In past election cycles, conventional wisdom has been that if you are well known and have either previously served in public office or have worked for someone who has, you are, at least in a technical sense, more qualified and well-suited to run for higher office than someone with little to no experience.
But as recent election cycles have shown us, primary and general election voters on both sides of the political aisle have been increasingly likely to reject the incumbent candidate or the one who is otherwise well-known in favor of fresh blood, in hopes that they'll shake things up a bit and reject the status quo way of doing things.
In some ways, that has happened on the Republican side in the Georgia gubernatorial race. Jackson Healthcare CEO Rick Jackson, though a successful and influential businessman, is a relative newcomer to politics, and faced off in the Republican primary against some of the more recognizable figures in Peach State politics, including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Jackson, whose campaign was largely self-funded, and Jones advanced to the June runoff, where Jackson prevailed despite Jones having the endorsements of both President Donald Trump and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the latter of whom publicly backed Jones just two days before the runoff.
Trump praised Jackson after his victory, writing the following message on Truth Social: "Congratulations to Rick Jackson, who very successfully campaigned on being 'TRUMP,' and won. He will be your next Governor of Georgia. Can’t wait!" A month later, Trump more formally endorsed Jackson during a joint campaign appearance in Cobb County.
Jackson's Democrat opponent is former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. As I've previously mentioned, a casual observer might think Bottoms would have the slight advantage here since Jackson is a virtual newbie and Bottoms is the more well-known of the two in the state. But being "well-known" has worked to Bottoms' disadvantage, as Jackson has relentlessly and with precision exploited her disastrous mayoral record, pointing to her serving only one term as someone who abandoned Atlanta when the going got tough instead of fighting for it.
Among the things Bottoms hopes you don't remember, as Jackson has pointed out, have been how Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star game from Atlanta over the 2021 election reform law, which Democrats demonized as "Jim Crow 2.0." Bottoms herself told whoppers about the supposedly devastating impact the law would have on voting rights for black residents (which subsequent elections proved false). Though she claimed she didn't support the boycotts, she blamed Republicans for them and praised the boycotters for the purportedly supportive sentiment behind their actions. It ended up costing the state and local businesses $10s of millions in lost profits and revenue.
There were also the riots, looting, fires, and other crimes that took place not just during the 2020 George Floyd protests but at other points during her failed tenure.
Georgia, we don't have to live like this. https://t.co/4YloEEG6Ze
— Rick Jackson (@RickJacksonGA) September 21, 2026
Keisha ended cash bail, gutted the corrections budget, let Atlanta burn, and unleashed a crime wave. Then she walked away. https://t.co/MnlremCkE1
— Rick Jackson (@RickJacksonGA) September 9, 2026
While Jackson, who grew up in foster care, continues to hammer Bottoms' record while assuring voters he will work hard for his state and its people, we've seen the softer side, too, including a touching ad from his wife, Melody, who is a computer science professor at Georgia Tech, and a pretty powerful speech from his son Shane, who is the president of Jackson Healthcare:
Melody, I love you and am so grateful for you. Georgia, I know you’ll love her as much as I do. https://t.co/rkaSN6zRbK
— Rick Jackson (@RickJacksonGA) October 27, 2026
Shane Jackson: I may be a little biased, but I can tell you that when you vote for my dad, you’re voting to make sure we put a truly great leader in the governor’s office. https://t.co/poTFDoZ6OH
— Team Jackson (@TeamJacksonHQ) October 28, 2026
In contrast to the Senate race between Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Rep. Mike Collins (GA-10), where Collins is trailing by an average of eight points, the governor's race shows both candidates neck and neck, with the momentum appearing to be with Jackson in the closing days of the campaign.
It's hard to know how this one will shake out, especially in a midterm election year, which historically isn't great for the party in power, including in states that have become increasingly competitive. But Jackson has put up one helluva fight on his terms and has run a seriously disciplined and focused campaign. I think that, unlike Bottoms, he's the type of governor Georgians could be immensely proud of.
