This week, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones faced BRUTAL attacks from Chris Carr and a mysterious outside group – and defended himself by going full MAGA.
Here’s the state of play for this messy and chaotic primary fight:
JONES UNDER ATTACK FOR SELF-ENRICHMENT FROM MYSTERIOUS GROUP: A secretive group known as Georgians for Integrity has spent millions in ads blasting Jones for his long record of self-enrichment.
- This week, it was revealed that Georgians for Integrity is spending $5 million to attack Jones for lining his own pockets in office.
- It’s unclear who is behind Georgians for Integrity and who is putting up the money, but it has caused intense infighting on the Republican side.
- Jones’ campaign is pointing fingers at his Republican rivals, calling them “Never-Trumpers [who] can’t gain traction because they’re wrong on virtually every issue Republican voters care about.”
- Jones is also frantically urging Atlanta-based TV stations to stop airing the ads.
- That’s because the ads are sure to damage him, and as Brian Robinson said in the WABE Political Breakfast podcast conversation this week: “[These ads] have ceded the ground. It has made the attacks on personal issues, corruption issues, and ethics issues that are going to come from Carr and Raffensperger more believable. [The ads] are going to build a degree of distrust.”
JONES GOES FULL MAGA TO FIGHT BACK: Under fire, Jones is going full MAGA to defend himself. On Tuesday, Jones 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].”
- In the same interview, he called the ads from Georgians for Integrity “trash” and said that whoever is putting out these ads should have the “guts…to come out here…to put your name on it.”
JONES GOES AFTER CARR: In the same interview, Jones brutally attacked Chris Carr.
- Jones accused Carr of “refus[ing] to do anything about” Fani Willis’ work to hold Trump accountable for his actions.
- Jones also accused Carr of being too afraid to act, saying that “Chris Carr ran and hid” in the midst of this controversy.
- He then attacked both Carr and Raffensperger on social media, accusing them of “enabling Fani Willis” while he was “standing with [President Trump].”
CARR FIGHTS BACK: In an interview with the LaGrange Daily News, Chris Carr attacked his Republican rivals, accusing Burt Jones of using a “failed playbook…a rich guy dipping into his personal fortune.”
- He also shared that “Raffensperger has high name recognition among Republicans but is viewed negatively by most of them.”
CANDIDATES CLASH IN COURT: As the attacks continue to fly, the candidates’ battles in court continued too. In response to a legal challenge from Brad Raffensberger challenging Jones’ ability to raise unlimited cash, Jones’ campaign called it “another pathetic legal challenge from candidates who can’t win a primary.”
- Jones’ campaign went on to accuse Raffensberger of being a “Closeted Democrat” who “wouldn’t recognize a Republican voter if they walked into his office – not only because he’s never in his office, but because he’s not a conservative.”
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