THOMASVILLE — With a motor home that is gaining attention for its message, Kandiss Taylor is trying to take her message to all corners of Georgia.

Taylor, who ran for US. Senate two years ago, now has her sights on the governor’s mansion. She brought her campaign and her message to Thomasville’s downtown Saturday. 

“My strategy is I want to hear from all the people,” she said. “I can’t represent I don’t know or don’t know what they want.”

Taylor wants to take her campaign to all of the state’s 159 counties. 

“I want to hear from them and hear what their issues are in their town,” she said. “Every town has different issues. Every town has different needs, whether it’s broadband access or illegal immigrants flooding in or crime.  It just depends on where you are.” 

It is an uphill climb for Taylor, who is an educator in Appling County. She faces an entrenched and well-funded incumbent, Gov. Brian Kemp, and a more recent challenger, former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who also has deep pockets for a campaign warchest. 

But Taylor is banking on her populist appeal. Her campaign now has more than 3,000 volunteers across the state canvassing for her. 

“I don’t have millions of dollars,” she said, “but I don’t need it. The people supply what we need.”

Taylor said her message is resonating with those she meets along the trail.

“People are tired of being represented by people who only care about money and power and don’t care about their needs,” she said. “They’re sick of that. They’re tired of it. They’re tired of the same old establishment politicians. I’ve had a huge boom in my campaign. Our grassroots have been exploring in the last month, really, really fast, so fast it’s scaring the two guys running against me.”

 She contemplated running for the U.S. House this time and said she understands politics more this time than two years ago.

“When I ran for Senate, I didn’t know anything,” she said. “I ran for that because I didn’t feel represented.”

Taylor’s bus is emblazoned with “Jesus, Guns and Babies,” and that has provoked interest from potential supporters and detractors. She believes Georgia is a conservative state, based upon her travels two years ago on her Senate campaign, and she said the 2020 election was “hijacked.”

“And nothing was done about it,” she said. 

Despite the name recognition and the spending power Kemp and Perdue have in the Republican primary, Taylor remains undeterred.

“No, it does not scare me in the least bit,” she said, “because the people want something different. The people want different. The people are searching for something different. They want don’t want either one of them. They’re the same person. 

“We’re going to shock the world.”