ATLANTA, Ga. \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s endorsement wasn\u2019t enough to boost Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to victory Tuesday night in the ballot-box showdown for the southeastern battleground state\u2019s Republican gubernatorial nomination.
\nJones was defeated by billionaire businessman Rick Jackson in the GOP runoff election for Georgia governor, the Associated Press reports, in the race to succeed term-limited conservative Gov. Brian Kemp.
\nJackson, who shelled out over $100 million of his own money on his bid, will now face former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in the Biden administration, in this autumn\u2019s general election. Bottoms avoided a runoff by winning a majority of the vote as she topped six other candidates in last month\u2019s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
\n\u201cWhen I announced my campaign, I said the political class protects itself\u2026.it\u2019s a cartel and I said I\u2019m coming to break it up. Well, tonight, we shattered it,\u201d said Jackson, who launched his campaign in February, in his victory speech.
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\u201cI\u2019m the only candidate who doesn\u2019t owe a thing to the political establishment,\u201d Jackson emphasized. \u201cI can\u2019t be bought, and I\u2019m not going to back down\u2026. Tonight we did more than win a runoff. Tonight we proved that the people of Georgia are in charge.\u201d
\nJackson was unknown to Georgia voters a few months ago, but thanks to an avalanche of ads, his story of building a business empire despite growing up in foster care and not being able to afford college became well known in the Peach State.
\n\u201cI know what it\u2019s like to feel like nobody sees you, especially the elite and the powerful,\u201d Jackson said in his speech a hundreds of supporters. \u201cWhen you grow up the way I did, you never forget where you came from. You never forget the families who are working harder than ever, but still falling behind.\u201d
\nJackson was also boosted in the final stretch ahead of the runoff election by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, the conservative firebrand from Texas.<\/p>\n
Throughout his campaign, Jackson has said that Trump inspired him to run.
\n\u201cI just thought, you know, if you had somebody doing business solutions for the state of Georgia, just like Trump is for the United States, I just felt like I would have a major impact on the state of Georgia, and so that was one of the reasons I wanted to get in. I was inspired by President Trump,\u201d Jackson told Fox News Digital last month.
\nAnd he repeatedly highlighted that, like Trump, he\u2019s an outsider and businessman. \u201cI\u2019m going to be Trump\u2019s favorite governor because we\u2019re just alike on the way that we handle business and handle problems, and I want to do exactly in Georgia what he\u2019s doing at the federal government,\u201d he reiterated in a Fox News Digital interview Sunday.
\nAnd Jackson spotlighted his outsider credentials, saying that voters could \u201csee somebody that\u2019s actually like Trump, not just endorsed. And from that standpoint, I think having an outsider is what our people want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cruz joined Jackson on the campaign trail for a runoff eve rally.
\n\u201cRick has an extraordinary record, an extraordinary life story. And I also think he\u2019s positioned to win. And the stakes are too high. This election is a battleground all across the country. We can\u2019t afford to lose Georgia,\u201d Cruz told Fox News Digital.
\nWhen Cruz endorsed Jackson on Friday, he also supported South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is facing off in a week against Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.
\nAsked if he\u2019s trying to put some daylight between himself and the president on the campaign trail, Cruz quickly responded, \u201cNo. Not remotely\u2026.The president and I agree on the vast majority of races. What I try to do in every race is endorse the strongest conservative who can win. And typically I get in races late in the race at a time where my support might be able to make a difference and be helpful.\u201d
\nJones, on the eve of the Cruz visit, took aim at Jackson.
\n\u201cHe keeps on bringing in these out-of-state senators, and I would much rather have the president\u2019s endorsement,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s having to go out of state to get his support. We\u2019re keeping all our stuff in state.\u201d
\nAnd Jones repeatedly questioned his rival\u2019s support for the president, pointing to Jackson\u2019s past donations to Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans as evidence that he was out of step with the MAGA wing of the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been dishonest about who he is. He\u2019s been dishonest about who he\u2019s supported in the background,\u201d Jones charged. \u201cHe\u2019s actually, you know, portraying himself as something that he\u2019s not.\u201d
\nJackson pushed back, saying the attacks on him were \u201cjust lies.\u201d
\nJones and Jackson were the top two finishers in last month\u2019s crowded and competitive GOP gubernatorial primary, which also included state Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Because no candidate topped 50%, Jones and Jackson advanced to the runoff.
\nJones, a former captain of the University of Georgia football team, an oil executive and heir to the Jones Petroleum Company, served as a state senator before winning election in 2022 as lieutenant governor. A major Trump supporter, he was endorsed by the president last August.
\n\u201cHe and I have a long-standing relationship \u2014 friendship \u2014 and I\u2019ve always been a big supporter of his, and he\u2019s a very big supporter of mine, as well,\u201d Jones said last month in a Fox News Digital interview as he pointed to Trump.
\nAnd he repeatedly showcased the president\u2019s endorsement during the primary and runoff campaigns.
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Kemp made a last-minute endorsement on Sunday, backing Jones. And at an event Monday morning, Kemp explained that his mission is \u201cto make sure that we have the best folks at the top of the ticket that can win in November and you know, that\u2019s why I\u2019m supporting Burt Jones for governor.\u201d
\n\u201cWhen you think about the direction of the state, the great things that we\u2019ve been able to do, I think he\u2019s best suited to move the state forward,\u201d Kemp said. And he warned of the \u201cconsequences of not winning, like we\u2019ll be going the way of Virginia, New York, California, we just cannot afford to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson, looking to the general election battle with Bottoms, told Fox News Digital that when it comes to his spending, \u201cI\u2019ll put in whatever is necessary. We cannot have somebody that doesn\u2019t know how to run the city that now wants to run the state. So, from that standpoint, I\u2019ll do whatever is necessary to win in November.\u201d
\nBottoms, in a statement, took aim at Jackson.
\n\u201cRick Jackson is focused on enriching himself as Georgians are losing their health care coverage and are forced to pay soaring costs. Jackson has made more than a billion dollars off of a no-bid state contract for his health care company, but he opposes Medicaid expansion to lower the cost of health care,\u201d Bottoms argued in a statement. \u201cGeorgians deserve a governor who is focused on ensuring they have every opportunity to thrive and who will fight for them when Donald Trump\u2019s reckless policies hurt Georgia \u2013 that\u2019s what I will do as governor.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he wasn\u2019t on the ballot, Trump\u2019s immense clout over the GOP was facing another key test in Georgia.
\nThe brute force of the president\u2019s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries over the past six weeks, with his candidates ousting incumbents he targeted in showdowns in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that grabbed plenty of national attention.
\nBut Trump\u2019s endorsement streak in statewide and congressional Republican primaries was snapped two weeks ago when his 11th-hour endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn\u2019t enough to propel the three-term congressman to victory.
\nFeenstra was narrowly edged by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA \u2014 the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. \u2014 and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
Trump rebounded last week, as the candidate he endorsed in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, finished first in a crowded field and clinched one of the two tickets in the race for the nomination.
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\nMeanwhile, longtime Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham did win a majority of the vote in the Republican Senate primary, and avoided a runoff.
\nGraham, who was endorsed by Trump, was facing primary challenges from five candidates, including conservative businessman Mark Lynch, who took aim at the senator over his support for the war in Iran. Lynch was backed by some MAGA leaders who have been critical of the president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"