MIDWAY — Touting his small business experience and his desire to strengthen health care throughout the state, state Sen. Jason Esteves kicked off his campaign for governor Saturday in Liberty County.

Esteves (D-Atlanta) pointed to his experience as a small business owner — he and his wife, a nurse practitioner, own an urgent care facility and he has two Biscuit Café locations. He also noted he’s been the primary care giver for his mother, who was diagnosed 10 years ago with Alzheimer’s.

Too many kids in the state don’t know where their next meal is coming from, Esteves said, and added one in nine senior citizens in Georgia are in the same situation.

“We have a health care system that is broken, and an education system that is struggling,” he said. “The people of Georgia deserve better.”

Esteves said he wants to see the state find ways to cut the costs of housing, child care and health care.

“It’s more expensive to send a child to child care than it is to a state college,” he said. “How can we expect our people to work if they can’t afford child care?”

Esteves cited statistics revealing one-third of new parents either quit or get fired because they can’t afford child care.

“We have to invest in our child care system,” he said.

While the state is touted as the No. 1 state in which to do business, Esteves questioned why it doesn’t have world-class health care and a stronger education system. He also said the recent “Big, Beautiful Bill,” as it is called by President Trump that he signed recently after getting through Congress, is “the biggest, largest transfer of wealth the country has ever seen.”

Esteves also said the state is sitting on $16 billion in non-emergency reserves and has another $2 billion in the Georgia Lottery account that could be used as others face the loss of SNAP benefits, health care and Medicaid.

Housing also is not accessible because of its costs, Esteves continued, and he wants to find a way to help local governments and builders construct more affordable housing. There is a need for more than 300,000 housing units across the state, Esteves said.

The state also needs to invest more in mental health. Georgia is at the bottom when it comes to access to mental health, Esteves said.

State Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway) noted the Dorchester Academy, which played a role in the civil rights movement, was just steps away from where Esteves greeted residents Saturday morning.

Esteves said the problems facing Liberty County are those facing many other communities in Georgia.

“Liberty County is representative of the state of Georgia,” he said. “You have a rural population and a county that is growing rapidly, yet there are folks getting left behind. The concerns we are seeing here we are seeing all across the state. We have to keep our communities from failing.”

First elected to the state Senate in 2022, he is a member of the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Children and Families, Finance and State and Local Government Operations committees. His district covers much of northwest Fulton and south Cobb counties. He also served on the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education, which he also chaired.

Esteves was the first Democrat to announce running for governor, but two of the state’s big names also has joined the race — former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. State Rep. Derrick Jackson also has tossed his hat in the ring and Rev. Olujimi Brown also has announced he will run for the Democrats’ nod for governor.

The Republican field also has grown, with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones entering the fray for the GOP nomination against current state Attorney General Chris Carr.

“It’s not about names,” he said. “We are not going to ‘celebrity’ to a win. It’s hard work and meeting people where they are and talking to the voters on the issues they care about. I am … to meeting voters where they are and talking to them about issues they care about. At the end of the day, people want a candidate who has lived through the issues they are talking about — health care, child care, supporting small businesses.”

Gov. Kemp, who was elected to the office first in 2018, is barred by term limits from seeking a third term. No Democrat has won the office since Roy Barnes. Esteves called on Democrats to be willing to talk about kitchen table concerns.

“They may not agree with us on social issues,” he said, “but they agree on economic issues. People are ready for a new generation of leadership.”