Adam Cleveland: Candidate for GA State House District 48
Adam Cleveland, candidate for GA House District 48
Election Date: November 3, 2026
Candidate Website: www.adamcleveland.com/
Candidate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamforgeorgia
Candidate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adamforgeorgia
See your sample ballot and all candidates for this and every election here: https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/
Question 1 Topic: Defending Constitutional Rights
Over the past year, federal officers within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have detained individuals without cause and searched homes without a judicial warrant, which violates the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
Will you support the Fourth Amendment right to privacy and demand an end to unlawful conduct by DHS and other government agencies?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: These unlawful and unacceptable transgressions on our Constitution by our own government are exactly the reason why I am running for office. We cannot allow the very offices and agencies whose duty is to enforce the law to continue breaking it, tearing apart families and causing communities to live in fear. As Americans, we are part of a nation that should stand forever against tyranny, but our federal government has instead acquiesced to it. The fight now falls to us in the states and, as a representative, I will fight back against Trump’s quest for monarchy and those cowards both in Washington and in Georgia’s own legislature who are willing to give away our Constitutional rights in pursuit of their career ambitions.
Question 2 Topic: Defending Constitutional Rights
Public reports estimate that since 2022, President Donald Trump has issued more than 100 threats to investigate, prosecute, imprison, or otherwise punish those who are critical of him, including news organizations and talk show hosts (such as Jimmy Kimmel). In September 2025, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi indicted former FBI director James Comey after Trump publicly called for his prosecution.
Do you agree that the president and other government officials should not attack political enemies or those exercising their First Amendment rights?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: Donald Trump’s attacks on members of our society - including journalists and entertainers - because he feels threatened by the truth are un-American, and they are eroding exactly the freedoms that are the foundation of our country. Taking a public office means accepting accountability to the checks and balances of our Constitution, the reporting of news media, the unflattering opinions of any American, and most especially the decision of voters on Election Day. Without accountability, the United States is neither a republic nor a democracy. The threats Donald Trump is making are against ALL of us, and as Americans, we must continue exercising our First Amendment rights to fight back against the slippery slope of autocracy.
Question 3 Topic: Defending Constitutional Rights
Videos, court statements, and internal communications show that officers of the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE agents, have knowingly and criminally acted outside of their authority. Since the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent, the administration has prevented the state of Minnesota from conducting a proper criminal investigation of the perpetrator.
Do you agree that, subject to existing legal precedent, states have the right to prosecute crimes, and will you advocate for the investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by federal officers?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: States not only have the right, but the imperative to investigate and prosecute crimes against their residents. As an attorney and a representative of Georgia, I will advocate for investigation of any crimes by federal officers against my fellow Georgians with the goal of protecting us all from the repeated tragic and horrific violations of constitutional rights that brought injury and loss of life to Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and others in Minnesota. That unprovoked violence, the warrantless searches and arrests we witnessed, and the endangering, neglectful treatment inside ICE facilities are violations of our law and have no place in this state. Trump’s personal military force cannot be allowed to continue to terrorize our cities and communities without being held accountable for their lawlessness.
Question 4 Topic: Commitment To Democratic Process
A landmark 2004 Princeton study found that a small group of elites and corporations have the greatest influence on U.S. legislation. This issue was exacerbated in 2010, when SCOTUS’s Citizens United decision paved the way for the creation of SuperPACs, which to date have spent more than $5 billion in anonymous special interest dollars to influence US elections and policy.
In your role, will you work to ensure that corporations and PACs are not able to exert undue influence on the legislative process?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: Our legislative process should work for us, not for corporations that have no stake in our neighborhoods and communities. I will work to end the undue influence that corporations and PACs have over our legislature by supporting campaign finance reforms so that no politician will have the incentive to prioritize service to big donors and special interests over the interests of their constituents. One immediate opportunity would be to limit the outlay of PACs in favor of campaigns in whole or in part. A lesser measure would be to require full donor disclosure from PACs. By introducing stricter financial disclosure requirements and capping the expenditures of PACs, we can help ensure the people choose our representatives, not corporations.
Question 5 Topic: Commitment To Democratic Process
The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that authored Project 2025, has catalogued every instance of voter fraud in federal elections since 1982 and found that it occurred exceedingly rarely—about once for every million votes. Still, unfounded claims of fraud are frequently used to cast doubt on election results and to advocate for more restrictive laws. President Trump has even called for Republicans to “nationalize” the elections, and on March 31, 2026, he signed an executive order to restrict absentee ballots.
As an elected official, will you help protect free and fair elections, and refute unfounded claims of fraud that undermine faith in our electoral process?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: The only meaningful attack on our elections is the incessant lies from our own president. He’s sought to deter eligible citizens from voting by making it harder to register or reach a convenient polling place at a convenient time, sought to change our districts to render our votes less powerful, sought to limit early and mail-in-voting AND sought to limit the time for COUNTING cast ballots, has subjected the lives of dedicated poll workers to threats from followers who believed his lies, and now threatens, and likely intends, to have his private ICE army appear at polling locations to intimidate voters who may fear unlawful seizure or injury. I will work to protect every citizen’s right and access to vote by making the process easier, not harder, and stand up to anyone who attacks our poll workers and election officials, especially here in Fulton County. We must also protect Georgia’s votes from political party interference and from federal overreach by restoring the power of our elected Secretary of State over the politician-appointed Elections Board and enacting laws that give states and counties a chance to be heard in court before any ballots can be taken from their hands.
Question 6 Topic: Commitment To Democratic Process
Though congressional district maps are usually only redrawn once a decade after the census, several states, including Texas and California, passed new laws in 2025 with the explicitly partisan purpose of gerrymandering to gain more seats in the House of Representatives. In Wisconsin and Illinois, gerrymandering has resulted in the winning party receiving about 25% more House seats than their vote share.
Do you agree that fair representation requires fair maps, and will you advocate for them?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: Championing legislation to create an Independent Redistricting Commission in Georgia would be one of my highest priorities as a legislator. How can we expect to get leaders who serve us when our districts are drawn specifically to serve them? How can we expect to raise up those leaders from amongst ourselves if no sane Georgian can look at a map and successfully describe to another sane Georgian the boundaries of her voting district? Our legislature must mandate district maps that keep communities together, require intuitive use of natural and manmade boundaries to delineate them, and most importantly, aren’t drawn to protect or advance any individual’s political career.
Question 7 Topic: Belief In System of Law
In the case of J.G.G. v. Trump, the administration disobeyed a federal court’s explicit order on March 15, 2025, to stop a deportation flight of Venezualan immigrants and to return any flights that were already in the air. The following year, on February 26, 2026, Federal Court Judge Patrick Schiltz issued an opinion detailing the Trump administration’s failure to comply with hundreds of court orders pertaining to Habeas petitions.
In your position, will you follow court orders and hold other officials accountable for failing to do so?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: As a practicing attorney, I will certainly comply with court orders, and am uniquely positioned to hold others accountable to do so as well. These breaches of lawful court orders by the Trump administration are another example of this president’s disregard for our Constitution. To say that they move us closer to autocracy is insufficient - they ARE autocratic actions. EVERY American citizen must obey the law, the application of the law is determined by our courts, and we deserve elected officials who will stand up for our laws, not betray them.
Question 8 Topic: Belief In System of Law
Donald Trump has personally profited an estimated $1.2 billion from cryptocurrency in the second term of his presidency while simultaneously acting to deregulate the industry.
Do you believe that a president and other government officials should be required to divest from conflicts of interest during their term in office, and will you commit to doing the same?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: Anyone who holds full-time public office MUST be required to divest from conflicts of interest. I don’t believe that politicians should be using their positions for personal gain– in fact, I don’t believe career politicians should exist at all. Public offices are entrusted temporarily to those who hold them, but they should always and will always belong to us, the people. Donald Trump’s personal profits are exactly why there is a lack of trust in our government– how can we trust our representatives when too many are only representing themselves? Too many who have gone into full-time public office (US Representatives, Senators, and at least one current President) have vastly increased their personal wealth by using the power and knowledge of their office - and the actions they choose to take - specifically to enrich themselves. I support term limits for state and Federal offices, in hopes that ending the possibility of political careers will reduce the incentive to betray one’s fellow citizens’ rights in pursuit of personal ambitions.
Question 9 Topic: Countering Authoritarianism
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down $175 billion of tariffs instituted by President Trump, determining that imposing these tariffs overstepped the bounds of his authority. The administration has also illegally withheld congressionally-appropriated funds from states and government agencies through executive action, per the Government Accountability Office.
Will you commit to supporting Congress’s power of the purse and demand an end to this form of executive overreach?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: I support Congress’s power of the purse because I support checks and balances and our Constitution, and I am running for office to stand up to the overreach that is threatening to turn the United States into an autocracy that only works for Donald Trump and his friends. Separation of powers ensures that no one person or group can hold the direction of our country hostage from the will of the people, and these attacks on our system of government constitute a threat to our value of government by and for the people. These are OUR tax dollars, and they should be spent to serve the people of our state, not the whims of one man.
Question 10 Topic: Countering Authoritarianism
In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the president is immune from criminal liability for “official acts,” making impeachment the only reliable check on presidential power.
Do you believe that Congress has the responsibility to conduct impeachment proceedings, as it did by investigating alleged corruption by President Biden, in order to prevent corruption, abuse of power, and unconstitutional acts for which the president is otherwise unaccountable?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: Yes, Congress MUST conduct impeachment proceedings to investigate President Trump’s corruption, abuse of power, and complete disregard for our Constitution before we have lost too many of our rights to fight back. Republicans’ hypocrisy and cowardice in failing to stop Trump’s lawless, abusive, and corrupt actions moved us - and continue to move us - dangerously farther from our rights, our values, and our democracy. With Trump’s supporters more concerned about keeping their political jobs and government contracts than defending our Constitution, it is up to all of us voters and future representatives to demand accountability.
Question 11 Topic: Countering Authoritarianism
During his second term in office, Donald Trump has fired seventeen independent inspectors general and defunded or removed key staff from independent government watchdogs including the Office of Professional Responsibility, the Office of Government Ethics, and the Office of Special Counsel. The administration has also failed to keep adequate records, blocked the release of records (such as the Epstein Files), and claimed ownership of presidential records in violation of legal precedent and ethical standards.
In your role, will you work to ensure transparency and accountability through adequate record keeping and independent inspectors, and will you hold those who do not meet these standards accountable?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: Yes, I will fight to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels of government. The firing of independent inspectors shows a blatant disrespect for our very institutions of government, and all American citizens deserve open records to show that their representatives are acting in good faith. Given the amount of violations of law, unconstitutional actions, and breaches of public interest that we are aware of from this administration, it is imperative that we have transparency to shine a light on what we can only imagine behind closed doors. Those who cannot meet these standards are not fit for public office, and voters deserve to know so they can make informed decisions this November.
Question 12 Topic: Truth in Public Discourse and Decision-Making
Despite overwhelming scientific consensus on the benefits and risks of vaccines, some high-profile critics continue to make claims about vaccines that have been debunked.
Do you believe that RFK Jr.’s choice to staff the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices with people who push easily-refuted pseudoscientific theories is harmful to Americans’ health, and will you advocate for science-based decision-making?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: I’m a practicing attorney with an undergraduate degree in biology, which means I value critical thinking, science, medicine, and objective reality. To place those who actively disregard those values into positions that have great influence over our health is harmful and dangerous. We saw in 2020 how Donald Trump’s lies about the COVID 19 pandemic cost lives, and we cannot afford another day, let alone another emergency, with Trump and RFK Jr. in control of our nation’s well-being. Georgia’s politicians have allowed our own Centers for Disease Control - the leading world resource in medical threat prevention - to be defunded, barred from valuable research, and physically attacked. In the state legislature, I would defend the rights of Georgians to have access to accurate health information and to make their own health care decisions, and I would work to reinstitute the CDC as a fully funded and valued shield for the people of Georgia.
Question 13 Topic: Truth in Public Discourse and Decision-Making
Many public officials make false assertions when they believe it is politically useful. Vice President J.D. Vance defended this practice after claiming Haitians were eating cats and dogs, saying “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
Do you agree that lying about the facts voters use to make decisions distracts from the actual issues, and will you commit to accurately representing established facts?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: Yes, as an attorney with a background in science, I am committed to dealing only in facts and reality. I have never wanted, and still don’t want, a political career. I am only running for office in order to make the changes necessary for Georgia’s families – and then to leave and spend time with my own. Public office was supposed to be entirely about argument and compromise on issues from a shared foundation of facts and truth, and any politician who chooses to advance untruth or even to characterize as uncertain objectively provable facts has betrayed their constituents’ interests in favor of their own. I support introducing term limits for state and federal offices to discourage exactly this kind of betrayal.