in 1994. She also holds a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Life University, and an MBA in International Business from Wesleyan College.
• Career: Jones is the first African American chiropractor in Macon, Georgia, and has been recognized nationally for her expertise in personal injury and rehabilitation. She established her practice, Total Health Chiropractic and Wellness Center in 2002 and has been voted Best Chiropractor in Macon multiple years (2017-2023.) 
• Leadership: She has been voted Best Chiropractor in Macon multiple years (2017-2023) and is the first African American and female District Leader of the Georgia Chiropractic Association for District 14.
• Community Involvement: Dr. Jones is active in many organizations, including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, NewTown Macon, and the Rosa Jackson Advisory Board. She was also the Chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Democratic Party. She provides education on IT and real estate through her non-profit, the Lois Taylor Institute of Excellence, .
• Public Office: She previously served as Vice-Chair and District 1 Commissioner for the Macon Water Authority and chairs the Personnel Committee, reflecting her leadership and dedication to her community.