Mathewos Samson: Candidate For Georgia State House District 58
Mathewos Samson: Candidate For Georgia State House District 58
Election Date: May 19, 2026
Candidate Website: www.samsonforgeorgia.com
Candidate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SamsonForGeorgia
Candidate X: https://x.com/Samson4Georgia
Candidate TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@SamsonForGeorgia
Candidate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamsonForGeorgia
Candidate Bluesky: samsonforgeorgia.bsky.social
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.
Question: 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: Republicans are assaulting our democracy and citizens through the DHS. They must be stopped and held to account once Republicans are removed from power. ICE is acting as a private militarized police force for the Trump administration, and its officers have publicly executed multiple people. At least 23 people have died in ICE custody since October. We must immediately end all collaboration with ICE in Georgia, including by repealing HB 1105 and ending any existing 287g agreements. We must dismantle ICE, investigate, and prosecute its officers. We must radically reform our country's immigration system to be humane and just and stand with our immigrant neighbors by refusing to let them be scapegoated and criminalized.
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.
Question: 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: We cannot continue to allow the systems of power in the United States to be used to avoid consequences for being the most corrupt administration in history.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.
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.
Question: 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: We do not live in a democracy if we cannot hold those who break its laws accountable. If the federal government is unwilling to protect its citizens and prosecute those who harm them, the states must step in and do so.
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.
Question: 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: We must ban corporate PACs in our primaries. We need to move to state funded elections and ban PACs and corporations from using money as speech. I am the only candidate in my race who has publicly pledged to refuse contributions from corporations, developers and industry PACs. When in office, I will campaign for reforms to expand democracy such as public campaign finance programs, ranked-choice voting, multi-member districts, and proportional representation. Getting money out of politics is of the utmost priority as we fight for a truly democratic society!
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.
Question: 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: We need to remove those who seek to undermine our elections from power and actively push back against the bad faith arguments from Republicans which try to sow doubt on an election system that has been tested and passed for decades.
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.
Question: Do you agree that fair representation requires fair maps, and will you advocate for them?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: In the world where Republicans refuse to pass legislation to ban gerrymandering, we must fight back to ensure fair representation. Democrats have continued to put forward legislation to ban the practice and move to non-partisan districting and Republicans prevent it from passing every time. While I advocate for banning partisan redistricting, we cannot ban ourselves from doing so while Republicans have no intention of stopping, especially now after the recent Supreme Court decision to gut the Voting Rights Act.
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.
Question: In your position, will you follow court orders and hold other officials accountable for failing to do so?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: I believe in the separation and balance of powers, and will act accordingly to strengthen our democratic institutions rather than degrade 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.
Question: 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: I believe that the market manipulation this admin has engaged in has proven that the goal of many people in power is simply to enrich themselves and their friends. We cannot allow for this type of behavior to go unpunished and those who engage in self enrichment should be jailed.
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.
Question: Will you commit to supporting Congress’s power of the purse and demand an end to this form of executive overreach?
Answer: Yes
Explanation: The money collected by these tariffs was used to manipulate the market and their cost was passed on to average people. This was not just a failure of policy, but a theft from the American people.
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.
Question: 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: This Republican administration has shielded Trump from all consequences. We cannot allow for the president to dismantle our democracy and pretend as if that is an official act. We must remove him and the criminals in this administration from power and hold them accountable.
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.
Question: 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: The Trump admin is filled with criminals and the next administration must ensure that the documents hidden from the American people are released. If employees of the government do not comply with their release, they should be removed from the position. I believe at every level of government, and in every administration, these measures of transparency and accountability are duties that we must uphold.
Question 12 Topic: Truth in Public Discourse and Decision-Makin
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.
Question: 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: RFK is appointed by people whose sole interest is self enrichment, he has not demonstrated any interest in science-based decision making and we must replace every person in positions like his with people who listen to evidence.
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.”
Question: 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: I believe that actively lying to the American people should have consequences. This type of rhetoric puts people’s lives in danger and pits Americans against each other instead of the Epstein class which is currently working to destroy our democracy. I wholeheartedly commit to speaking the truth, and correcting myself as soon as I can if I ever fall short of this commitment.
