Women of accomplishment have turned out in record numbers running as Democratic candidates in Georgia. The extraordinary achievements of Sarah Beeson, candidate for State Senate District 56, put her at the top of that list.
Beeson, a Roswell native, earned an MBA from the University of Georgia and an MS in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland. She went on to receive a graduate certificate in Workforce Diversity Management. This expertise provides a framework for running her family’s two-decades-old environmental consulting business. The company employs more than 50 people and it is here she learned firsthand the concerns of the people of her district.
“As a mother running a small family business in Roswell, I noticed a void that needed to be filled in representing folks like us here in north Fulton,” Beeson recently told the Marietta Daily Journal. “Fulton deserves fair, transparent, accessible leadership at the Georgia Capitol.” Beeson objects to the way some politicians refuse to engage with their constituents by blocking them on social media or refusing to engage in community-based, face-to-face discussions.
Now this mother of two is filling that void and running for the Georgia State Senate. The district includes Roswell, Mountain Park, Sandy Springs, Milton, Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Woodstock. While this might be Beeson’s first entry into politics, she has been an advocate for the people of Georgia for much of her adult life, including:
- serving as Communications Chair for the board of Advance Atlanta, a nonprofit committed to expanding transit throughout the metro area,
- representing small business owners as a Leadership Council Member for the National Small Business Association,
- working for The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, and
- participating in Democratic political groups like Red Clay Democrats and Young Democrats of Georgia.
Platform Highlights
The platform issues that concern Beeson the most include Georgia’s infrastructure and transit, healthcare, education, equality, small business, environment, jobs, criminal justice, and gun safety.
“The fact we are [more than] six months into a pandemic and…we continue to struggle with controlling the spread, stabilizing the economy and providing aid to people and businesses in need is not only reprehensible, but a stark call for new leadership,” Beeson told Reporter Newspapers. Beeson believes wearing masks should be mandatory to protect lives.
Beeson also believes expanding Medicaid makes more economic sense than does Gov. Brian Kemp’s call to issue vouchers, which she notes would cost more money and cover fewer Georgians. By not accepting the federal matching Medicaid funds, Georgia is losing $3 billion in federal dollars each year.
When it comes to Georgia’s educational system, Beeson strongly supports providing teachers and schools the support and resources they currently lack. “I believe in local control of school systems and fully funding our education programs, including paying teachers fairly and providing special needs programs with adequate funding,” Beeson told the Tribune Ledger News. As a small business owner, Beeson knows Georgia needs “both educated, highly-skilled workers as well as a shovel-ready, trained labor force.”
Beeson’s stance on gun safety concerns education as well. She told the Marietta Daily Journal that not only is it imperative to “keep our children safe from guns in school,” but she also wants to review the training police officer receive on using force and ban the use of no-knock warrants.
Her many endorsements include Human Rights Campaign, Georgia’s 2020 WIN List, the Iranian American Political Action Committee, Sarah Riggs Amico’s American Dreams PAC, and the Sierra Club.
She believes more women’s voices are needed in the Georgia Senate to provide equal representation. In 2018, more women were elected to the U.S. Congress than at any other time in history. She and the other record number of women running for office in Georgia can break records here, too. When women’s voices are heard, positive changes are made that benefit everyone in society.
As a Georgia State Senator, Sarah Beeson will use her hard-won credentials to take action on behalf of her children, her family, her neighbors and her community to improve Georgia society on an equal basis for all.
Photo courtesy campaign Facebook page.
