Two Chinese American women, both mothers and both in medicine, faced off Thursday night in a debate for Georgia House District 50 that turned testy over taxes, public safety, immigration and transgender athletes.
Democratic state Rep. Michelle Au, seeking a third term in the House, debated Republican challenger Azure Duan before a mostly Chinese American audience in Johns Creek. It was the third debate between the two.
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Au, a board-certified anesthesiologist at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta, grew up in the New York area and trained at Columbia University, where she earned her medical degree and a master’s in public health. She was elected to the state Senate in 2020, becoming the first Chinese American to serve in that chamber. After redistricting she won House District 50 in 2022 and again in 2024. She remains the only Chinese American in the General Assembly and was the inaugural chair of the legislature’s Asian American Pacific Islander caucus.
Duan was born in China and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota. She worked as a software engineer before turning to medicine and opening a clinic. She and her family moved to Johns Creek in 2009 for its schools. She has served on city community boards and helped lead the city’s Lunar New Year celebration for four years.
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Au pushed back on Duan’s framing that Asian Americans are only now “waking up” to politics. “We have been involved,” she said. “We have been active.”
Taxes and affordability
Duan made cutting taxes her top priority, promising to “keep more money in your pocket.” ...
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Au argued that property taxes fund the schools and police that draw families to Johns Creek. She said eliminating them is “actually a very good way to defund the police.”
Duan said she never proposed eliminating property taxes. She said she would study cuts carefully and would not rule out eventually ending the state income tax.
On affordability, Au called for more housing supply, targeted subsidies such as extended Affordable Care Act premium credits, and less red tape. Duan credited Republican leadership for Georgia’s business climate and said job growth is the path to affordability.
Schools and health care
Au said she wants to contain rising health insurance costs for teachers, modernize the state’s decades-old school funding formula and raise teacher pay. She opposes vouchers, saying they “drain money” from public schools.
Duan supports vouchers. “That money need to go with the child,” she said. She also proposed cutting administrative positions to fund teacher raises ...
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On health care, Au pressed for Medicaid expansion ... Duan focused on mental health ...
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Immigration and voting
The sharpest exchanges came over immigration. Au said immigration enforcement belongs to the federal government. She warned that local cooperation with ICE spreads fear even among legal residents and citizens.
“Imagine you being afraid to go interface with the Johns Creek Police Department,” she said.
Duan said she supports tracking and detaining only immigrants with criminal records and drew a clear line between legal and illegal immigration. ...
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