#86 - David Clark for Lt. Gov

One of 10 kids from Gwinnett County, GA, David Clark shares some things about his background, the Lt. Gov. campaign trail, and his time as a Green Beret that have all pushed and pulled him into running for office to fight a new battle; this time for families like ours in the place we call 'home'... the great state of Georgia.  Regardless of what side of the aisle, there's some things in this episode that'll make you nod your head in hopeful agreement.  And such a great "Lightning Round" on this episode... so stick around to the end!!

Transcript

David Clark FULL

[00:00:00] This is the North Georgia Life Podcast. Embrace life where you live.

Welcome back to the North Georgia Life Podcast. It's Jake, your host. Today, we are doing an unconventional episode, and if you hear, if you hear a loud bird in the background, I think that's a cardinal, but I'm not certain. I'm actually recording this about on my back deck, which is where we just recorded our podcast, and I'm trying to do a very quick turnaround because we're only a few days before May 19th, which is the general election primary.

And I swore years ago that I... I mean, I'm, if you've listened to before, I'm, I have almost zero interest in politics. And a couple weeks ago, we had a mutual friend [00:01:00] we, we had a friend who had been reached out to by David Clarke, who is running for lieutenant governor. The election, again, is on May 9, May 19th.

And so they, th- David had reached out to our friend because he has a family member who has a child that's been diagnosed on the autism spectrum. And they had, I, I think, I believe that, I don't know, two, three, four years old, y- young stage of development, and they ha- and, and understanding they are in that season of bewilderment as a, a family with, you know, it's hard enough to raise kids in general, much less when you really don't know how to help your kid when you're, when you have a diagnosis like that and no experience with it.

And so we, so he reached out to this friend of ours who they, they had somehow made a connection that they were doing the same sort of spelling training and letterboard communication that our son, Walker, has been doing. I believe it's episode 81 of our podcast where we did [00:02:00] a, an episode with Austin Moore, who is our son's spelling coach, to, to, one, 'cause he's here in North Georgia, but two, to be a resource for people who know someone or have someone in their family who just n- needs to know that there's something like this that can, can just completely open up their, their child or their family member and, and really change their family a- and change their world.

And so David had reached out to this friend and was like, "I got this family member." I mean, this is two weeks before the election. Should be g- Should be out campaigning, large crowds, you know, cameras, media, all the things. He reaches out to this friend of ours and was like, they, they set a date for Wednesday last week to go.

He was going to her house- With her, his campaign manager, and it was just the two of them to see what this spelling method thing was all about. One, [00:03:00] because as running for lieutenant governor, he wanted to know this is obviously, this is a, a, a human service. This is a education need. Like, this, this is something that someone that is in the lieutenant governor role should know about.

But then pr- on a personal level, like, this is something that could help my, my immediate family member. Like, this is a, this is a huge life-changing thing potentially for them. And so we got connected, and so we, we were there that Wednesday night with one other family with our son, and he was able to see our, you know, our son that's nine years old in second grade, and then another, a young man who's aged out of the school system, both using the same basic form of communication to say really profound things right before his eyes.

And, and he spent over two hours with us on a Wednesday night with no cameras, no media, no press, you know, none of that. [00:04:00] He spent over two hours with three, you know, three families and one on the phone to hear our stories, ask questions, learn about what we were talking about. How do we help these kids?

There's a lot of people in the education system that want to help, that are powerless to help. How do we, how do we equip and empower those people and, and not leave an entire subset, you know, thousands of kids every year? How do we not leave them high and dry in terms of getting a basic human need and a civil right in an education in America in 2026?

And, and so in this podcast, you're not g- you're not... We're not gonna focus on that, but it's really gonna be like, who are you? Why on earth are you running? You know, he's young. He's 39. Like, it's... Y- you're, y- y- you know, w- why are you, why are you doing this to yourself as a, as a young dad and husband when you could be doing other things?

We're gonna talk about his [00:05:00] service in the military. He was a Green Beret, served our country in, in two different capacities over his, his, y- you know, young life already. And then just, like, what, what makes him different? And this, this is not a a, a Democrat, Republican. I mean, he's on the Republican ticket.

This is... And I, I think we talk about this in the podcast of, like, the more s- I talk to people, the more I'm like- I don't really know if you're a Republican or a Democrat, but you seem like you have a lot of common sense. And I think a lot of people just want, want rule of law to follow common sense, and, like, your basic constitutional rights.

And I mean, we're, we're a lot more similar i- in, in most issues, but that is not the, the push of most media. You know, 'cause if it bleeds, it leads, and if it, you know, if it divides, it sells advertising. I don't, I don't know. But that's why we're doing this because on a, two weeks before an election, for someone to take their, [00:06:00] their Wednesday night in the midst of really bad storms that night to sit with three and a half families and listen to our stories for over two hours just for the sake of how do I help my, how do I help an immediate family member, and, and, and if I win the election, how do I help families like this in a school system that, that y'all are in, which is representative of multiple counties.

It wasn't just, you know, one county. How, how do I help? And, and, like, I think most of us, like, that's what we want. We j- we want someone that's ac- we're gonna elect you for us, and then you, you, you get us. Like, you understand, and you're not gonna be, you know, chasing lobbyist dollars to make changes. You're gonna be talking to, to, like, real families that really want change for, for our kids and for our, our state.

We wanna keep the great things great, and the things that are are, you know, where we got fraud and we got corruption, like, we want those gone. I don't, I, I [00:07:00] don't think that's one side of the aisle or the other. So no commercials, no plugs for anything else on this episode. If nothing else, I've got a fantastic lightning round question.

You're gonna want to stick around for that. Welcome back to the North Georgia Life Podcast. This is Jake, your host. We are doing an episode that I, when I started this podcast six years ago, it's maybe six and a half and change, I don't ... I was certain I would never do. However, in the last month, it has, it has been a refreshing month for our family, and that is why we have the first and possibly only political candidate ever running for office on the North Georgia Life Podcast Mr.

David Clark. And we met David a week or two ago. Yeah. And just a ... It's, I told somebody last week, I'm like, "It's the person running for office that you wish would run for office that you didn't know was running for office." And if you're like me, you get a, a ton of robo-flyers, and [00:08:00] anybody can say anything on those, and and they do.

And this is an opportunity, while we're just a couple days before election day in May- 2026 for you to get a chance to hear a little bit about him just as a person and as a resident of Georgia, and then also just some of the things that he has grown from his life experiences that he wants to bring into the seat of lieutenant governor here in the state of Georgia.

So David, thanks for your time. I was shocked that you guys made time for us. But we're glad you're here, and thankfully we have beautiful weather, so that's why we're sitting out on the back porch. Tell us a little about you, just where you grew up, how you, how you found your way to call Georgia home. Yeah.

David Clarke. Born and raised in Georgia, and I grew up in Gwinnett County. Okay. On a small farm, and one of 10 children, so I got six brothers, three sisters, so 10 total kids in the family. And you were on the farm. On the farm, and out of the seven boys in the family, four of us served in the military. Okay.

During the war on terror and all that. Mm-hmm. My mom was a praying woman the entire [00:09:00] time. I was gonna say, that's gotta be nerve-wracking, one, much less four. Oh, yeah. I mean, we were all in the front lines, door kickers kicking in the doors- Yeah ... going, going after terrorists. Yeah. And God brought us all back.

Wow. And blessed. And yeah, loved growing up there, and Gwinnett's definitely changed. Yeah. This will date you a little bit, but not too much. You, do you remember Gwinnett before the Buford Mall? Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. Yes. And it's changed. Yes. That's what I would say, though, too, is like I don't mind change, but also real leaders need to look 10, 20, 50, 100 years, 'cause now- Yeah

the traffic. Yeah. The Mall of Georgia is a nightmare. On Saturday, the day before Mother's Day- Yeah ... I was out campaigning, traveling the state, got back to run and get my wife a Mother's Day gift, and had to go to the Mall of Georgia to pick up a gift. Just for a minute, 'cause it was one location, one store.

I had to go there to get the gift she wanted. And I got stuck in the parking lot- Oh, yeah ... for 45 minutes. I wasn't even moving. I mean- Yeah ... I was definitely having to be like, "Keep calm." Yeah. And I'm just sitting there in my truck just making some calls, trying to utilize my time. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah. I had [00:10:00] a, this is a short sidebar.

I had a friend of mine whose dad grew up in that area and remembers when the road that Mall of Georgia's on was a dirt road. And this is one lifetime that happened. There you go. So you grew up in Georgia. You, you went... What thrust you into serving? So as people who don't know your story, you're a Green Beret.

Yep. Were your siblings also, did they go to the elite military, or were they did they enlist? Were, were they- We, we all enlisted. They were, two of my brothers infantry. Okay. Um, 11 Bravo, kicking in the doors. And then I was also 11 Bravo, and then in the- last seven years serving in the Social Forces. 13 years total in the military, but I, I did six years out of high school- Okay

in the Army, all that, deployed, went to Ranger school, all that, and then got out in 2012, got into real estate- Yeah ... with two, two of my brothers, and then went to college. And then how I got into politics, my oldest brother did two terms, and he was stepping down, taking a job in California, and he called me and he goes, "Hey, David, do you wanna run for my seat?"

I said, "Heck no." "I'm good." And that was what year? 2014. [00:11:00] Okay. And I said no, and I helped Michael and Lisa Brown, amazing couple. They prayed about it, and they ran for the seat. Mm. Michael did. I got out, campaigned for him. He won the primary, and then he passed away from a heart attack three months after winning it- Mm

at 83 years old. And I don't know, something jumped in my heart, and I felt like I actually should run for it. Wow. So in the end, I did run for the special election, and I've been a servant since 2015. And then I would say there are good things in politics and, and also you hear a lot of negative. Mm-hmm.

But the positive was in 2016, my father-in-law, who served in the state senate, he had a debate, and his, one of his aides said, "Hey, will you come to his debate?" And I didn't even know Brandon, really, at that time. He was in the senate, I was in the house, but I said yes, and I drove out to Canton, over in Cherokee.

Just trying to put some friendly voices in the crowd? Yeah. And I almost turned around and went home, but for some reason I did show up sh- and showed up a little bit late, sitting in the back of the courthouse, and every time he'd get attacked by his opponent, his daughter would be like, "That's a lie." And she would yell that.

And I said, "Man, she's feisty." And she was hot. I noticed that. And I went up to Brandon after and I said, "Hey, Senator, great debate." And he goes, [00:12:00] "Are you married?" And I said, "No, sir." He goes, "Are you single?" And I was like, "Yes, sir." And he goes, "Have you met my daughter?" And I said, "No. Do you have a daughter?" And it was love at first sight.

The moment I met her, I was like, "I'm gonna marry this girl." And six month- six months from that night, we got engaged. Six months after that, we got married, and now we got three kids, Madison, Miles, and Maverick. And they're what ages? And seven. Well, Madison turns eight on Sunday. And then we have Miles, he's three, a- about to turn four.

And then we have Maverick, who's two, just turned two. So- Do you get- I stay busy. I was gonna say I stay real busy, and on the campaign trail. I'm exhausted right now and it's not even my life. Oh, yeah. But you know how it is. Nothing like being a dad. Yeah. It wakes you up, the convictions. Yeah. Why you fight even harder, the next generation.

Mm-hmm. And then 2019, I, I joined back up in the military while serving in the House, and business, and last seven years serving in the Special Forces 20th Group. What made you wanna go back in the military, specifically to go Special Forces? I'd always wanted to do it. I almost did it the first time. And I can't tell you, do you know how life just kinda plays out, look back?

Mm. But then I look, I almost went to [00:13:00] selection to, to be a Green Beret, and for some reason got out. Can't even tell you why exactly I got out, but then I went and I me- got into politics, be here on this podcast with you. Yeah. Wouldn't have met my wife- Yeah ... the three kids I have. I think God just has a destiny for all of us and it's more just listening to him and kinda palms open and- Mm

where the doors open, they open. And, Yeah ... my, m- I've accomplished everything I've wanted to accomplish so far in my life, but then it's happened in different ways. Yeah. But I'm glad for it 'cause it's grown me a lot. Yeah. What's your, what do you think the experience of having- Been in the military, you can kinda go a couple different directions with this, but between the discipline, the values, your just awareness of things in government, that gives you a leg up on people that haven't gone through that kind of season in life that are going into politics.

You've seen kinda behind the curtain a little bit. Oh, yeah. What do you think that's done to help you be a better fit for something like lieutenant governor? Yeah, so I'll say, as you asking about coming back in, [00:14:00] right, and wanting to do the special forces. I look back, I almost, in 2019, I almost made a move.

A congressional seat opened up, and I prayed about it. Had some supporters call me, and I almost ran for it, and I just signed the papers to go to selection to- ... attempt to be a Green Beret, which I accomplished, but I remember deciding not to run, and I, I wanted to go serve my country again. And but I look back, especially these last seven years, it's grown me so much as, I served six years out of high school, single, all that.

Coming back in, being in the State House, being an elected official, going up to Fort Bragg and going to Camp Mackall, and eventually earning my Green Beret, it was so nice stepping away from the Gold Dome, 'cause it's so easy in politics, just the lobbyists and the peer pressure, and just, and getting away and just back with everyday g- Americans.

Yeah. And some elite, elite n- guys. Yeah. But it was great just getting there and listening to them because it, I've always known who I am, but getting away and serving another seven years while being in politics has just helped me even more continue to know who I am, my convictions, why I fight. Mm-hmm. And 'cause it's so easy in politics [00:15:00] to, to become partisan.

Yeah, and become removed. So easy. Yeah. And removed. And I remember just getting away with them and hearing their, being upset at not, of saying, "Hey, I might lean a certain way, but I don't feel like government, period, is standing up for us and being true." They talk a big, tough game, but then they never follow through and fight for the people.

And I've loved doing that. God's grown me, taken me through a lot. That's why I know, day one, I can lead this state- Yeah ... and fight for all Georgians, even though I have my conservative beliefs, but I can also be respectful and sit down and listen to people and make sure that their voices are elevated and that they're heard.

Yeah. We, we were talking that, about that very thing before we started recording of the more that I see and hear, whether I, I know somebody is we'll call it a stamped Democrat or Republican, more and more people just want someone who will exercise some common sense that aligns with the Constitution and crazy things like that.

Yep. And, and just if you look at, if, especially if you read any of the Founding Fathers and their interactions, they were not the Boy Scouts singing Kumbaya with [00:16:00] each other. They, the, like some of them, you could say almost hated each other, but they had the same grounding of the worst thing is tyranny.

Yep. The worst thing is absolute control. The worst thing is getting in a situation where we're back in England in just a new England. And, and so even with all of their differences in their opinions and in some of the values, like the protection of the freedom- To pursue that- Yep ... it was like that is the crown jewel, and then how do we structure a society that, that has that?

And whether you're on one side or the other, I don't think there's anybody that would say we, we've not strayed from that. Like we have, there's, when you talk about cancel culture, you ca- talk about people that are, one thing happens and their career's gone, and it's like a, maybe a misunderstanding or maybe it's a smear campaign or it's whatever.

It's just, okay, let's get back to the basics of freedom, of basic equality and democracy [00:17:00] and, and what you shared. We can have our own beliefs, but we still represent everybody. 'Cause h- how I look at it, like 13 years to- total military, is how a lot of us in the military look at it, or the absolute majority, is like we put the uniform on, it's not to defend Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians.

It's to fight for America. Yeah. And it's like we're the American family. And I always say w- I look at it as one nation, one people, and we can agree and disagree. I grew up with six brothers and three sisters. Yeah. And me and my brothers specifically, we would go to war at each other at times, but we can still hug each other, love each other, and that we're family.

And I think way too much it gives this whole thing of, oh, you're so, you support so, therefore y- you're not my friend. Mm. And I think it's like, I always tell, especially young people, but everyone, is you know how they say don't talk about religion or politics at the d- dinner table? But that's wrong. We've got, we've strayed away from our Founding Fathers.

They would talk about all that. Mm-hmm. And having those discussions grows all of us. Yeah. M- you and I could sit down and disagree on some stuff, but if we sit down for enough time and break bread- Mm-hmm ... we can find so much in common, and then the, our [00:18:00] differences, we can figure that out. Yeah. And come to an agreement somewhere, and I think, but so much today it's political rhetoric instead of, and doing a little tweet to go viral instead of sitting down and having a real discussion back and forth.

Yeah. Yeah, and I think the, we'll move on from that, but just the questions of discovery, of tell me where that, that viewpoint came from, or what made you s- think that that's right or that's wrong? And just like most people, they'll spit out a bullet point, but there's like a long story behind that. And just having the, like you said, sitting down, have a meal, have a cup of coffee, have a conversation, it's, it's almost like that's becoming a foreign concept and it needs to become the norm because then you treat people like people, like you said, and it's just- Yep

it's an all people thing. I cannot imagine campaigning. I don't, we're busy, but I was like, this is a whole different kind of b- busy. First thing, how do you maintain your vocal cords when you're campaigning, talking? Because I go to like a career fair once a semester, in fall and spring, [00:19:00] and I can't talk for three days afterwards, and that's m- you know, me running my mouth for a living and in, in three or four hours my voice is gone.

If you have any trade secrets, I would love to know that. But also, l- as exhausting as this is, you're almost at the finish line of the primary season, how do you stay energized? How do you stay to where it's not Just the grind to where you see that, and do you have a favorite part behind all of that? Yeah.

Definitely running statewide is a whole different game. And I had no plans until July 29th last year. A c- a call changed everything, and me and my wife started praying, and we launched our campaign. I'll say it's definitely a grind. There are times you get tired. It's a big state, and I've been traveling six days a week, taking the day off usually on Sunday, going to church, spend time with the wife, the three kids.

But I'll say what motivates me, I just love people. I grew up, my dad had us reading all kinds of books, grew up on Zig Ziglar, and my favorite thing from him was help enough people get what they want out of life, and you'll get everything you ever imagined. Mm. Which means serving others, putting [00:20:00] others before yourself.

And so that's what always motivated me. But I'll tell you, it's probably the stories along the campaign trail, at least for me. It fires me up. I don't know, it's just my DNA. That's why I joined the military, just reading history and sacrifice, and people who have come before me- Mm-hmm ... gave everything to serve others.

And I'll tell you, on the campaign, it's just different stories, people coming up, tearing up, crying sometimes, just in the struggles of life, whether it's affordability or whether it's being able to buy a house, healthcare, provide for their kids. And I'll say, 'cause it... Two weeks, time flies, but meeting your son Walker- Yeah

and meeting also Houston, sitting down with the parents and just hearing what y'all going through fires me up. 'Cause it's, it's so easy, you can get to just going along, just chugging along, even on a campaign, and stories like y- your son and hearing what y'all going through fires me up. I love hearing stories of what people are going through, and that they need a voice, and that's why I do what I do.

I know I, I love fighting for people. I love serving the military. I was willing to give my life, thank God. I lost a number of buddies overseas. Mm. But never forget the sacrifice. Never [00:21:00] forget standing up, doing the right thing, and- Mm ... that's what motivates me. It's a mixture of history, our history, my faith.

Mm. And the Bible says that it's better to hang a millstone around your neck and go drown yourself than to hurt a child. And- Yeah ... so that's the core convictions of who I am. Like, hate corruption. Yeah. Love things that make, makes God smile. Mm-hmm. Love others, and do the right thing, and that's what motivates me, is just go be a voice for those that have no voice.

That's awesome. We appreciate that. And that's why you're here. From a state perspective, in the role of lieutenant governor, what are some things, you can pick whatever number, you can pick one or two things. You can pick a couple things if a few things come to mind. Some things that you see that have been going well, that it's like, this is, this is a system, or this is a department or an agency or whatever that's doing well.

We need to give it more resources. We need to pour some gas on that fire and really get it, get the train going stronger, faster, better. And then what are some things that you see that you're just like, "This is a mess, and this would be, like, one of my, or a couple of my major objectives to [00:22:00] try and change in the role of lieutenant governor"?

Yeah. So born and raised here, love this state overall. We get named number one place to do business, all that. Mm-hmm. I think overall, we have a great state. You can look at the business environment, just the lifestyle, and people love Georgia. I th- I think we, we do okay, but I think also- At least my viewpoint is we have some major problems from the federal government all the way down to the states.

Some good things are going on, but I think also, yeah, I think we're heading in the next few years to a major decline unless we do some massive shifts. 'Cause I feel like we're going along, chugging along, doing some li- some little tweaks, and I think we have to, as a nation, whether it's regulations, taxes, doing better for education, I mean, stepping up, and I think the biggest is waste, fraud, and abuse.

Government doesn't really serve the people nowadays. I mean, it's more just checks some boxes. Even our departments, I don't think we have, are doing enough audits and making sure that we're using the resources that we have. We're spending massive amounts of money here in Georgia on the budget, keeps growing, and I, I [00:23:00] think there's a big chunk of waste, fraud, and abuse, and I think the biggest thing I'm gonna come in is we need to be willing to sit down at every department, everything, to look at are we using the money wisely.

'Cause I know we have to go budget every single day, and I, I know this for a fact, people are getting crushed on affordability. Mm-hmm. That's the number one thing in the state. Whether it's seniors losing their houses 'cause of property tax rising, rising, and it's not based on inflation. There's really not even a true formula of how it goes up.

It just goes up, really. Yeah. And then you have millennials and Gen Z who will come into a point to where in 2028, the majority of the millennials and Gen Z will be the vote in the election, and if they can't afford to raise a family and to live life, then they're gonna be pressured to go towards, I mean, it's, it's just honest, a mom Donnie type- Mm-hmm

who's promising everything- Yeah ... but not g- but we're not delivering the end, probably. Yeah. And we're gonna have a shift in our country unless we wake up and have real discussions on our issues. Yeah. And even education, I, I think we spend 52 to 54% of our budgets on education, and we know for a fact teachers, increase of teachers has barely gone up over the decades.

Yeah. But then you have school administrators go up, I don't know, something like 80, 100%. And it's like, [00:24:00] wait, hold on. Are we spending the money wisely, or are we just continuing to grow government to where one day you're gonna run out of money? And I think we really need to look at how are we spending our money.

The same way we sat down two weeks ago about your son and others who are non-verbal, and they're not getting the help that, that they need. Mm-hmm. And so it's like we need to restructure and relook at stuff. It's not about just raising more taxes. I think we have the funding there. Are we spending it wisely?

Yeah. Yeah. We s- so we had this literal local example. So if the trees weren't here, you'd be able to see it. Last, in the last year, there was a roundabout that was, you guys probably went roundabout to get to our house. Yep. I remember they had this, on the road s- side, they had, and then this was SPLOST money, so it's just another tax, and they had their little press conference or whatever with their tents and I, I think there was one of your opponents running for lieutenant governor was there to kick it off, and they 'cause he was the local elect official at that time.

And I remember d- driving by. This is just like the comedy of [00:25:00] errors. So they had planned to start at the end of, end of May when school got out, and- It was like, this is perfect. Thank goodness there's something working right. Somebody has some common sense. Because the l- local ele- elementary school was two miles down the road, and part of the roundabout was a pre- a pre-K.

So, like, you have two schools. Wait until the schools to get out, start the construction. It's not that huge of a project. It can totally be done over the summer. It start it started the week before school got back. They wasted the entire summing- summer doing who knows what, and then when they finally rolled the equipment up, this is the thing that I just...

I was like, "You got to be kidding me." Part of the SPLOST money was for a brand-new excavator, skid steer, some- It was a, it was the... I've never seen a brand-new, not a scratch on it, piece of construction equipment ever on a [00:26:00] job site, but our SPLOST money bought that, and it bought it for that job, and that thing was probably used for four weeks maybe, and now it's off somewhere on some probably, who knows what.

But it was just one of those things I'm like, "I'm, I'm pretty sure we could've done this a little more affordably and economically here." It's a large expense for a roundabout. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm like, "I got one. I'll dri- I'll drive it down. Y'all can rent it from me for a couple months." I think that, that's what I tell people is, what you're voting on, and I'm not promising to fix every single thing.

Yeah. But I'm gonna be upfront, honest, and transparent. No way. Then we'd know you're lying. Yeah, exactly. But what I promise is I'm gonna fight for you as in even on that, was our money used wisely? I know we waste so much money. I know in 2015 I chaired a welfare fraud study committee in 2015 when I first came in the House, and just, this is just one program, but it doesn't matter if it's transportation, but in this one it was food stamps nationwide improperly paid out, in- just improperly.

In 10 years, 2004 to 2014, do you know how much that [00:27:00] was improperly nationwide? It was exactly a trillion dollars. Oh. That never should've been paid out, and my thing is if you ran your business- ... that way, you'd be out of business right this second. Yeah. You'd be done. And it's, I don't think government is being held accountable, and too many come in and get elected, and then there's special interests and people pulling them and, and pressuring them to do different things, and it's like, are you willing to say no and really dig in to make sure that we're using our money wisely?

'Cause I absolutely believe we have the money there to save a lot- Mm-hmm ... and also make sure that we're investing where we need to- Yeah ... to help people, and I think that's what I bring. Yeah. I- And the, the education part way that you mentioned earlier, the sad part of that is that is absolutely true for every teacher I know Their, and their salaries have not materially gone up at all.

All of them are under-resourced, and so they're having to take their salary that's not growing with a cost of living that is, and spend their own money to provide resources for their class because they can't [00:28:00] get it from the school system. And, and they, and categorically they feel powerless to do anything or say anything because, I don't wanna say, I don't wanna use the term overlords, but th- they're trapped.

They're the front lines, and the people in the administration level and district level, whatever, it's just like, it's almost like it's the untouchables. Like- But that's why over 50% of teachers between three to five years of coming in as a teacher, they leave the profession. Yeah. And I remember in, in this, in 2015 also, this is part of things in my life that drives me even more today, is Brooks Coleman, he was chair of education at that time.

He had been in Gwinnett entire life, public education. He had become a principal. He had a school named after him, and he told me this, I never forgot this, down at the capital. He goes, "Th- there's a building in Gwinnett County that's blocks long, full of school administrators in cubicles making 100,000 plus."

And he goes, "I don't know what the hell they do." Every cubicle is 100,000 plus salary? That's what he said to me. And it's just, and here's my thing, you do have these school administrators making this crazy amount of money. [00:29:00] What about the teachers who are actually on the front lines- Yeah ... actually doing the works, loving on our kids, helping educate them, raise them to be a part of society and give back.

And it's, I just think we need to be willing to dig into this and cut areas where it doesn't make sense. Yeah. 'Cause w- we just keep growing and growing government, and then we wonder, hey, why do we have these problems? And I think a lot of times we're just growing, creating positions. Yeah. And if they don't matter, you gotta cut them.

Yeah. And I think if anything, hire more teachers, have smaller classes, and that's gonna help our kids. Yeah. Not just more school administrators, which there's been tons of research. It's just, what are they actually doing? The teachers are the ones in the classrooms. And so I think we need to be willing to go in there and shake some stuff up with common sense, but being real with ourselves and really looking at the budget and how we run government, and cleaning up waste, fraud, and abuse.

Yeah. 'Cause I know it's massive. Yeah. I've seen it. I've been down there for 12 years, and some stuff that I've seen behind closed doors, you're like, blows your mind. Yeah. Yeah. The burden of knowledge is, is a real thing. [00:30:00] Yep. Do you have a I'm certain this is an unfair question. I ask this to, to a lot of people on the podcast, but in your in your, we'll just say in this campaign season, do you have a best memory or something that you just kinda come back to when you have those days of frustration or exhaustion or whatever?

You mentioned talking to people's stories and them just sharing their hearts with you. Is there anyone that you're just like, "I'll never forget that person in XYZ town that shared that whatever with me"? Multiple. And I would say, listen, I'm not saying 'cause he's your son. Yeah. But Walker and then with Katie's son, Houston.

Yeah. That's to leave an impact, and God knows if I win May 19th or not- Yeah. ... make the runoff and g- go win it. It, it's just multiple stories. I remember there was one down in South Georgia, just got, started campaigning, and this woman who's big doctor, all that, and this judge had come in. She had her daughter, and there was [00:31:00] a court hearing one day.

She was never told about it. You have to give a hearing to let the parents know, and literally stripped her daughter away and gave it to her ex. She shows up at school, and what's so sad is this judge and that ex were fr- fraternity brothers and all that. Ugh. You have to wonder, right? And it's just, I'm tired of people abusing their positions, and this one doctor has been accused multiple times in his practice of, of doing inappropriate things with some of his patients, all that, and been accused.

And it's just, and she's sitting there in this living room, and this couple asked me to meet with her. She's crying, just bawling. She has a seven-year-old daughter. I got a seven-year-old daughter. And has, she hasn't seen her in almost three years. Ugh. And it, it's just wrong, right? And I know, and I've been in politics enough, and I'm not saying all of government, all of, in the justice system is corrupt, but I've seen way too often the good old boys establishment that cover each other no matter what.

And I just know this is, I haven't done it in 12 years, selling out, being a part of just go along to get along [00:32:00] because of what I said about that verse, "It's better to hang a millstone around your neck than to go hurt a child." It's better to go dr- drown yourself. And it's, that's what fires me up, is like just being a voice for those that have no voice, and God's called me to do it.

And all I have to do any time in life is put my wife or my kids in that situation, and then say, "How do I feel about it?" And if it makes you angry and upset, then you need to go be a voice. And it's stories like that and so many others, and then, the people coming up crying, saying, "I can't afford healthcare," and, "I can't afford to buy a house," and, "I have multiple degrees, but I'm getting crushed from affordability."

And so those are the things that motivate me, is to go down there, continue being who I am, and as the lieutenant governor, you have massive influence, number two in the state, and just to be a voice and do all that I can and give it to God. Sorry for coughing. No, you're good. So Georgia's been your home for a while.

Any hole-in-the-wall, hidden gems, favorite place to get a burger, a sandwich, wings, get away and just [00:33:00] be by yourself that come to mind when you think of that? Man, oh, since having kids, just we go to the park and stuff like that. Yeah. And probably, I grew up in Suwannee. My parents moved to Lake Lanier. I love the lake, taking the kids out there and just hanging out, swimming, and just enjoying life.

I did love, on the campaign trail, I will say one hidden gem is Towns County Hmm. Absolutely beautiful. It is beautiful up there. Like some of the, those lakes out there and just the mountains and, I would say it's probably one... I loved all of it. I loved South Georgia. Yeah. I loved all of it, but there's...

It's very peaceful- Yeah ... up there. It's a beautiful town to, you know- Yeah. I was thinking, I'm taking my wife out there, do a little getaway weekend, which is- Yeah. There's something about it. There's some, the people out there are so nice, so outgoing, and just beautiful. Yeah. It's, it's good driving out there, too.

Oh, yeah. Weaving through, through the mountains. Yeah. So before we get to, yeah, kinda wrapping up, any other things that we've not covered just in terms [00:34:00] of you, policy stuff, anything like that? We've covered a lot of stuff, but I don't wanna cut off anything that was something else you wanted to talk about.

I just, based on running on, just affordability. Specifically, I'd like to tackle and sit down and figure out how to eliminate the property tax. I just believe it's a tax that's evil 'cause it's not based on a true formula. It's not based on inflation. Mm-hmm. And you know it as a real estate agent, people are getting crushed on this property tax, and we gotta figure out, I'm all about funding education and public safety, but I believe there's another way to do it through a consumption-type tax- Yeah

and figure it out that's responsible, fiscally responsible, for the generations to come and makes sense. But I think people should be able to own the h- their home outright. Yeah. Not just you pay it off and still be able to lose it down the road, and I know- Yeah ... education's a huge one. Yeah. And then making sure of public safety and...

But number one is I tell people the big difference with me is transparency, being upfront, hating corruption, and I always tell people, "Go Google me or ChatGPT me." I've taken stands in my years in politics. I'm no politician. I'm one of you, and I'm just as frustrated with government not always standing up, doing the [00:35:00] right thing, listening to you.

And, 'cause in 2019, I was a chairman, presided over that committee. Lost the chairmanship 'cause I stood up for a young woman named Hailey who'd been raped, not had a day in court in 10 years 'cause the former speaker of the house was holding it up as law practice from a law he changed. And he was able to use his position to just say, "Hey, I'm busy doing the people's business every day."

And he would send a letter in the day of court, and the judge would have to push the court case. And I went to him and said, "Jesus loves you, I love you, but it's wrong what you're doing. And if it was, if that was my daughter and had been raped and not had a day in court in 10 years, I'm gonna kill you and the rapist."

That's not justice. This is not America. And I think being one to take those stands of, again, putting your kids or wife in those situations, and if your heart burns and is angry and you know it's wrong, then you gotta speak for other people. Mm-hmm. 'Cause in politics, we are saying, "We're gonna be a voice for you.

We're gonna stand for you as if you're my own family." And we need to follow through, you know? Follow through is where it's lacking. Yeah, it's tough. But I know one day I'm gonna stand before God, and I think the thing is, I promise people is I'll be the most upfront, transparent. Because I know I stand before God one day, and I believe He's gonna judge me for [00:36:00] everything.

Mm-hmm. And I have a healthy fear and respect. When He rolls that film, that I want Him to say that He's proud of me. Mm-hmm. So lightning round question, which is generally a question that has nothing to do with anything. You're actually the first one that I've given the preview of the lightning round because I really was hoping that you'd have an awesome answer.

The, so it's a twofold, but r- relative to your military career. So I just put Green Beret, but you could say, you, you can use your whole military career. The stuff they put you through in, in, in all of your training, is there any one thing you look at that you're just like, "That was the dumbest part of our training.

Like, why did they do that?" Because it's, there's so many things that are just brutal. But is there anything that you're just like, "What was... Wh- why did we even do that?" Yeah. So I'll say going through selection to be selected to go through the Q course to be a Green Beret, when it was team week, and a week long, and you're just moving, what was it?

5, 800 telephone poles, and you'd have a team of [00:37:00] guys, and you would switch in and out. You'd have your ruck on, up to around 65, 70 pounds. You'd have that on, plus you're carrying this telephone pole all day, up and down these hills, in the woods, and it's just breaking your back. And you're like, "What are we doing?"

But they're testing to see w- will you quit, will you keep going. Yeah. And they give you all kinds of poles and rope and wheels and go, "Hey, figure out..." And it's thousands of pounds right there. Figure out to create some contraption, and you gotta move this 10 miles- Mm ... 15, or whatever it was- Yeah ... all day from morning till late at night.

And it was to test you, are you gonna break? Can you do critical problem-solving? And- And can you do it together? Yeah, and together- Yeah ... 'cause people are getting upset and they're going, "Ah, no, let's do it this way." And having to calm down, being a team, really grew you. But it was, it was brutal. By the time you got done with team week, you were limping, you were hurting.

But I loved it. It grew you. Yeah. But they take you through that to make sure, in battle, can your [00:38:00] teammate count on you to never quit? Do or die. Yeah. And but there were times, 'cause when I went back in the second time in the military, at that time, I was married now, I had kids, and there were times I was like, "What am I doing?

I have a great life back home. I'm a state representative, have a great job, have a great house and family." And, and I came back in and I was like 31, and I'm like, "What am I doing?" I chose this. Yeah, I chose this, yeah. But it grew me. A- and I look back on my 13 years of military service and loved my time, but team week was definitely just different things we did.

Is there any, do you have any non-classified funniest moments, or... 'Cause it's like you guys are, you got these just elite warrior m- mentality, but you're also, you're a bunch of dudes. So I just gotta imagine y- there's gotta be some pranks, there's gotta be some things where you're just like, y'all fall out laughing.

Anything that comes to mind that is PG and can be shared? One is actually in the, in the Q course. Just [00:39:00] something that, so you go, du- during the field and we'll be out there doing exercises and all that, and I remember we were moving all day, doing ambushes and all this, and we get to our patrol base. We have to set up for the night and kind of...

And we were setting in, digging in all positions, all that stuff, and all of a sudden we get hit by the OPFOR. It's the opposing forces, you know? Mm-hmm. And I remember we're getting hit and we gotta move out and break contact, and I have my nods on. I'm trying to find my ruck sack, because we're getting lit up, and I run over to a ruck sack.

I, I go, "I think that's mine." And, but I'm checking my sensitive items, 'cause you can't move out if you leave any sensitive items. You will be kicked out, all that. You cannot lose this. And I go into my ruck real quick just to make sure I have them there, to, to equipment, and I can't find them. And I start flipping out.

I start throwing everything out of the ruck, 'cause I'm flipping out now. Did it fall out somewhere? I go through the entire ruck and I get to the bottom and I feel some potato chips, and I realize it's not my ruck. It's one of the [00:40:00] cadre. Because we can have potato chips and all that, right? And all of a sudden, I'm like, my nods, I look around again.

I go, "Oh, there's my ruck over there." I run over there, I grab it, I put it on. We start moving out, right? 'Cause we're breaking contact and getting lit up. And all of a sudden we're moving out and I hear this, "YFT, beep, beep. I'm gonna kill somebody." And he's, "I'm gonna find out who this is." I never ratted, 'cause there's no way I'm gonna be the man to say I did it, because what if I get kicked out and he just takes a disliking to me?

Mm-hmm. And I was like, there's no way, if he torches me, all of us- ... I will never say that was me. 'Cause his stuff was all over the ground in the middle of the- Oh ... swamp woods and- That's awesome ... I was like, under no circumstance. I'm told to tell the truth, no way. No way. No way, no way. 'Cause he's back there putting it all back together and he's- Oh, man

just cussing, and I was like, there was no way. That's- At all ... that's good. That was worth the wait. Yeah. I, did you ever read the book Lone Survivor? I watched the movie. I've not- Yeah. So- ... read the book ... the book is, I loved the [00:41:00] movie. The book is so much better because the book goes through, the movie is about half to two-thirds of the book.

The, the first half, third of the book is him going, g- getting raised and going through high school and going into SEAL training and stuff like that. And it was just so incredible. And one of the things, I've shared this I don't know how many times over the years, that I'll never forget, is they had... He, he talks about in the, in the SEAL training, they go from their barracks or wherever they're at into the, um, the mess hall for dinner or something like that.

And they have to, the rooms have to be spick and span, everything put back together, whatever. And they get back and it, like, all the doors are locked or whatever. They get back and the, one of the rooms is like- Exact- like you went through the rucksack. Stuff thrown everywhere, and they just get berated by the, whoever the senior com- senior chiefs [00:42:00] or whoever is the, in charge of the SEAL training, and h- literally makes everybody go out, do all their torture in the Pacific at night, and do...

And he asked, when he got through SEAL training, get- gets through Hell Week, he asked that, that instructor, "What was the deal with that? We knew that room was clean. We knew everything was the way it was done. Before we left, the door was locked." And he said, "We had somebody climb in from the window, mess the room up, go out through the window."

And he said it was something that's relative to, we want to see how you respond to that kind of injustice. Can you keep yourself together and still follow instructions when you know the true, the truest form of personal injustice? 'Cause you're about to get, you're about to go through hell for the next six, eight hours in the dark, in the freezing cold, when you did your job right.

Like, how do you respond to that? Does that break you down? [00:43:00] Do you abandon your teammates, or do you accuse the others? And I was like, and the whole thing was, like what you said with the, the telephone pole thing, is your mind breaks down before your body does. 100%. It's, this is all a how strong is your mind, because your body will pretty much do whatever your mind tells it to do.

It, your mind cannot, cannot readily kill your body. Your body will quit on your mind, though. Oh, 100%. And- That is why, do, go look at, not that you don't have some Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Rangers who are just absolute just jacked. But it is true, the mind is so much more powerful, and that's why you see guys going through it and, and who are at the most elite levels.

Yeah. In shape and all that, of course. You have to. But it's not the fastest, the strongest, because again, they go test those things to see, do you break? Can you handle it? And critical problem-solving, especially in the Green Berets, it's all types of tests. 'Cause our big thing is you have to be able to go off in a 12-man team, b- get told a mission, and you might have nothing to go with, and they [00:44:00] go, "Figure it out."

That's what Green Berets did. You all had to learn a second language. You all have these special skills, and you go, a 12-man team does what a 600-man battalion can do. All trained in just vast areas. They spend about a million dollars on every one of us just to don the Green Beret. And then you have to be able to go split into a six-man team because you have two of each MOS, job title, and then you gotta be able to cross-train to where you can go from a 12-man team that can do what a 600-man does, battalion, to also split to a s- two six-man teams and still go do what that 12-man team did outwardly.

I mean, that's what told me, they go, do you have the leadership to go into the state senate as lieutenant governor, preside over it? And it's, look, we're trained unconventional guerrilla warfare, at the same time put a suit and tie on and meet with heads of state in an embassy, and then the next day be behind enemy lines raging guerrilla warfare.

Mm-hmm. And it's, and I think that translates straight into- Politics and life of being able to be s- calm, cool, and collect under chaos and think clearly. Yeah. And then be able to work with people from every walk of life, every background. And in the military, I've served with people from every- Yes sir

[00:45:00] belief system, community, and you start to, to realize we're all the same in a lot of ways. Got a lot more in common. A lot more in common. And so it's, "Hey, calm down. We can figure this out." Yeah. And not just attack each other. Yeah. So I wanna be respectful of your time. We're just a couple days away from the primary.

We'll hope everything goes well. But how do people find more about you, follow you, just anything in terms of how people would connect with you outside of this podcast? Yeah, so they can go to votedavidclark.com. They can read about my pri- my priorities, more about who I am, my life. And then on s- I'm on all social media platforms, whether it's Instagram, X, used to be called Twitter, TikTok, but it's davidclarkga.

Okay. And they can go follow me. And I tell people, reach out to me. I'll call them if they have any questions, and I'd love to have their vote. And the election right now, the polls show it's wide open. We're all within a point of each other. Yeah. But I know I can win this, and I always tell people, I'm invincible.

If God has it for me, he'll put me there May 19th, and if not, he'll open another door for me. Yeah. But I'd lo- I'd love to be the next lieutenant governor, and I always tell them I'll be the most [00:46:00] upfront, transparent statewide they've ever had. Awesome.

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