Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson will advance to a June runoff in the state’s Republican primary for governor, NBC News projects.
The head-to-head contest will pit two candidates against each other who have aggressively vied for the support of President Donald Trump’s base in Georgia. Jones has Trump’s official endorsement, but Jackson, a healthcare executive who shook up the race with his unexpected entrance this year, has painted himself in the mold of Trump.
Jones and Jackson will face off June 16 after no candidate in Tuesday’s crowded primary won more than 50%. With 87% of the expected vote in, Jones was at 38% and Jackson was at 33%.
The field vying to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Brian Kemp also included Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Attorney General Chris Carr.
Trump endorsed Jones just weeks after he launched his campaign, and many of his TV ads have highlighted that support.
But Jackson has pumped $80 million of his own money into ads since he launched his campaign in February, according to AdImpact, blanketing Georgia’s airwaves with so many ads that Republicans running for other offices in the state have struggled to attract attention in their own races.
Jackson has also used many of his ads to compare himself to Trump — painting himself as a wealthy outsider, businessman and change agent.
“Like President Trump, I don’t owe anybody anything, and like you, I’m sick of career politicians,” Jackson says in one TV ad. In another, he casts himself as “the straight-talking, Trump-supporting self-made outsider” who “tells it like it is.”
Notably, soon after Jackson launched his campaign, some of his ads aired in media markets in Washington, D.C., and West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home is located.
Still, in a tele-rally this month, Trump reiterated his support for Jones and squashed any speculation that Jackson’s flattery campaign could win him over.
“There’s a lot of confusion. Everyone’s saying I endorsed them. I didn’t. I endorsed a man named Burt Jones, your lieutenant governor,” Trump said. “Vote for Burt Jones. He’s just an incredible guy who has my complete and total endorsement in the race.”
Trump’s continued fixation on the 2020 election has also shaped the race.
Jones was on the alternate slate of presidential electors who cast votes for Trump at the state Capitol after an official tally confirmed Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
Meanwhile, Raffensperger rejected Trump’s plea to “find” more votes in Georgia after that election, while Carr repeatedly said there was no widespread voter fraud in the state, earning the wrath of Trump.
The winner of the June 16 runoff will face off in November against former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, NBC News projects.
