A billionaire businessman with a compelling personal story has defeated President Donald Trump’s preferred candidate in Georgia’s Republican race for governor.
Healthcare executive Rick Jackson won Tuesday night’s GOP gubernatorial runoff over Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, setting up a general election showdown with former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
NBC News projected Jackson as the winner shortly before 9:30 p.m. ET, after he maintained a lead throughout the evening as votes were counted.
The contest had been closely watched as a measure of whether vast personal wealth and self-funding could overcome the power of a Trump endorsement in a high-profile Republican primary.
Jackson’s victory also marks the second governor’s race this election cycle in which voters rejected a candidate backed by the president. The first such upset came earlier in Iowa.
It marks the second time this cycle that voters have revolted against the President in a governor’s race – the first of which happened in Iowa.
Jackson spent $100 million of his own cash on the race, with Jones protesting in the runoff’s waning hours that ‘Georgia is not for sale.’
In a curious post on Monday, Donald Trump Jr seemed to be setting the table for a Jackson upset, in case his father’s endorsement of Jones wasn’t enough to get the lieutenant governor across the line.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson speaks at an election night party in Atlanta on GOP primary night. He triggered a runoff against Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, which he won Tuesday night
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones (center) meets with supporters of his gubernatorial run at a campaign event in Jackson in mid-May. Jones fell short in a runoff race against billionaire Rick Jackson
The younger Trump commended Jackson for saving the US’s last production facility for the important antibiotic amoxicillin, a move the billionaire made in 2021, and footing the bill for a new oil refinery in Texas.
Trump Jr said Jackson was ‘building up MAGA and an America First economy’ and called him a ‘good man.’
‘Btw this is not an endorsement of Rick and I think [Jones] is a great guy too. My only point is that no matter who wins tomorrow, it’s a victory for MAGA,’ Trump Jr posted to X.
Jackson also received an endorsement from a possible 2028 GOP presidential hopeful, Senator Ted Cruz.
The elder Trump had endorsed Jones back in August.
‘He is a WARRIOR, a successful Businessman, former SEC Championship winning Georgia Bulldogs football player (Known for his toughness!), and now, as Lieutenant Governor, Burt has proven he has the Courage and Wisdom to deliver strong results for the incredible people of his wonderful State and Nation,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.
Jackson didn’t announce his bid until February.
He positioned himself as an outsider with a backstory that was representative of the American dream.
President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones (right) at an event in 2024. Trump endorsed Jones back in August
Jackson lived in five different foster homes in Atlanta and referred to himself as ‘white trash’ before working his way up through the sales industry and becoming the billionaire owner of Jackson Healthcare.
He’s supportive of Trump, despite not having the President’s blessing in the race.
‘I’ll be President Trump’s favorite governor because I’ll bring the same businessman’s mindset and outsider’s resolve to solving problems. I’ll be just like him, but with a southern tone,’ he wrote in an X post Monday.
Incumbent Governor Brian Kemp, who is term-limited, has a complicated relationship with Trump’s MAGA base due to the certification of President Joe Biden’s win in the state during the 2020 election, which the President still falsely claims he won.
Still, Kemp is popular in the state, and threw his weight behind Jones on Sunday.
‘Burt knows how to get things done as governor because that’s what he has done as a state senator and as your Lt. Governor,’ Kemp wrote in a post on X.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was critical of Trump for his 2020 behavior, was previously in the governor’s race, but only received 14 percent of the vote in the May GOP primary.
Jones came in first place with 38 percent of the vote, followed by Jackson with 34 percent, forcing Tuesday’s runoff.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms easily won the Democratic nomination for governor during the state’s primary last month
The Democratic gubernatorial primary did not go to a runoff, with former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms winning decisively in the state’s primary last month.
Georgia hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 1998, when Governor Roy Barnes served until 2003.
The Cook Political Report has rated the race a toss-up.
The state has two Democratic US senators and went for Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
In 2018, Democrat Stacey Abrams, who served as the Democratic leader in the state House and had a national profile, came less than 2 points away from beating Kemp.
In their 2022 rematch, Kemp improved his record, beating Abrams by more than 7 points.
