ISSUES
Education Reform
Day in and day out, parents work to ensure their children have a bright future. They trust their hard-earned tax dollars will provide the best public schools for their child’s education. Unfortunately, this trust has been broken. Nicole Strong has heard too many stories from parents about crumbling infrastructure, outdated computers, and non culture-specific books. As the mother of a sophomore at Centennial High in Roswell, she takes these stories to heart.
As the 48th District House Representative, Nicole will push for an expanded public education budget to fix Georgia’s broken education system and rebuild trust in our communities. With over 1,700,000 students in Georgia’s public school system, Nicole believes every child in Georgia should have an equal opportunity to succeed and that starts with adequate funding for public schools.
Healthcare Reform
Georgia has not opted to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, denying much-needed coverage to adults across the state. Georgia’s uninsured rate is currently 13.7%, the third-highest in the nation. Expanding Medicaid would help close the coverage gap in Georgia, particularly in rural areas.
Nicole believes healthcare is a human right. She would join her Democratic colleagues to fight for Medicaid expansion in Georgia, bringing insurance to over 200,000 Georgians. Nicole believes a woman’s right to choose and have access to quality healthcare is key to their overall health and happiness. She steadfastly opposes HB481, the “Heartbeat Bill”, and other strict legislative measures, which put women’s lives at risk.
Gun Safety
According to the Giffords Law Center (GLC), Georgia is a major exporter of guns used in crimes to other states. As the GLC notes, Georgia has some of the weakest gun laws in the country. As of April 2020, Georgia ranked 11th in the country for gun homicides. However, in response to the Atlanta mass shooting in March 2021, Republicans in the state House introduced looser gun laws.
Nicole Strong supports common-sense gun reforms including: universal background checks, mandatory gun-safety training, and demonstration of a lack of a history of violence. Nicole strongly opposes the Georgia Constitutional Carry Act of 2021, which was introduced after the recent mass shooting in Atlanta, and allows “constitutional” or nearly unrestricted carry of firearms in public. Nicole Strong believes common-sense gun regulation should be accompanied by greater access to mental/behavioral health services.
Voting Rights
Prior to the 2018 election, Georgia purged over 107,000 names from voter registration rolls, as part of the “use it or lose it” voter registration policy. Governor Kemp introduced legislation to assuage some Democratic critiques of voter registration in 2018. That victory was short-lived, as state Republicans introduced a sweeping bill in 2021 - one of the harshest in the country for overall voting restrictions.
​Nicole Strong opposes the new restrictions placed on voters in Georgia. While she supports expanded early voting, she believes the additional restrictions disproportionately impact low-income voters and Georgians of Color. She supports measures to make voting easier and more accessible by overturning restrictive voter ID laws while expanding access to early and absentee voting.