CORNELIA — State Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican and chair of the Georgia Senate Appropriations Committee, says his bid for Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor is driven by faith, family, and a desire to keep Georgia competitive — starting with eliminating the state income tax.
Tillery, who visited Big Daddy’s restaurant in Cornelia on Thursday during a campaign swing through Northeast Georgia, told Now Habersham that his motivation comes from home.
Why He’s Running
“I’m running for my boys,” Tillery said. “My wife and I are raising two little boys and two foster kids on the same Georgia values we were raised on. I want to make sure those values are still here when they grow up.”
Tillery’s rise in the state Senate has been swift. Elected in 2016, he became Appropriations chair in his third year — a powerful post that oversees Georgia’s multibillion-dollar budget. He credits Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to keep the state open during the COVID-19 pandemic for putting Georgia on solid financial footing.
Tax Policy
“We’ve reduced Georgia’s income tax by 15 percent — from 6 percent to 5.19 — and we’re set to go to 4.99 later this year,” he said. “I think we can go further and completely eliminate it.”
Tillery argues the move is both feasible and necessary to keep Georgia competitive with
neighboring states such as Tennessee and Florida, which already operate without an income tax.
“If we can take our income tax to zero, we can give hardworking families a 5 percent raise overnight,” he said. “We bring in roughly $16 billion from the income tax, but we have more than $30 billion in corporate tax credits and exemptions. If we trim back even half of those that don’t make sense for Georgia, we can do this.”
He chairs a legislative committee exploring how to phase out the state income tax, with its next meeting set for Oct. 21 at 1 p.m. at the Longstreet Café in Gainesville. Tillery said he wants to hear directly from working Georgians — “the waitresses, the busboys, the first responders” — about how the change could affect them.
Immigration
Beyond tax reform, Tillery said he intends to enforce Georgia’s immigration laws and prevent “sanctuary city” policies. He has sponsored measures to block state funding for local governments that fail to comply with immigration enforcement requirements and to allow victims’ families to sue noncompliant jurisdictions.
“When cities don’t follow Georgia law and someone gets hurt, they should be held accountable,” he said.
Campaigning in Georgia
Campaigning for statewide office in Georgia is a tough needle to thread, given the Peach State is one of the purplish in the union. But, Tillery said the key to winning his Republican base in the primary and the state as a whole in the general election is keeping his message the same regardless of who he’s speaking to.
“We’re talking about eliminating the state income tax,” Tillery said. “We’re talking about making sure that Georgia immigration laws are followed, and that sanctuary cities don’t exist. We’re talking about making sure that state taxpayer dollars are not used to pay for transgender surgery. Those are issues that seem to appeal to everyone regardless of if you’re Republican, conservative, male, female, North Georgian or South Georgian.”
Tillery said he’s going to keep talking about the issues that matter to Georgia families, and that’s the way to win a general election.
“You don’t have a different message in each room,” Tillery said. “You stay consistent and stay the same and let the people of Georgia see who you really are.”
Foster Care
Tillery also cited foster care reform as a personal priority, shaped by his own family’s experience fostering children. “We believe we’re called to take care of the widow and the orphan,” he said. “Those children who are the children of the state deserve the same love and preparation for life that we’d want for our own.”
Endorsements
While the election is still another twelve months away, Tillery has already secured a solid ground game; receiving endorsements from over 100 current or former elected officials and from 62 current sheriffs statewide including several in Northeast Georgia. He plans to keep returning to the region throughout his campaign.
“Running for lieutenant governor is a job interview,” he said. “I’m asking the people of Georgia to hire me — and you don’t just apply once. You follow up.”
For more on Tillery’s campaign and platform, visit tilleryforgeorgia.com.
