Billionaire outsider Rick Jackson secured the Republican nomination to run for Governor of Georgia and will face off against Democratic Nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.
By how much did Jackson claim victory? The outsider candidate defeated Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones (R-GA) in yesterday's runoff election, securing 53% of the vote. The Lt. Governor fell behind with 47%.
What lawmakers are saying:
- Rick Jackson posting to X: “When I announced our campaign, I said: The political class protects itself. The media protects them. And lobbyists prop the whole thing up to protect their bottom line. It’s a cartel—and I’m coming to break it up. Well… tonight we shattered it.”
- Lt. Gov. Jones in his Concession Speech: “It looks we’re gonna come up a little short here tonight. That’s unfortunate, but we had a great election day. We just didn’t have enough runway to get all the way there. It looked like it was coming back pretty good, but the early voting margin was just a little too much to overcome. I want to thank my opponent and his team for running their race, and I want to congratulate them as well.”
- Keisha Lance Bottoms on X: “The Republicans have decided their nominee, and it is billionaire Rick Jackson. Yep, the same Rick Jackson who said he can’t think of a single thing that he disagrees with the Trump White House. The same Rick Jackson who had a $1 billion no-bid contract during [the COVID-19 pandemic] from the State of Georgia. The same Rick Jackson who said he would work to be Donald Trump’s favorite governor. That’s who we are running against.”
Context: Jackson surpassed Lt. Gov. Jones with 6% of the vote, which stands in stark contrast to the results of May’s primary election. In that contest, the Lt. Governor took the lead with 5%, but was unable to carry that momentum forward.
Jackson likely surpassed Lt. Gov. Jones with support from voters who originally sided with Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
AG Carr openly supported Jackson with a resounding endorsement just one week after the primary. In the case of Secretary Raffensperger, his supporters were likely skeptical of anyone endorsed by President Trump and decided to vote in Jackson's favor.
