After a period in which Burt Jones seemed like the clear choice among Georgia Republicans for governor, the race has shifted as health care executive Rick Jackson entered in February and began spending heavily on television ads, according to the AP. Jackson’s campaign has portrayed him as aligned with President Donald Trump’s political brand, even as it targets Jones, who has relied on Trump’s endorsement.
Jackson’s rapid rise has complicated Jones’s path to the nomination. The AP reported that Jackson dumped more than $30 million into television advertising with more than two months remaining before the May 19 election, a level of early primary spending the story said exceeded what any candidate had spent in a Georgia governor primary before. The sudden influx of money and messaging has left Jones treating Trump’s endorsement as a central advantage while also scrambling to blunt Jackson’s appeal.
The way Jackson launched his candidacy also drew direct comparisons to Trump’s political style. The AP reported that Jackson descended in a glass elevator at his office building to announce his run, a move the story said echoed Trump’s 2016 campaign start when he rode down a golden escalator in Trump’s New York skyscraper. Jackson also framed his entry as a businessman’s step toward politics, telling supporters he would be “Trump’s favorite governor,” in AP reporting on remarks during his launch.
Jackson has also attacked Jones as an inadequate front-runner. In comments cited by the AP about Jones, Jackson said, “I saw a so-called front-runner who was as weak as can be and as lazy as the day is long,” adding, “Really, he wants the title of governor, but not the job.” Jones has countered by trying to challenge Jackson’s MAGA credentials, including by citing Jackson’s history of giving to Republicans other than Trump and by noting that Jackson’s health care staffing company assisted Planned Parenthood and gender-affirming care, the AP reported.
The campaign dynamics have extended beyond advertising into legal fights. The AP said Jackson filed a lawsuit claiming Jones defamed him, and Jones responded with a negative ad barrage the next day. In addition, the AP reported that Jackson’s entry came after a $19 million ad blitz by an unnamed dark-money group accusing Jones of using his office to enrich himself—claims the story said included allegations that Jones used his position as lieutenant governor to promote a data center development his family partly owns, while noting there is little evidence to support the most serious assertions.
Separate from the dispute over advertising allegations, a court ruling affected how Jones’s campaign could raise and spend money. The AP said a federal judge ruled that a fundraising structure known as a leadership committee was illegal, describing it as an unusual Georgia fundraising vehicle that allows Jones and a few other entities to raise unlimited contributions. The AP reported the judge ordered Jones not to spend from the committee because Jackson’s contributions from others remained subject to Georgia’s $8,400 limit, and that a judge later froze the order Friday to let Jones appeal, even though Jones had ramped up spending from other sources.
Political analysts and party operatives described Jackson’s arrival as disrupting expectations inside the Republican field. Jay Morgan, a former executive director of the state Republican Party, said in AP reporting, “there’s no template” for what Jackson is doing in Georgia, adding, “We’re on a different playing field,” and concluding, “It’s like going from Little League to major leagues.” University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock told the AP that Trump’s endorsement is “still valuable to get, but it can’t be the be-all and end-all,” and he said the campaign’s spending would test that idea, citing “$50 million or whatever Rick Jackson is spending.”
Democrats are seeking to capitalize on the Republican turmoil while aiming to break a winning streak. The AP reported that Democrats want to end a Republican winning streak that dates to 2002, and it cited among the candidates former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Geoff Duncan, a onetime Republican lieutenant governor. The AP also reported that Jackson’s emergence is another challenge to Trump’s influence in Georgia, noting that Trump’s record as kingmaker has been “shaky” in earlier contests including Gov. Brian Kemp’s victory in 2022 and Trump’s backing of Herschel Walker in a Senate loss.
Trump’s own public support of Jones has remained a key element of the race. The AP reported that Trump backed Jones even as he faced potential legal jeopardy in 2020 when Jones tried to help Trump overturn his election loss. The AP also quoted Trump saying Feb. 19 in Rome, Georgia, “Burt Jones has been here and been with you and been with me right from the beginning.”
As Republicans fight over their nomination, the AP reporting also described the broader context of party maneuvering ahead of Jackson’s entry. It said Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon and the state’s two Republican National Committee members sought to waive a party rule to back Jones before Jackson entered, but that local party groups condemned that move. The AP reported that the national party then said it would not get involved, with RNC chairman Joe Gruters telling WSB-AM on Feb. 19, “We’re not spending any money in that race.”
The AP reporting also framed Jackson’s financial advantage as part of the story, even while noting that self-funding does not guarantee victory. It said Republican Kelly Loeffler and her husband pumped more than $34 million into her unsuccessful 2020 Georgia Senate campaign, and it cited OpenSecrets data that of 65 candidates who spent more than $1 million of their own seeking federal office in 2024, only 10 won. Still, the AP said Jackson’s money has made his messaging feel difficult to ignore for other Republicans, leaving the nomination contest more fluid than it looked in the weeks before Jackson entered.
For Jones, the immediate challenge is to show that Trump’s endorsement can overcome Jackson’s disruption. For Jackson, the challenge is to convert the spending and message into electoral momentum while maintaining the credibility of his MAGA posture against Jones’s counterattacks. With the May 19 election approaching, the Republican contest in Georgia has become less about assumed alignment and more about whether a late, self-funded challenger can rewrite the nomination math.