One of the most powerful leaders in the state legislature is being challenged by a first-time candidate in the District 43 Georgia House race.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper (pictured at left), a Republican who is the chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, has held the East Cobb-based seat since 1997, and has had little opposition in recent years.
Her opponent is Democrat Luisa Wakeman (right), a nurse who also has a background in the financial services industry.
Wakeman was unopposed in the primary; Cooper’s only Republican opponent disqualified for owing back taxes right before the primary.
A retired nurse and former nursing educator whose late husband was a physician, Cooper has long based her platform around health care issues. More recently, Cooper has pointed to efforts to make it easier for first-responders to to administer Naloxone to those suffering from opioid overdoses.
She also has cited her work to address hospital and trauma-care needs in rural parts of the state, and her advocacy with the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force. Cooper sponsored a bill that was passed in 2018 that allows local communities to create task forces to investigate allegations of elder abuse among at-risk seniors.
Wakeman supports expansion of Medicaid in Georgia and has been critical of what she said is Georgia’s “unwillingness to address their 300,000-person coverage gap through previous legislation” that has reduced the network of insurance providers.
Candidates websites
Sharon Cooper | Luisa Wakeman | District 43 map
Wakeman also wants full funding for public schools in Georgia and is in favor of ballot initiatives that would address special education needs and teacher compensation.
Cooper has said that while the current funding formula for public education in Georgia needs to be changed, “we must make certain that any change in the school funding formula reduces, not raises, the amount Cobb is required to give.”
In 2016, Cooper voted in favor of HB 757, the so-called Religious Liberty bill, that would strengthen legal protections for those who oppose same-sex marriage. That bill was vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal, and since then Cooper has said a federal solution may be the best option.
Wakeman, the mother of a daughter in the LGBT community, said such laws are discriminatory. She also opposes campus carry laws.
Her other main campaign issue is advocating changes to state financial priorities. Wakeman said recent changes in the federal tax code could mean Georgians may have to pay $3.6 billion in state taxes over the next five years.
Cooper hasn’t had general election opposition since 2010, when she won with nearly 67 percent of the vote.
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