As the Wall Street Journal reported this week, the GOP gubernatorial race has devolved into a “messy” primary battle and a “spectacular MAGA breakup.”
Here’s the latest on this nasty race to the right:
JACKSON STAKES OUT EXTREME POSITIONS AS GOP FIELD RACES RIGHT: With the GOP gubernatorial candidates working to out-MAGA each other, the AJC reports that Rick Jackson has made an “uncompromising embrace of President Donald Trump’s agenda” central to his campaign.
- Jackson is angling to out-MAGA his Republican rivals as he declares that he’s running to be Trump’s “number one favorite governor”, running ads touting his million dollar donation to Trump, backing up Trump’s unhinged 2020 election conspiracies, and spending big on ads airing for an audience of one in Mar-a-Lago and the White House.
- Jackson has also shared that he opposes Medicaid expansion, which has resulted in the closure of nine rural hospitals in Georgia since 2010 and denied health care to hundreds of thousands of Georgians
- On Georgia’s extreme abortion ban, Jackson said: “I’m entirely pro life. I support the bill we have here. As governor, I wouldn’t change a thing, one way or the other.”
- And as Jackson also “couldn’t name a single White House policy he disagrees with,” he now joins the entire GOP field in supporting DC Republicans’ cost-raising agenda that is worsening the affordability crisis in Georgia.
- The rest of the GOP field is hard at work attempting to out-MAGA each other: over the weekend, Jones posted an image of himself standing next to a bus bearing “Trump 2028” signage, while Carr recently released an ad saying his record makes him “just like Trump” and Raffensperger has doubled down on his support for extreme abortion bans.
“SPECTACULAR MAGA BREAKUP” ROCKS GOP GOV FIELD: The Wall Street Journal wrote this week that Georgia Republicans are in the midst of a “spectacular MAGA breakup” that is defining the GOP gubernatorial primary.
- This comes as Jones launches a “media counteroffensive” to highlight his support from Trump, with the Jones campaign releasing an ad Thursday described as “an official message from President Trump,” highlighting the president’s endorsement of Jones.
- Jones has also ratched up attacks against Jackson, with his campaign saying ““[t]he only thing Rick Jackson is accomplishing is buying his consultants a second home.”
- Jackson’s attacks against Jones have also gotten more nastier, with Jackson recently attacking Jones in a series of social media posts calling him a “desperate trust fund baby turned career politician.”
- $17 million in dark money spending continues flooding this race, and as Jackson and Jones spend big to destroy each other, the AJC reports that “the airwaves are dominated by the GOP slugfest.”
- And it’s widely expected that this race will get even nastier, with the AJC reporting this week that Jones’ social media “suggests an even sharper edge is coming.”
THE GOP FIELD IS WILDLY OUT-OF-TOUCH – AND IT SHOWS: In the latest sign of just how out-of-touch the Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidates are, Rick Jackson shockingly shared Tuesday on The Martha Zoller Show that it was a “surprise” to learn about the high costs facing Georgia homeowners in the midst of the state’s housing affordability crisis.
- Jackson said “did not realize how bad it was,” even as Republicans have been in power in Georgia for more than two decades – and the result is sky high costs for homeowners.
- Jackson is just the latest Republican candidate to show he is out of touch with Georgians who are struggling with high costs. Burt Jones last week proudly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump in Rome last week as the president mocked skyrocketing prices that have Georgians spending $1,200 more annually.
- Jones also stood by Trump as he called tariffs “the most beautiful word,” even as WABE reports that Georgia’s soybean farmers are speaking out against further tariffs after the Supreme Court last week ruled Trump’s tariff tax increases illegal.
JONES AND ALLIES ONCE AGAIN HIJACK LEGISLATIVE SESSION TO BOOST HIS CAMPAIGN: Jones and his MAGA allies this week once again hijacked legislative session to introduce legislation that “would bar anyone from holding public office if they ‘transact any business’ with any state agency”, a “not so subtle” attempt to thwart Jackson’s candidacy in the latest show of just how chaotic this race has become.
- The AJC reported on Monday that Jones ally Rep. Jason Ridley is leading legislation with a “not-so-subtle focus” on disqualifying Jackson from running for governor.
- Jackson’s campaign dismissed it as “political maneuvering” and highlighted Jones’ long record of self-enrichment: “It’s a little surprising that a state representative who endorsed Burt is targeting his self-dealing […] Would Burt have to resign immediately?”
- Jones has long used his position as Lieutenant Governor to go after his GOP opponents. Jones and his allies previously hijacked legislative session by introducing a resolution to go after Brad Raffensperger for his record as Secretary of State, and earlier this month Jones went even further after both Carr and Raffensperger, taking a “sharp swipe” at his GOP opponents for skipping a pair of legislative hearings.
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