Karl Gallegos
Karl Gallegos (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Georgia House of Representatives to represent District 34. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Gallegos completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Karl Gallegos was born in District of Columbia. He earned an associate degree from the New Mexico Military Institute in 1970, a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1977. His career experience includes working as a global pharmacovigilance physician consultant.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 34
Incumbent Devan Seabaugh defeated Karl Gallegos in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 34 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Devan Seabaugh (R) | 57.6 | 21,849 |
 | Karl Gallegos (D)  | 42.4 | 16,053 | |
| Total votes: 37,902 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 34
Karl Gallegos advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 34 on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Karl Gallegos | 100.0 | 3,374 |
| Total votes: 3,374 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 34
Incumbent Devan Seabaugh advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 34 on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Devan Seabaugh | 100.0 | 4,252 |
| Total votes: 4,252 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Gallegos in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Karl Gallegos completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gallegos' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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As a physician and scientist, I aim to bring clarity to these issues through fact-based insight and discussion. One pressing concern is the nearly half million uninsured Georgians. Expanding Medicaid is essential for family stability and community prosperity—it reduces costs and ensures hospitals and clinics remain accessible to all. I’m passionate about Georgians’ health and wellness, including quality healthcare and mental health access. We must expand school-based mental health programs to keep our children safe and address environmental hazards like lead and the “forever chemicals” (carcinogens) in our schools and communities. These critical areas are chronically underfunded.
Each day, health inequities harm people, communities, and populations across Georgia.- Expanding Medicaid in Georgia is crucial for family stability and community prosperity. Not only will it provide a lifeline for nearly half a million uninsured Georgians (and 176,000 children), but it will also keep struggling hospitals afloat. Over the past years, 9 rural Georgia hospitals have closed, and recently, 2 large Atlanta metropolitan hospitals followed suit. The consequences include bed shortages, costlier procedures due to lack of preventative care, longer wait times for surgeries and emergency room visits, and overburdened staff resources—all leading to poorer quality of care for all Georgians. Georgia Pathways, while well-intentioned, has proven costly, ineffective and failed to meet its goals. We must do better.
- Legislating against a woman’s reproductive rights constitutes dangerous government overreach. Healthcare decisions should be made in consultation with a woman’s doctor, not dictated by politicians. Unfortunately, rights that women once had have been legislatively eroded, jeopardizing lives in some cases. The current ‘heartbeat bill’ prioritizes political considerations over medical and scientific judgment, disrupting the balance of civil liberties and human rights for all women. Proponents claim it protects life, yet Georgia ranks 49th in maternal and infant mortality due in part to inadequate preventative and prenatal care for uninsured mothers. We must do better.
- In the next decade, Georgia faces a complex set of challenges that require strategic foresight and decisive action. Georgia must navigate the economic and societal shifts due to an increasingly elderly population, simultaneously address productivity stagnation within businesses and bridge the skill gaps in its labor force. These internal issues are further exacerbated by the unpredictability of global trade and the need to weave Georgia’s economy more tightly into international and regional markets. Georgia must make substantial investments to reduce effects of climate change, prepare for more frequent and severe weather phenomena, mitigate risks of rising sea levels, and lead the shift towards a resilient and sustainable energy framework.
Although most citizens value compromise, I believe they also expect their elected officials to uphold their policy commitments, disagree with divisive legislation, and fight for the rights and well-being of all Georgians, not just the few.
I also recognize that transparency and accountability are essential for building trust with constituents, and aim to foster open communication by providing regular updates, sharing information about legislative decisions, and engaging with the community. I wont conflate the failing efforts of Georgia Pathways with Medicaid Expansion. I plan to actively involve the community in decision-making processes. Expect me to seek input, listen to concerns, and collaborate with constituents to ensure transparency in governance.
Most of the fun was in the hayfields, all my brothers (6) and sisters (4) had a job to do. As 2nd oldest, I ran alongside the wagon and threw bales on the truck to my older brother, who would stack the bales 12 row high, as our father drove the tractor at a constant steady speed. Then we would tie the bales down and drive them to the barn and get them under cover.
Within a day or two in the hayfields, the volar surface of both my forearms arms would be covered with bothersome, little lacerations caused by new cut, dried grass. By week’s end those cuts on both flexor surfaces transformed into scab shields that resolved, then came back with the second cutting of the fields.
When we knew it was going to rain the next day, we would work fast through the night under the lights of the tractor and truck. The tempo was like an emergency, trying to get hay in, before the rain. Night work was cooler, required a special alertness, and seemed more fun.
The varied ecosystems of our barn held special interest for me. In the loft different birds, wasps and hornets made their nests. There were rats and snakes. The living things in the rafters scared my little brothers and sisters, so my older brother and I filled the barn with hay and prayed that it would not combust in fire. We put more than 10,000 bales under cover in a summer and dispersed them carefully through the cold short days of the year.
Legislating against a woman’s reproductive rights constitutes dangerous government overreach. Healthcare decisions should be made in consultation with a woman’s doctor, not dictated by politicians. Unfortunately, rights that women once had have been legislatively eroded, jeopardizing lives in some cases.
The current ‘heartbeat bill’ prioritizes political considerations over medical and scientific judgment, disrupting the balance of civil liberties and human rights for all women. Proponents claim it protects life, yet Georgia ranks 49th in maternal and infant mortality due in part to inadequate preventative and prenatal care for uninsured mothers.
o Public Safety and Homeland Security
o Health
o Special Committee on Healthcare
o Special Rules
Currently Georgia does not allow for the initiative process at the state level. Whereas, more than 1/2 of all US states have a state-level initiative process.
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Campaign finance summary
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Georgia House of Representatives District 34 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 21, 2024
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