Burt Jones Launches Bid for Georgia Governor

Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is hoping to shorten his title next year with a run for governor. President Donald Trump and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones at a 2024 rally in Zebulon.

The Republican from Jackson made the long-expected campaign announcement Tuesday with a video featuring clips of him speaking to constituents and sharing a stage with President Donald Trump as well as footage of his football career at the University of Georgia.

Jones was elected lieutenant governor in 2022, and before that he served in the state Senate for a decade.

“Today, I see a Georgia where families are prospering,” Jones says in the announcement. “A Georgia where businesses are moving here and growing here. A Georgia where our families are safer thanks to tougher crime laws. And our schools strengthen thanks to empowering parents’ rights.”

“What do I call all that we’ve accomplished together? Just a start,” he adds. “Because our work’s not done yet, and that’s why I’m running for governor.”

Jones pledged that if he is elected, he will work to eliminate the state income tax, reduce fentanyl deaths and continue to prevent transgender girls from playing on girls’ school sports teams.

The Republican field

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr speaks at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues event in Atlanta early in the 2025 legislative session. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

But before he has a chance to kick his feet up in the governor’s mansion, Jones will have to win the GOP primary, where his only major challenge so far is Attorney General Chris Carr, who entered the race early back in November and has sopped up plenty of donor dollars since then.

Carr announced Monday that he had raised $1.25 million between February and the end of June for a total of nearly $3.5 million since joining the race.

“This campaign has always been about Georgia, and these numbers show just how motivated folks are to keep Georgia strong,” Carr said in a statement Monday. “That kind of energy can’t be bought — it’s earned, and we’re ready to deliver.”

Because Jones entered the race after the end of the filing deadline in June, he has not filed a financial disclosure report.

Carr, who was appointed by then-Gov. Nathan Deal as the state’s top lawyer in 2016 and elected twice since then, has campaigned as a tough-on-crime conservative.

Carr spokesperson Julia Mazzone indicated there will be a spirited debate between the two candidates.

“Chris Carr is a smart, principled conservative with a proven record of leadership – and the discipline to get things done,” Mazzone said. “He’s spent his career serving the people of Georgia, not himself. We look forward to a campaign that will offer a clear contrast between a record of results and a record of self-interest.”

But with official qualifying not set to begin until spring, there’s still plenty of time for other Republican heavyweights to enter the race.

That could include Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Rome Republican who is arguably more aligned with Trump than either candidate already in the race. That could be a boon in the GOP primary but potentially a hindrance in a general election where a candidate would need more moderate support.

Greene told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that she was weighing whether to step down from Congress for a run at the governorship.

“It’s definitely something that I think is smart for me to consider, but it’s not a decision I take lightly,” she said. “I absolutely love my district. I cannot say that enough times. I think Georgia’s 14th District is wonderful. and I have a very powerful position in Congress. But I love my state. I really do.”

If Greene’s flaw is that she has more appeal with the base than the general electorate, another potential GOP candidate could have the opposite problem.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is seen as a potential candidate for governor, even though delegates at the state GOP convention last month passed a resolution seeking to bar him from qualifying for the ballot as a Republican.

Raffensperger’s refusal to cooperate with Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia earned him respect from some liberals and moderates but made him persona non grata with elements of the conservative base.

The Dems

Whoever walks away with the GOP nomination will face a Democrat hungry for a win after nibbling around the edges in recent election cycles. Sen. Jason Esteves. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

In 2018, candidates for governor in Georgia competed for an open seat after Deal was term-limited from running again. At the time, a Republican president named Donald Trump was implementing policies that were more popular with the Republican base than swing voters.

That year, Stacey Abrams narrowly lost the governor’s race to now-Gov. Brian Kemp.

Since then, Democrats’ hopes have been buoyed with statewide wins from Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and former President Joe Biden in 2020. Warnock also eked out a reelection victory in 2022.

Party leaders are seeing similarities to 2018 and hoping that continued demographic changes, get-out-the-vote infrastructure and frustration with federal Republicans will be enough to push Democrats over the top and reclaim the governor’s mansion for the first time in two decades.

So far, two frontrunners are aiming to be the one to lead that charge. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks a press briefing at the White House on January 13, 2023, when she served as White House public engagement advisor. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

State Sen. Jason Esteves and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms have both claimed major fundraising hauls since entering the race earlier this year.

Each claimed war chests of $1.1 million during the period between February and June. Bottoms’ haul includes a $200,000 personal loan to her campaign, while Esteves donated the maximum amount of $8,400 to his campaign but did not loan his campaign money.

In a statement following Jones’ Tuesday announcement, Esteves sought to tie the Republican hopefuls to the White House.

“We can’t afford a governor who cares more about cheerleading for Donald Trump than making life better for Georgians,” Esteves said. “Whether it’s Burt Jones or Chris Carr, the truth is they’re both running on out-of-touch agendas that will raise costs, leave millions of Georgians uninsured, and abandon working families. As the GOP primary becomes a race to the extreme, I’m focused on what really matters: making life more affordable, expanding health care access, and investing in Georgia.”

State Rep. Derrick Jackson, a Tyrone Democrat running for governor, reported raising just over $88,000 since February, including a $77,000 loan from himself.

The Democratic field still has time to coalesce as well, and more could join the field of candidates.

Abrams was reportedly considering a run as recently as April, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She comes with the advantage of being a national star and the Democrat to come the closest to winning a gubernatorial election in recent history but also the baggage of two recent losses – including a nearly 8-point loss in 2022.

But the darkest of dark horses might come in the form of former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, whose messy divorce from the GOP began after Trump’s refusal to concede in 2020 and was finalized in January when the party banished him for supporting Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

In an episode of the AJC’s “Politically Georgia” podcast released July 1, Duncan said he’d be open to running for statewide office as a Democrat.

“If given the opportunity to be taken seriously by the Democrats and have an opportunity to shift the platform, I’d certainly think about it.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.