Meet the candidates for House District 147: Ariel Phillips

Ariel Phillips, Democratic candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives District 147, is prepared to enter the race for house once again.

A Mississippi native, Phillips joined the Air Force in 2012, which led her to Georgia. She left the Air Force in 2018 but she and her wife decided to stay in Warner Robins. 

After the military, Phillips became involved in community organizations and also works as a manufacturing analyst. She said she has a degree in Philosophy with a concentration in Morality Politics and Law.

Phillips realized she is passionate about community service, and wanted to learn as much as possible before getting involved in politics.

“I kind of used that to try and build up a good perspective of the world,” she said. “I’m running because I love my community, I want to take care of it, and I want to make sure people have the resources that they need to be successful and that we are all happy and healthy.”

Phillips ran for District 147 in 2022; through that experience, she learned more about politics. After the experience, she decided to run for the same position and said she feels more confident and prepared to run again.

“I like to be involved in as many things as I can, because I love to help people in whatever ways that I can,” Phillips said. “Most of my experience in leadership and politics comes from local things, as opposed to this big level that I’m going for now, but I feel like I got a good enough handle on it to give it a shot again.”

In 2022, she received a call asking for someone to run for the position. Originally, she was in a family planning stage, but put her plans on hold and agreed to run. She has received the call again and is more prepared to take on the challenge.

“I’m the type of person that if somebody calls me and says they need me to do something, and I think it would benefit the community, I’m never going to turn it down,” she said. “It was a decision made for me, but I’m not opposed to it. I’m very proud that I was asked and I’m thankful for the opportunity.” 

Phillips said her campaign has been going well so far. She attributes success to connections she made in 2022. She had to network since she was new, but now, a lot of people have “re-found” her, which made the campaign easier. 

She said she is not as nervous as she once was and has the confidence to run her campaign. Phillips also said she does not get overwhelmed, is thankful she does not have to start from scratch, with funding available from her previous campaign.

One of Phillips’s priorities if elected is expanding Medicaid, something she is passionate about. She said many are paying for private health insurance that is not guaranteed for use or approval. She believes with a backup, like Medicaid and other sources, people could get help sooner and success in life earlier.

“We’re hitting a point where a lot of Georgians, they do not have a good quality of living because they don’t have access to healthcare. The money is just sitting there waiting for it to be sent out for healthcare, why don’t we use it right?” she said.

Another priority is reproductive justice, which she mentioned is an important topic. Phillips believes in women’s right to choose and bodily autonomy. She said two women have recently died from not having access to an abortion, a mindblowing statistic for her.

“It’s a medical necessity for a lot of people and it’s just not fair that it’s not available anymore for many,” she said.

Integrity and education are another priority for Phillips. She believes schools are very important because they raise the next generation of Americans. 

Phillips shared a story about a friend, State House Representative Imani Barnes. Barnes proposed a failed bill for free school lunches. 

Phillips said she would have been pushing for the bill to pass every day. She believes that kids will not be able to focus on school if they are hungry.

“We need to be focusing on making sure schools have all the resources that they need to raise these kids. We need to focus on making sure that they’re fed,” she said.

Phillips said she will also prioritize improving public safety and bringing public transportation to Warner Robins.

For public safety, she believes in background checks, mandatory gun safety courses, closing gun show loopholes and a three-day waiting period for purchases. She said the waiting period has been proven to reduce domestic violence in other countries. 

“If people have that time to calm down and really evaluate what they’re doing, they’re likely to be less violent, so give them that time to not have a gun in their hand,” she said. 

Phillips said there is currently no public transportation in Warner Robins, but she aims to bring that to the city. According to Phillips, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act passed a few years ago and gave more money for public transportation; she said money is sitting waiting to be dispersed.

Public transportation is one of Phillips’s biggest priorities. She believes many in legislature don’t think about it since it’s a city issue, but she said if the city isn’t paying attention to it, somebody must. 

Phillips believes public transportation will help businesses and boost the economy because it will get more people to local shops with more money in their pocket, since they’d only need to pay for a bus pass. Phillips also mentioned disabled people in Warner Robins that can’t get around due to lack of transportation.

“They are at the mercy of their friends and family and not everybody has a lot of available friends and family. [Public transportation] makes it easier to get around,” she said.

Phillips describes herself as “boots on the ground” and aspired for servant leadership. She said she would never ask someone to do something she’s not willing to do.

“I would never ask for somebody to support me if I’m not willing to support them back. I like to tell people on the campaign trail when they ask me, ‘what are you going to do about this thing?’ I can tell you what I want to do about it, I can’t promise you it’s going to get done because it’s not just up to me, but I can promise you that I will be the thorn in the side of whoever is trying to stop it from happening,” she said.

Phillips said she can put herself out there and continue to bring awareness. She can’t guarantee people will vote for the same things she’s passionate about, but can promise that she will logically explain their importance and try to make them see her side.

“I’m a philosopher at heart. I like to talk to people about things. I like to have, rational respectful arguments. I like to get to a common ground,” She said. “That is something that’s really important to me, just being available and making sure that you’re advocating for people. You’re not just voting every once in a while, you’re actually actively advocating for them.”

She said if she was elected, in the first couple of weeks she would absorb as much information as she could and use it to get the best perspective of every situation that comes across. She mentioned her military background instilled this learning method and she strives to learn as much as she can about a topic by asking experts and those with more knowledge than her.

Phillips said citizens should vote for her because she believes she’s the only person that truly cares as much as she does. 

“I don’t do this because I want attention or because I have some great political goal. I am only doing this because I’ve seen issues in my community, and somebody has to fix them. If no one else is doing it, I would like to step up and be the one to do it,” she said. 

Phillips is running against Republican candidate and current representative Bethany Ballard. Election Day is Nov.5; early voting ends Nov.1. 

To find out more about Ariel Phillips, visit her website.