ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump has endorsed Burt Jones’ Republican bid for governor in Georgia, a boost to the incumbent lieutenant governor’s effort to set himself up as the 2026 frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
Trump announced the nod Monday, noting that Jones was among the first Georgia Republicans to endorse Trump’s first bid for the White House in 2016 and saying Jones “worked tirelessly to help us win” in all three of Trump’s bids.
“He has been with us from the very beginning,” Trump wrote on social media. “I know his family well and have seen Burt tested at the most difficult levels and times.”
Republicans including Attorney General Chris Carr are vying with Jones to be their party’s nominee to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp, who can’t run again because of term limits. Other Republican candidates who could enter the race include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“We’re fighting for election integrity, lower taxes, and to secure Georgia values — and with Trump’s support, we’re just getting started,” Jones wrote online Monday.
But Carr has argued he is better positioned to win a general election.
Republicans have won every governor’s election since 2002 in Georgia, even as the state has become more competitive. Top Democrats seeking to end GOP dominance include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves, former labor commissioner Michael Thurmond and state Rep. Derrick Jackson.
Any Democratic nominee is likely to try to turn Trump’s endorsement of Jones against him.
“For Burt Jones, fealty to extreme, partisan politics has always trumped doing what’s right for Georgia — and that’s why this endorsement shouldn’t surprise anyone,” Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said in a statement.
Jones was one of 16 state Republicans who signed certificates stating that Trump had won Georgia in 2020 and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Democrat Joe Biden had been declared the state’s winner. Jones also pushed for a special session in Georgia aimed at overturning Biden’s narrow win in the state. Prosecutors considered criminal charges against Jones but rejected the move, concluding Jones didn’t act with criminal intent.
Jones touted that peril as proof he is an authentic supporter of Trump in a speech at the state Republican convention in June in Dalton.
“I’ve been the Trump guy since 2015, not ’16,” Jones said. “I’ve taken all the battle scars and everything else. I know who ran and hid during 2020 and everything else. The circle is small.”
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