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President Donald Trump’s endorsement was not enough to carry Lt. Georgia Gov. Burt Jones won the Republican primary race to take over from Gov. Brian Kemp.
But the president’s support helped Jones move ahead in the race for the GOP nomination in the key southeast region of the field.
Jones and health care executive and billionaire businessman Rick Jackson are the two front-runners in Tuesday’s GOP gubernatorial primary in Georgia, the Associated Press reported. With no candidate exceeding 50% of the vote to secure a majority, Jones and Jackson now move on to the June 16 runoff.
The main field of eight Republican candidates included state Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
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Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a candidate for the Republican nomination, speaks to supporters during a campaign stop in Ellijay, Georgia, on May 14, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Jones, former captain of the University of Georgia football team, oil magnate and heir to the Jones Petroleum Company, served as a member of the state legislature before winning election in 2022 as lieutenant governor. A staunch supporter of Trump, he was endorsed by the president last August.
“The president is still very popular, and here in the state of Georgia, he has an unbelievable approval rating,” Jones told Fox News Digital last week.
Pointing to Trump, Jones emphasized that “he and I have a long relationship – a friendship – and I’ve always been his biggest supporter, and he’s my biggest supporter.”
Jackson, who launched his gubernatorial campaign in February and has spent more than $80 million on his behalf, says Trump inspired him to run.
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“I just thought, you know, if you had someone doing business solutions in the state of Georgia, just like Trump is in the United States, I felt like I would have a big impact in the state of Georgia, 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 a slew of ads, his story of building a business empire despite growing up in child care and not being able to afford college is now well known in the Peach State.
And Jackson runs like an outsider.
Republican state candidate Rick Jackson speaks to voters during a campaign stop, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Hiram, Georgia. (Mike Stewart/AP Photo)
“I’m sure that at the end of the day that people will vote for me one way or another, because they can see someone like Trump, not just approved. And from that point of view, I think that having an outsider is what our people want,” he said.
But Jones is skeptical of his presidential rival’s support, pointing to Jackson’s past contributions to Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans as an example of his breaking away from the party’s MAGA wing.
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“He wasn’t honest about who he was. He wasn’t honest about who he was behind,” Jones alleged. “Actually, you know, you’re pretending to be something you’re not.”
Jackson says the attacks on him are “just lies” and referring to Trump, he adds, “I’m going to be the governor he likes.”
