Decision 2024: Meet Donald Druitt, candidate for Georgia House District 145, Democratic Primary

Early voting began on April 29 and ends on May 17. Election Day will be May 21.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Three Democrat and three Republican candidates are qualified for the upcoming Georgia House District 145 election.

Donald Druitt, Juawn Jackson and Tangie Herring are competing to win the Democratic nomination in the upcoming primary election.

41NBC’s Monica Diaz-Meek spoke with each candidate ahead of the May 21 election.

Candidate name: Donald Druitt
Running for: Georgia House District 145
Occupation: Retired

MONICA- Good Afternoon. Today we have Donald Druitt who is running for Georgia House District 145. Thank you for being here.

DONALD- Thank you for having me.

MONICA-  I’m excited because the elections, we’re already seeing people vote with the primaries really underway. I have a few questions. What do you think is the biggest issue or challenge that needs to be addressed and how do you plan on solving that if elected?

DONALD- It’s actually a combination of things. Healthcare, crime, education and jobs. A lot of those tie together. In Georgia, the Medicaid expansion act is kind of taken a slow pace after the Obamacare. In Georgia, I mentioned there was like 400,00 to 500,00o people who are eligible . Well last year the governor kind of relented a little bit and said okay, we’ll work on this, but you have to get a job and then you can register. Well only about 2,700 people actually did that so we’re still a long ways away from having people have healthcare. Well how does that tie into crime and economics and education? Well if you have a healthy public, someone can go to a clinic and get medicine or just a periodic treatment from a doctor. You’ll be a healthier person so you can go to work. The same thing has to do with education. You know we have a playground to prison pipeline. Well those children, if they don’t learn how to read by the third or fourth grade at reading level , by the time they’re 16 to 26 , they’re either in jail or dead. Well that goes along with the healthy nation and jobs. We’re doing pretty good in Georgia, bringing manufacturers here and helping people get jobs. There was like 800 positions at Warner Robins today they’re interviewing for. That’s great. You have to have a healthy economy, you got to have a healthy person in order to take those jobs and you have to have someone that has the ability to read and write. So those are the four things that are kind of tied together that I would work on and that Medicaid expansion is one . You know supporting our teachers and not just our teachers, but our cafeteria workers, our bus drivers, you know all of those folks tied to the school system. They need money to have a living wage. All of that’s important to have  be tied into this playground to prison pipeline. Get these kids educated, they’ll be better citizens, we can reduce the crime with those approaches.

MONICA- How has your background and experience you for this role?

DONALD-  You know I heard several other candidates in this race talk about how they’re from Georgia and their primary background is in school. I spent 24 years in the military, all over the world. And the last 20 years as a certified emergency manager in five or six different states, including the Cayman Islands. Well that background, I had to work with healthcare , I had to work with schools. I had to work with the education and jobs and all of the these other things tied into emergency preparedness, working with citizens. That puts me in a little bit different position. I kind of understand a lot of these different elements. I’ve had to raise millions of dollars. When I first came to Macon in 2010 from the Cayman Islands, one of my tasks was to get the recovery money from FEMA because the 2008 storm that was here created millions and millions of dollars worth of damage. The current administration didn’t have the tools in place to get that money. Within about 6 to 8 months, we got $2.3 million from FEMA  for the recovery effort. Those are some of the things. The shooting down in Fort Lauderdale at the schools. Over the last 20 years, I’ve been involved with preparing exercises of raising money for police and fire and EMS, those EMTs so they have the right equipment and training to do their job. All of that’s important.

MONICA- Lastly, democrats have been in the minority for several elections for this position. How do you think you can be effective as the minority?

DONALD- One of the things my opponents may be talking about is they’re from Macon. Well , when I first came to Macon because I was a certified emergency manager and had many years of experience doing this job, I was appointed as the chairperson for the 24 counties, including Monroe. That was one of them around Central Georgia. I had to work with everyone across all types of lines whether they were the fire chief or the police chief or the city administrator or the Mayor. So when you talk about diversity, 24 years in the military, everyone in those boots. Whether you’re a male or female, black or white, it doesn’t matter. I’ve had to do that for the last 45 years. I think a senior statesman is what we need right now. This District 145 is new. The folks that are coming out of the Bibb County might not necessarily know about Monroe County, Forsyth. I have that background and experience that could take that across the line to work with everybody.

MONICA- Thank you for joining us. We’ll have the full interview and the other candidates as well on 41nbc.com.

Snippets from all candidates’ interviews will air on 41NBC News at 6 p.m., 11 p.m., DayBreak and 41Today. All interviews will also be posted in full on 41NBC.com on the following days:

Monday, April 29 – Juawn Jackson
Tuesday, April 30– Donald Druitt
Wednesday, May 1 – Tangie Herring

Follow Monica Diaz-Meek on Facebook and Twitter.

Categories: Bibb County, Elections, Featured, Georgia News, Local News, Monroe County, Politics, WMGT