The primaries are over and it’s time to analyze the results. Before I begin, it is important you know that Donald Trump has not commented on this column or its author. That is because he doesn’t know either exists. For that, let us give thanks.
Billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson handily dispatched Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a mud-slinging contest called the Republican primary runoff for governor. Jackson spent more than $100 million of his own money in the campaign. That will buy you a lot of mud. Jones spent some $30 million. All of this for a job that pays $180,000.
Jones was endorsed early and often by Trump but lost anyway. In a pivot worthy of a flamenco dancer, the president now appears to be taking credit for Jackson’s win against the guy he had endorsed. On Truth Social, Trump said, “Congratulations to Rick Jackson, who very successfully campaigned on being ‘TRUMP,’ and won. He will be your next Governor of Georgia,” In a later post, he added: “Rick Jackson ran a great TRUMP Campaign. Very smart.” One thing you can say about billionaires, they do stick together.
Usually after a hard-fought campaign, the loser will graciously accept defeat and pledge fealty to the winning opponent. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. Jackson and Jones were up-close-and-very-personal in their attacks on each other. Kissing and making up will require some major doing.
Republican Rick Jackson will now face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms in November. I quit making political predictions after I publicly declared that an obscure Republican state senator from Bonaire would never beat an incumbent Democratic governor. And we all know how that turned out. But Keisha Lance Bottoms? That’s the best the Democrats can offer?
It is certainly not because of her record as mayor of Atlanta, which was lousy. Her mishandling of the riots in the city in 2020 brought her scorn from both sides. So after one term in office she bailed out and joined the Biden Administration as national director of nothing worth mentioning. And now she is back and wants us to believe she can govern the Great State of Georgia.
For most of the millions he spent on advertising, Jackson appeared like a glowering grump whose rare smiles came across as sneers. Not a guy you would want to hang out with. Then somebody got the idea to humanize him with his grandkids telling Grandad to lighten up, shed the power suit, get a pickup truck and a dog. All of which he does and looks awkward doing it. But it works. Whoever thought of that idea deserves a raise.
In the race for lieutenant governor, Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal defeated state Sen. John Kennedy who ran a lackluster campaign in the Republican primary runoff and will now face Democratic state Sen. Josh McLaurin in November. Dolezal’s campaign produced the most bizarre ad of them all, depicting Muslims terrorizing Georgians and declaring he would “keep Georgia sharia free.” What a crock. All a lieutenant governor in Georgia does is make committee assignments and preside over debates in the senate and be prepared to step in if the governor conks out. He has as much to do with sharia law as I do with Chinese aviation.
Brian Kemp found out being the state’s most popular political figure goes only so far. The governor’s support of his boyhood buddy, Derek Dooley, son of legendary UGA football coach Vince Dooley, instead of U.S. Rep. Mike Collins for the Republican nomination to oppose incumbent Democrat U. S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, as well as his last minute endorsement of Jones made no difference. Republican voters rejected them both. It didn’t help that Dooley admitted he didn’t vote in 2016 or 2020.
I don’t know Mike Collins, but I knew his dad, Mac, a member of Congress that I worked with in the runup to the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. He was a good man. I’m not so sure about Junior. He is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee and the Office of Congressional Conduct for misuse of taxpayer funds. He also had to fire a crude and arrogant staff aide that he should never have hired in the first place for some very inappropriate remarks.
Well, there you have it, boys and girls. The primaries are over and now it is on to November. Cue the mud machines, crank up the hyperbole and let the games begin.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
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