Sparks fly in debate ahead of Fulton commission chair runoff

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Ivory, meanwhile, accused her 84-year-old opponent of desperately clinging to power.

“This is what happens when someone is fighting for their political life,” she said.

The attorney and mother of six resigned from her Fulton commission seat after just one year to challenge Pitts in May’s Democratic primary.

Pitts noted several times that Ivory didn’t complete a single term before running for his seat.

“This is not the time for on-the-job training,” said Pitts, who repeatedly accused his opponent of trying to raise taxes, which she denied.

Ivory, 57, said Pitts frequently sides with conservatives on the commission, including a “MAGA Republican,” to block her ideas and that it’s time for “fresh new leadership.”

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

From the debate stage, the two expressed sharply contrasting views over how to fix Fulton’s troubled Rice Street jail, which is currently the subject of a federal consent decree after a Justice Department investigation found conditions there are “abhorrent.”

Last year, the commission approved Pitts’ $1.2 billion plan to renovate the facility and add a new building with more beds for detainees with mental health and medical issues.

Ivory said she supported building an entirely new facility. If Pitts had supported building a new jail 20 years ago, “we wouldn’t be paying 2026 prices right now,” she said.

Neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote in last month’s three-person race, so the two are headed to a June 16 runoff.

Ivory received about 8,200 more votes than Pitts in the primary and got just under 40% of the overall vote, election results show.

Fulton Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. came in third, receiving just over a quarter of the more than 161,000 votes cast.

The winner faces off in November against Eric Tatum, an attorney who ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Monday marked the second day of the Atlanta Press Club’s Loudermilk-Young Debate Series at Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Midtown studio.

Ivory accused Pitts of “commanding the entire board” by frequently siding with what she said was a “gang of four” that includes the two Republican commissioners.

If elected, she said she would “include everybody in the decision-making.”

Pitts said he is always willing to step “across the aisle” to get things done. The incumbent also said he supported Ivory when she first ran for commissioner, campaigning on her behalf and helping her raise money.

“I brought her there, taught her the rules, raised her money and what happened?” Pitts asked. “She quit. Quit on me and quit on her constituents.”

Ivory said the chairman is fighting to hold onto the power he’s known for almost 50 years, calling it “kind of sad.”

“This is what desperation of a career politician who does not want to pass the baton looks like,” Ivory said.

Pitts has served in various elected leadership roles over his lengthy political career, including two decades on the Atlanta City Council. He also served as Atlanta council president and as a Fulton commissioner before becoming Fulton chair in 2017.

“I did not come there for galas and ribbon-cuttings,” Ivory said of her decision to step down so she could run for chair. “I came to do policy.”

Both candidates said they were open to negotiating with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens on his sweeping proposal to extend some of the city’s tax allocation districts for the next three decades.

Dickens has proposed using the revenue from future property tax growth within certain districts to fund development in Atlanta’s historically underserved neighborhoods. Dickens needs buy-in from Fulton County and Atlanta’s school board to realize the full extent of his sweeping multibillion-dollar proposal.

Pitts said he and his staff are already communicating with Dickens’ administration. Ivory said she wants to do a “deep analysis” but that she largely supports the mayor’s plan to help improve neighborhoods that have been neglected for decades.

Advance voting in the runoff begins Saturday, June 6, and runs through Friday, June 12. Election Day is June 16.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC