The Republican primary campaign for Georgia governor will go to a June runoff, with the lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, facing off against the healthcare billionaire and political newcomer Rick Jackson – and locking out Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state and longtime political enemy of Donald Trump who was on track to finish a distant third.
Jackson, a political newcomer who was relatively unknown in the state, upended the contest by pouring nearly $50m of his own money into campaign advertising. Republican candidates spent more than $100m in total, according to tracking figures from AdImpact. Jones, who has been endorsed by Trump, and Jackson will continue their showdown on 16 June, which has soaked up almost all of the available advertising inventory on Georgia television.
The Democratic primary was relatively genteel compared with the dueling attack advertising among Republicans. Despite predictions of a runoff, the former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary for governor with a decisive margin, with support from former president Joe Biden.
The Republican race to challenge the Democratic US senator Jon Ossoff remains unresolved. Ossoff had no Democratic primary challenger, and is sitting on more than $30m heading into the November election. On the Republican side, however, Trump-aligned Mike Collins will face Derek Dooley, a former University of Tennessee football coach who was endorsed by Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, in the 16 June runoff. Dooley, more of a political outsider, has also sought to pad his campaigns with echoes of Trump, including with a “Georgia First” slogan.
A longtime Republican stronghold, Georgia has emerged in recent years as a consequential swing state. The state narrowly voted for Biden in 2020, and Democrats occupy both of the state’s US Senate seats, though the state then resoundingly elected Trump in 2024. The open race for governor is considered one of the most competitive in the country.
Meanwhile, two Georgia supreme court justices won re-election, fending off the Democratic-backed challengers former state senator Jen Jordan and personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin.
Judicial elections in Georgia are non-partisan and decided on primary election ballots. The Georgia supreme court has no Democrat serving on it, because primary elections typically have had lopsided Republican turnout. The court is currently considering the constitutionality of a six-week “heartbeat” abortion ban, which added subtext to the race. The race has been heavily advertised and promoted online in ways that have historically been unusual for a judicial race in Georgia.
The judicial contest has at times overshadowed the race to replace the outgoing Kemp.
