A new mysterious outside group has now spent nearly $8 million against Burt Jones – and in the process further accelerated the Republican gubernatorial primary’s race to the right. Trump-endorsed candidate Burt Jones has gone full MAGA to defend himself against $8 million in brutal attack ads that have become “nearly inescapable to many Georgians this holiday season.”
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Burt Jones’ campaign is now desperately urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to pull ads from Georgians for Integrity hammering his long record of self-enrichment in public office.
Jones recently went on The Shelley Wynter Show to defend his MAGA record, highlighting how he was the “first elected official way back in 2016…in Georgia that endorsed [Donald Trump].” And Jones is now frequently using his Twitter to viciously go after his opponents for being insufficiently MAGA.
It’s unclear who is behind Georgians for Integrity, but it has caused intense infighting and clearly rattled Jones, who told Shelley Wynter that the ads are “trash” and that whoever is putting out these ads should have the “guts…to come out here…to put your name on it.”
Read more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the latest chaos in the Georgia GOP primary for governor:
- The shadowy group battering Lt. Gov. Burt Jones on Georgia’s airwaves doesn’t have a public face, a known donor list or a clear ideological identity.
- It does have a Delaware corporate registration, an East Atlanta mail-drop address and a Utah media buyer who has already helped steer roughly $8 million in attack ads into one of the nation’s most watched governor’s races.
- Welcome to the new political economy of Georgia elections, where a secretive organization calling itself Georgians for Integrity is at the center of a ballooning legal and political fight.
- The latest front opened Friday, when Jones’ campaign urged the Federal Communications Commission to step in. The Donald Trump-endorsed Republican argues that since the ads deal with “political matters of national importance” they should have triggered strict federal disclosure rules. It seeks to force the group to abandon its anonymity or pull the spots.
- It’s the newest salvo against a group that has become nearly inescapable to many Georgians this holiday season, blanketing airwaves, mailboxes and smartphones with ads, mailers and texts accusing Jones of using his office for personal gain.
- Jones’ top GOP rivals — Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — swear they’re not involved. So have top Democrats. Leaders in both parties say they’re baffled by the group’s origins.
- It’s also putting Jones on the defensive at a time when he’s an uneasy front-runner in the race. With $14 million in his campaign coffers and Trump’s early endorsement, he’s long been viewed as the Republican to beat.
- Jones’ campaign has launched its own sleuthing effort to uncover who is bankrolling the blitz, but still hasn’t deduced the source of the ads. They blame “political consultants” who would rather see Raffensperger in the Governor’s Mansion.
- “While the individuals funding this effort and the consultants fleecing them will be made public, we remain focused on doing something Brad Raffensperger has never cared much about — beating the Democrats in November,” Jones aide Loree Anne Paradise said.
###