Two candidates are vying for the seat in Georgia House District 121, which includes parts of Oconee and Clarke Counties. Eric Gisler is an Oconee County resident running as a Democrat. He says one of his priorities is increasing access to healthcare and health insurance.
“Right now in the state of Georgia there are 1.2 million people who have no healthcare coverage at all,” he said. “It’s time for us to look for something different, for sure.”
He says that if elected, he would explore implementing reinsurance programs that allow insurers to transfer some risk to the state.
Gisler lost to Marcus Wiedower in 2024 with about 40% of the vote. Wiedower resigned from his seat in late October. The district has long been represented by Republican leaders, but he says hopes to appeal to who he says are ideologically moderate GOP voters.
“I think it’s time for a change in state leadership in Atlanta, and I think it’s time to put people in place who are willing to acknowledge those challenges that our friends and neighbors are going through and start looking at real solutions to them.”
Gisler will run against Oconee County Republican Mack “Dutch” Guest IV. The special election will take place on December 9th.
A clip of Eric Gisler's interview aired in the daily newscast on November 12th. You can listen to the full interview using the play button above.
