This week, Jones stumped with Trump in a Wednesday tele-rally as he works to out-MAGA his GOP opponents. Meanwhile, both Jackson and Jones are working overtime to prove their allegiance to the president, even celebrating his latest attack on Fulton County’s elections.
With less than two weeks to go before the May 19 primary, here’s the latest on this vicious GOP race for governor:
JONES STUMPS WITH TRUMP EVEN AS PRESIDENT’S POLLS PLUMMET: On Thursday, Burt Jones hosted a tele-rally with Donald Trump – his latest attempt to show just how closely he has aligned himself with the president as he works to out-MAGA his GOP opponents.
- Even as Trump’s popularity has continued dwindling across Georgia, he couldn’t hold back on telling everybody how much he loves Jones, calling him a “great man,” a “warrior for our movement” and perhaps most questionably, “a Georgia football legend.”
- Trump also took a thinly-veiled shot at Jones’ GOP rivals, telling the audience: “There’s a lot of confusion. Everyone’s saying I endorsed them. I didn’t.”
- Jones has made his endorsement from Trump a central pitch of his campaign, and stood side-by-side with Trump earlier this year in Rome as he mocked the affordability crisis and praised the illegal tariffs that have raised costs on Georgians.
JONES, JACKSON BACK LATEST TRUMP ATTACK ON FULTON COUNTY’S ELECTIONS: With the Trump Administration now demanding the name of every single person who worked to conduct Fulton County’s elections in 2020, Jones and Jackson are vocally supporting the Trump’s attempt to intimidate election workers and undermine trust in Georgia’s elections.
- Jones voiced his support for the Trump Administration attacks on Georgia’s elections in a social media statement Tuesday morning, accusing Fulton County of “hiding the truth.”
- Jackson is also publicly cheering the Trump Administration’s attempts to undermine trust in our elections, saying in a statement “[i]f Fulton County worked half as hard to clean up voter rolls as it does to keep the truth in the dark, people might actually trust the system.”
- This comes as POLITICO has reported that Jackson has been “adamant” on the trail that the 2020 election was stolen – in just the latest sign that “the 2020 election is still relevant” in Georgia’s GOP Republican primary.
JONES, JACKSON KEEP CLOBBERING EACH OTHER: With less than two weeks until primary day, Jones and Jackson are working overtime to destroy each other, in what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein labeled on the AJC’s Politically Georgia podcast a “brawl” that is “far from settled.”
- Jones continued to attack Jackson for his hiring practices, with his campaign spokesperson poking fun at Jackson’s poorly-received debate performance by saying that “Rick Jackson is just like Ron Burgundy — will read anything you put on a teleprompter. Fortunately, Monday night the cameras were rolling, the debate was live and not even his cue cards could save him…”
- Jackson fired back, posting an AI-generated meme of Jones as Johnny Cash, highlighting Jones’ long record of self-enrichment with the caption “His name isn’t Johnny, but he’s all about the cash.” Jackson also posted videos making fun of Jones’ accent and his work ethic.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Even as Jones stumped with Trump this week and Jackson has said he’ll be “Trump’s favorite governor,” the president is deeply unpopular in Georgia – and for good reason. As the AJC’s Patricia Murphy wrote this week: “Instead of focusing on the economy, gas prices, jobs, or other top issues that will be top of mind for Georgians in the general election, the president is focusing on everything else.” We agree – but that sure hasn’t stopped Jones and Jackson from staking out extreme MAGA positions and falling all over themselves trying to get to the president’s attention.
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