Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis skipped the Georgia county's first Democrat primary debate Sunday, leaving her opponent to debate an empty lectern reserved for her, WAGA-TV in Atlanta reported.
Willis co-hosted the second annual "Self Care Fair" alongside Atlanta City Councilwoman Andrea Boone to commemorate Crime Victims’ Rights Week on the same day the debate, sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club, was scheduled.
Her opponent, Christian Wise Smith, used the debate to criticize Willis over her hiring of special prosecutor Nathan Wade for the 2020 Georgia election interference case involving former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants. Wade was forced to resign after a romantic relationship with Willis was exposed.
"That issue is important to us in Fulton County and a lot of people across the country," Smith said on stage. "When you pay one attorney nearly $1 million to handle one case, that leaves the rest of us vulnerable. That hurts everyone in Fulton County."
Willis has denied that her hiring of Wade was improper, telling CNN last month, "I’m not embarrassed by anything I’ve done. I guess my greatest crime is I had a relationship with a man, but that’s not something I find embarrassing in any way. And I know that I have not done anything that’s illegal."
Georgia's primary election is May 21. Wise Smith has made two previous runs for office but lost each in the Democrat primary, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Willis defeated him in her 2020 race for Fulton County DA and he lost to Jen Jordan in the 2022 race for attorney general.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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