by Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — People who want to influence Georgia’s next elections have already poured millions of dollars into the 2026 governor’s race and other statewide campaigns.
Campaign finance reports filed by the midnight deadline Tuesday show Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr had each attracted about $3 million from donors for their respective gubernatorial campaigns for the first half of the year.
However, Jones exploited a 2021 state law to bolster his campaign by another $10 million. That boost from his own pocket to his WBJ Leadership Committee — he is an executive in a family-owned oil company — put him far ahead of Carr, not to mention the Democrats in contention.
The Republican-sponsored law allows Georgia’s governor and lieutenant governor to raise unlimited sums in leadership committees. Only a handful of others, including leading lawmakers from both parties and the winners of the gubernatorial and lieutenant governor primaries, enjoy the same advantage.
On the Democratic side, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and state Sen. Jason Esteves, a former member of the Atlanta school board, had each raised just more than $1 million. State Rep. Derrick Jackson from Tyrone raised less than a tenth as much.
Carr’s decision to run for governor has led two Republican state senators to contest his seat. Bill Cowsert from Athens and Brian Strickland from McDonough had each raised about half a million dollars. Cowsert brought in about $100,000 more than Strickland, netting $531,000. No Democrat reported raising money for that race.
Jones’ bid for governor has led four state senators to raise money to campaign for lieutenant governor. As in the governor’s contest, Republicans held a commanding lead.
Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican who recently stepped down as the Senate’s majority leader, raised $1 million. John F. Kennedy of Macon, who outranked Gooch as the Senate’s president pro tempore until he also stepped down, raised $819,000. And Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, gathered $759,000.
Tillery has not yet formally announced his bid for lieutenant governor, but his campaign said that will happen in the coming weeks.
The only Democrat to raise six figures for the lieutenant governor’s contest was Sen. Josh McLaurin of Sandy Springs, who drew $118,000 in contributions.
