WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The 2020 General Primary Election is less than a month away, so we want to take a closer look at the candidates.
Sarah Hammond tells you why Republican Franklin Wetmore and Republican incumbent Senator Larry Walker think they deserve your vote for Georgia State Senate District 20 on June 9th.
District 20 covers Laurens, Pulaski, Bleckley and Houston County and has around 180,000 people living in the district.
Wetmore moved to Houston County from Florida two years ago after serving in the Georgia Air National Guard for seven years.
He says he has been deployed a few times, most recently to Afghanistan, where he was injured.
Wetmore says he wants to continue to serve his community and his country.
"I’ve done it militarily and I’m gonna do it as a civilian if I’m elected to public office."
Senator Walker was elected in 2015 during a special election. He was born and raised right here in Perry Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia.
He started a farm equipment business in Dublin and now owns Walker Insurance Agency in Perry.
After serving on the Perry Downtown Development Authority, Perry Rotary Club and the Houston County Development Authority, he knew he could serve his community in a larger capacity.
"This community has been great to me and my family and very supportive of my business and I wanted to give back to the community," says Walker.
Wetmore says if elected, he knows where his focus will be.
As a Florida District 15 volunteer representative, he worked on the foster care volunteer program.
Now in Georgia, one of his main goals is to better the foster care system.
"Making sure that kids that are in the system, their needs are met. That they have opportunities beyond foster care. You know, programs that the funding is there and as well as keep kids from going down a path of being in the foster care system," says Wetmore.
He also wants stronger punishment for people who hurt children and more protections for teachers.
"Teachers now are kind of disrespected by some students," says Wetmore. "People put their hands on teachers and stuff. I’d like to see that some teachers have the same type of protections that law enforcement officers do.
He says if you hit a teacher, it should carry the same weight and punishment as if you hit a law enforcement officer.
He also wants to push for a two term limit for Congress, to avoid people becoming career politicians.
Wetmore also says he wants to see speedier adoptions to get kids out of the foster system and heavier penalties for assault and battery.
He says these issues hit close to home for him.
Larry Walker says he is proud of many things he has done while in office, especially to help Robins Air Force Base and veterans.
He helped create the Office of Women's Veteran Services to support the 93,000 female veterans in the state.
He also wants to continue supporting agriculture in Georgia.
Walker helped create the state's water metering system and completed the Georgia National Fairground's Equestrian Center, making it one of the premiere facilities in the country.
His focus is also on the healthcare system.
Walker is currently working to stop large companies from dictating what doctors prescribe to their patients.
"They dictate what the doctor has to prescribe to the patient instead of letting the doctor and patient relationship be at the center," says Walker. "It gets convoluted with the pharmacy benefit manager and the rebates and the kickbacks and the steering and all that goes into that is not good for the consumer and we’re gonna put a stop to that."
He also wants to put a stop to surprise medical billing.
"You think you have insurance coverage and you feel like you’re… you know that you’re going to a hospital in network only to find out later that maybe the radiologist or the anesthesiologist or some other '-ologist' was not in network and you get a big surprise out of network bill," Walker says. "We have legislation pending now to take the patient out of the middle of that and force the insurance company and the provider to settle that bill without the patients having to be in the middle."
Walker also says Georgia needs to reopen. He says working on the budget this year is going to be difficult.
He says state revenue for April was down $1 billion.
"We are in an unprecedented time as everybody viewing knows and the budget is going to be very very difficult," says Walker. "I want to be there to represent Middle Georgia and make sure that we’re all gonna have to make sacrifices, but I want to make sure that Middle Georgia is well represented and that we don’t have to take an unfair percentage of that cut or a larger share of that burden than we should."
Both men say they want to continue to serve their country in the best way they can and always want to hear from voters and their constituents with any questions and concerns.
"It’s important, I think, to have somebody representing us that has experience, that knows the lay of the land, serves on good committees, has influence and is effective. I feel like I’ve proven that I can be effective by getting bills passed and getting appropriations for our community," says Walker.
Wetmore says he is ready to show people what he can do for the community.
"I’m gonna do it until my dying breath to try and better this country, " Wetmore says. "I’m not trying to win friends, I’m not trying to make enemies, I’m just trying to serve my country."
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