Augusta mayoral race heats up two months before election

Monday, March 26, 2018

(News 12 at 5:30/News 12 at 6 O’Clock)

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW) -- Last month, a new face in Augusta politics announced his plans to run for mayor. Gould Hagler is taking on incumbent Hardie Davis.

Hagler was born and raised in Augusta, so he says he is familiar with some of the challenges the city faces. The insurance agent is announcing his plans to improve the city he loves.

"We have three main platforms that we are running on. The first one is, we want to cut the mayor's budget. With the money that we save, we'd like to give that to the sheriff's office, because we know that they're having trouble keeping officers," Hagler tells News 12.

Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree wanted $2.4 million to better pay his deputies, and he compromised for $1.8 million. Hagler said cutting some staff could help bridge that gap.

Hagler’s second goal is to take a closer look at challenges small businesses face when trying to open up shop.

“I want to cut some government red tape. I’ve had clients who’ve had trouble opening businesses, or expanding their businesses in our community. I want to do my part to make sure we’re business friendly.”

Mayor Hardie Davis’s campaign kicked off Monday night, and he says he is proud of what he has done for the Garden City and hopes to build on that.

Part of Davis’ plan is to bring more industry to the area, and make Augusta a leader in cyber.

“We want to make sure that were strongly securing Augusta's future as the cyber security capital of the world not just of the south,” Davis said.

In his four years in office, Mayor Davis says he and the city have accomplished a lot, from giving all city employees a long overdue raise, to welcoming in a number of new businesses like Starbucks and Edencrete.

Mayor Davis says while the city has seen success, he wants to spend the next four years making it even better.

“Augusta is uniquely situated now, to take that next step as a community. And that's why I think it's an extremely important for us to have strong stable leadership to keep carry us forward.”

Mayor Davis says within the next four years, his goal is more growth city-wide.

Mayor Davis and Hagler will face off in less than two months, on May 22nd.