Prosecuting violent criminals, gang members, and human traffickers has been the mission of Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr over the past 10 years. But candidate Tanya Miller said she wants to use the office to improve affordability and push back against President Donald Trump’s policies.
The cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s rental assistance, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, and federal worker layoffs in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act have all disproportionately impacted the lives of Black Americans.
Miller said she wants to join the coalition of Democratic attorneys general across the country who have sued to block some of Trump’s policies from taking full effect.
“The strongest firewall against the policies that the Trump administration has been enacting and that are hurting citizens, and in particular, hurting Georgians, have been Democratic AGs,” Miller said Wednesday. “They have been responsible for almost 100 lawsuits. The vast majority of those lawsuits have been successful.”
The attorney general is the state’s top legal adviser who represents Georgians collectively in civil cases and all cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. The job involves going after organized criminals and corrupt politicians as well as companies violating the rights of Georgia citizens.
Miller, 52, is a civil rights attorney and Democratic state House representative from Atlanta competing in the party’s May 19 AG primary race. Early voting in the race began on Monday and ends on May 15.
Her opponent in the Democratic primary is former state House Minority Leader Bob Trammell, a career family and small-business attorney from Luthersville who launched his bid in July.
Both candidates say they want to stop Trump’s policy agenda. Miller said the difference between them is experience. She previously spent more than seven years working in the Fulton County district attorney’s office and noted that Trammell’s lengthy law career includes more than 20 years of private practice, but none as a government prosecutor.
“He has never held a prosecutorial position,” Miller said of Trammell. “That is the kind of experience that I bring to the table.”
Trammell is the former state House lawmaker who took over for Stacey Abrams as minority leader in 2017 when she began pursuing her first gubernatorial run. He won three close elections from 2014 to 2018 before losing to state Rep. David Jenkins by less than 1,000 votes.
While conceding he’s never been a prosecutor, Trammell said Friday that the AG’s office is involved primarily in civil legal proceedings. He said his 27 years of legal experience and six years defeating Republicans in a purple district make him a better choice for Democrats.
I’m battle tested,” Trammell told Capital B Atlanta. “Ultimately, what we all want is to have a Democratic attorney general that’s in a position to protect Georgians and use the office for the benefit of the people of Georgia and to protect the public trust.”
A big part of Miller’s platform involves reining in mega corporations fueling Georgia’s affordability crisis. She said that includes grocery store supply chains boosting prices on consumer goods and utility companies overcharging for electricity.
Voters booted two Republican members of the state’s Public Service Commission last year after the regulatory body approved a series of Georgia Power rate hikes that caused many people’s energy bills to rise. During interviews last year with Capital B Atlanta, the former commissioners, Fitz Johnson and Tim Echols, acknowledged accepting campaign donations from Georgia Power-affiliated donors.
Miller noted that the attorney general serves as an adviser to the PSC. She said she plans to get more involved in PSC rate hike negotiations and be a stronger advocate for the public.
“Instead of using that power and that role to protect special interests, you use that power and that role to fight for consumers,” Miller said. “My goal is to use this voice of mine, this office, to always, anytime there is a microphone, champion the cause of working in middle-class families.”
Miller also wants to help lower housing costs by going after companies like RealPage that use artificial intelligence software to boost rent prices. In November, the Texas-based company settled an antitrust lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice and agreed not to share “competitively sensitive information” that allowed landlords to maximize monthly housing charges.
Metro Atlanta rent prices rose by $181 per month in 2023 as a result of RealPage’s work, the highest boost in the nation, according to a Biden administration report.
Earlier this year, Miller introduced legislation known as the Rental Pricing Integrity Act that would bar companies from using AI to fix rent prices. The measure stalled in the state House Judiciary Committee, but Miller said she would push for its passage again as attorney general.
‘When I’m AG, we will use the antitrust [arm of the office] to crack down on that,” she said.
She’s also a staunch advocate for abortion rights who’s vowed not to take any action in support of Georgia’s abortion restriction law, which she believes is unconstitutional. Miller noted the abortion-related deaths of Black women like Amber Thurman and Candi Miller in the years since the state’s abortion ban took effect.
Georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. Recent-year studies show Black women are more likely to suffer pregnancy-related deaths than women of other races. Emily’s List, a women’s rights Democratic political action committee, gave Miller its endorsement in November.
“Women are dying in this state,” Miller said. “I will not enforce a single bill that is unconstitutional. And I believe this [ban] is independently.”
State Sens. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, and Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, are competing in the Republican primary for attorney general. The winners of both races will compete in a fall general election matchup to decide who will replace current AG Carr, who is running for governor.
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