President Donald Trump's endorsement wasn't enough to carry Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to outright victory in the Republican primary race to succeed term-limited conservative Gov. Brian Kemp.
But the president's backing did help Jones advance to a runoff in the race for the GOP nomination in the crucial southeastern battleground state.
Jones and healthcare executive and billionaire businessman Rick Jackson were the top two finishers in Tuesday's GOP gubernatorial primary in Georgia, the Associated Press reports. Since no candidate topped 50% of the vote to secure a majority, Jones and Jackson now advance to a June 16 runoff.
"Tonight, Georgia sent a clear message — you can't buy this state and now, Georgia, it's time to finish the drill," Jones said in a statement. "Georgia is too important to risk handing it to a billionaire Never Trumper with a checkbook.
Jackson, in a statement, pushed back at Jones.
"In the weeks ahead, Burt Jones will come after us even harder than he already has because he doesn’t want his cartel broken up. It’s what politicians always do. Every time he attacks, remember why… Burt is a career politician desperate to cling to power so he can profit off it," Jackson said. "I'm an outsider who's going to shake things up."
The large field of eight Republican candidates also included state Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
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Jones, 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.
"The president is still very popular, and here in the state of Georgia, he's got an unbelievable approval rating," Jones told Fox News Digital last week.
Pointing to Trump, Jones emphasized that "he and I have a long standing relationship — friendship — and I've always been a big supporter of his, and he's a very big supporter of mine, as well."
Jackson, who launched his gubernatorial campaign in February and has spent more than $80 million of his own money on behalf of his bid, says Trump inspired him to run.
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"I 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," Jackson told Fox News Digital.
Jackson 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 is now well known in the Peach State.
And Jackson is running as an outsider.
"I'm confident that at the end of the day that the people are going to vote for me one way or the other, because they can see somebody that's actually like Trump, not just endorsed. And from that standpoint, I think having an outsider is what our people want," he said.
But Jones questions his rival's support for the president, pointing to Jackson's past donations to Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans as an example of his break from the MAGA wing of the party.
"He's been dishonest about who he is. He's been dishonest about who he's supported in the background," Jones charged. "He's actually, you know, portraying himself as something that he's not."
Jackson says the attacks on him are "just lies" and referring to Trump, adds, "I'm going to be his favorite governor."
Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said in a statement: "Buckle up for four more weeks of Burt Jones and Rick Jackson going scorched earth on each other and further jeopardizing Republicans’ chances in the general election.
And he argued, "Months of infighting has been a disaster for Georgia Republicans – and a gift for Democrats.
The winner of next month's runoff will face off in the general election with former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who captured the Democratic nomination for governor.
Bottoms won a majority of the vote over a large field of candidates that also included former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican-turned-Democrat; former state Sen. Jason Esteves; state Rep. Derrick Jackson; and former state labor commissioner and former DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond.
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