Georgia governor race 2026: Rick Jackson vs. Keisha Lance Bottoms

The basics

Georgians vote Nov. 3 to replace Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term limited. A Dec. 1 runoff would be held if no candidate wins a majority. Jackson beat Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a June 16 Republican runoff, then received endorsements from Kemp and two former governors and from President Donald Trump, who had backed Jones. Bottoms won the May 19 Democratic primary outright against six opponents.

The candidates

Rick Jackson (R) founded a health care staffing company whose businesses, his campaign says, operate in all 50 states and bring in more than $3 billion a year. He says he grew up in Atlanta's Techwood Homes public housing, lived in five foster homes and attended 13 schools. He has never held elected office and says Georgia needs an outsider "focused on results," WALB reported.

Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) was Atlanta's mayor from 2018 to 2022 and earlier a magistrate judge and city council member. She later served as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden. She says she is running to help Georgia families affected by "chaos" in Washington. Former President Barack Obama endorsed her in October.

Where the race stands

The race is a statistical tie. A University of Georgia poll for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Oct. 7–15, 1,000 likely voters, ±3.1) had Jackson 46%, Bottoms 45%, with independents leaning to Bottoms and Democrats reporting more enthusiasm, the AJC reported. A State Navigate poll (Oct. 23–27, 679 likely voters, ±3.8) had Bottoms 50%, Jackson 47%. STTPN's average of four recent independent polls is Jackson 47.6%, Bottoms 46.9%.

Cook and Sabato's Crystal Ball rate the race a Toss-up; Inside Elections rates it Tilt Democratic. Jackson has a large money advantage: he had raised about $124 million, mostly his own money, compared with about $5.8 million for Bottoms, according to Georgia campaign finance filings through Oct. 23. He spent at least $108 million of his own money in the primary alone.

The issues

Taxes and costs

Jackson proposes freezing property taxes and cutting the state income tax in half within four years, and says he would use technology and artificial intelligence to cut government waste. Bottoms proposes property tax relief, a tax credit for homeowners insurance and letting local governments suspend sales taxes on groceries, with the state making up the lost revenue.

Health care

Bottoms would expand Medicaid, replacing Georgia's Pathways program, and repeal the state's abortion ban. Jackson says he would expand rural access to care, "cut out middlemen" and negotiate better pharmacy rates.

Education

Bottoms backs universal pre-K for 4-year-olds, mandatory kindergarten and a ballot question on casino gambling, with some revenue for early learning. Jackson would raise teacher pay, strengthen the Parents' Bill of Rights and ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government and public schools.

Controversies

Jackson took part in an Atlanta News First town hall style forum on Oct. 6 but skipped the Atlanta Press Club debate on Oct. 12, the first major party nominee to do so in the series' history, according to the AJC. Bottoms answered questions beside an empty podium and said he would rather "hide behind his billions." Jackson said he had "not had one voter ask me a question about debate," Fox News reported.

Republicans have attacked Bottoms's record as mayor, including crime in Atlanta during the pandemic. The AJC has examined Jackson's business empire, including millions he put into a struggling Alabama hospital, and Democrats have made his wealth a campaign theme. Jackson once promised to be Trump's "favorite governor" but has since presented himself as Kemp's heir and an independent minded outsider, while Bottoms ties him to Trump.