Rick Jackson has won the Republican nomination for governor of Georgia, with the Associated Press calling the race in his favor. The contest, a Republican runoff, was decided shortly before ten o'clock on the East Coast, with the call reported at around 9:45 p.m. Eastern. Jackson, a health care executive, defeated Trump-backed Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. He will now face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, in the November general election.
Jackson confirmed his win as the result came in. Reacting on the platform X, he wrote that he was honored to be the Republican nominee for governor and thanked Georgia voters. He addressed his supporters live at his watch party while the race was being called, telling them the night belonged to them and that the campaign had never been about him.
In his victory speech, Jackson cast himself as an outsider beholden to no one. He said he was the only candidate who did not owe anything to the political establishment, declaring that he could not be bought and would not back down. He thanked his campaign staff, leadership and volunteers, citing more than 250,000 doors knocked and over 700,000 phone calls made during the effort.
He also thanked his family, including Melody, Shane, Chad, Dana and his grandchildren, acknowledging the sacrifices the campaign had demanded of them. Jackson singled out Nick Ayers, who chaired the campaign, saying Ayers had initially tried to talk him out of running but went all in once the decision was made. He described his bid as a movement for people who feel unheard by the powerful and the political class.
Jackson drew a sharp contrast with his November opponent. He criticized Keisha Lance Bottoms's record as mayor of Atlanta, arguing she had failed the city when violence rose and families, businesses and police needed support, and warning that her approach would be damaging if taken statewide. He framed the general election as a choice between moving Georgia forward and going backward.
Turning to policy, Jackson placed affordability at the center of his platform. He pledged to lower both income and property taxes, vowing to cut taxes in half or not seek office again, and promised to freeze property taxes immediately so families are not priced out of their homes. He said he would treat the cost of living, from power bills to groceries to insurance and child care, as a crisis facing working families.
Education and health care also featured prominently in his remarks. Jackson said two-thirds of Georgia third graders are not reading proficiently and pledged to finish the work the legislature had begun on early reading. Drawing on his background in the health sector, he said he would lower health care costs by using better technology and cutting out middlemen, and he appealed directly to independents and Democrats to join his campaign.
The defeated candidate, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, conceded the race in remarks to his own supporters shortly after the call. Jones acknowledged he had come up a little short, saying that while his campaign had enjoyed a strong election day, the early voting margin proved too much to overcome. He thanked his volunteers and supporters, his wife Jan, his children and his wider family, and he congratulated his opponent and campaign team on the race they had run. Reflecting on his career, Jones said he had never let politics define him as a person, that there was life after politics, and that he had been grateful for his time serving Georgia as lieutenant governor and earlier in the state senate.