‘I was wrong.’ What this candidate for governor said in Columbus about Medicaid
Former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, now a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, made a campaign stop at a Columbus church Tuesday to talk with members and discuss his platforms, including Medicaid expansion and gun control.
Duncan visited Cathedral of Amazing Grace International Ministries, 2951 Norris Road, where a healthcare clinic is in the back of the church.
During his visit, Duncan advocated for Medicaid expansion.
“We’re underfunded and under-accessed because of not expanding Medicaid,” he said. “I say that as someone who’s literally spent years trying to explore ways to improve our healthcare system without expanding Medicaid, and I was wrong.”
Duncan said expanding Medicaid creates better healthcare access and reduces the cost of healthcare in general.
“Expanding Medicaid is simply about the Georgia legislature, the House and the Senate, passing a bill that says, ‘Yes, we will expand our definition of Medicaid,’” Duncan said.
Duncan talked about building a coalition across party lines to expand Medicaid. He said, as a former Republican and moderate-minded person, he can build that coalition.
Geoff Duncan speaks about gun control
Duncan also talked about his stance on gun control during his visit.
“I think we all agree that 90% of Georgians want universal background checks and red flag laws and in-home safe storage laws,” he said.
Duncan said Republicans know they are wrong on the issue and Democrats know they are right on the issue.
“But they’ve got to have a governor that’s able to sit down on both sides and bring them together and say, ‘Come on, let’s go do the right thing here,’” he said.
When asked how he would go about reaching across party lines to pass Medicaid expansion and gun control laws, Duncan said, “I think if we put common sense legislation on the table to expand Medicaid, I think a majority of Republicans will vote in favor of it because it’s the only thing to do.”
Duncan followed that with two questions:
“Can we keep sending millions of people to the hospital without health insurance and expecting us to fix the problem? Can we just continue to let mass shootings play out without doing the right thing and passing universal background checks and red flag laws and common sense in-home safe storage laws?”
This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 5:00 AM.