Brian Kemp endorses Burt Jones in Georgia’s gubernatorial runoff

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the state’s rancorous GOP gubernatorial runoff, aligning the popular governor with President Donald Trump on their preferred candidate.

Kemp’s last-minute public blessing of Jones on Sunday night comes just days before the Tuesday election and marks his clearest effort yet to shape the race to succeed him in the governor’s mansion, after months of staying on the sidelines of one of Georgia’s highest-profile political contests.

It’s also a new point of agreement between Kemp and Trump, who just hours earlier sided against the governor’s handpicked candidate in the Georgia Senate runoff.

The endorsement could boost Jones as he faces off against Rick Jackson, who has poured millions of his own money into the race, making it among the most expensive gubernatorial primaries on record.

Kemp said Jones “has been a strong, trusted ally in those victories for the people of our state” in a post on X. “Burt knows how to get things done as governor because that’s what he has done as a state senator and as your Lt. Governor,” he wrote.

Kemp did not mention Jackson in his endorsement post, but he took aim at the Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has faced questions over her rocky tenure as Atlanta’s mayor but ultimately clinched a resounding victory in the May Democratic primary.

The governor was the subject of ads from both Jones and Jackson in the final days of the GOP runoff. An ad implying Jackson had Kemp's endorsement "definitely didn't help Rick," one person familiar with the governor's thinking said.

Tuesday’s runoff between Jones and Jackson has become a test of Trump — and now Kemp’s — political influence in the perennial battleground, fueled by an unprecedented influx of campaign spending. Jackson has spent $100 million of his own money, and has seen a rise in the polls. A recent Cygnal Political analysis showed Jackson with a 12-point lead, while a recent CivicLens Research survey found Jones ahead by roughly 10 points, foreshadowing a close battle to the finish.

Jones finished first in the primary last month with 38 percent, while Jackson earned 32 percent of the vote.