Georgia
Jason Carter endorses Jason Esteves in Democratic primary for Georgia governor
Jason Carter, a former Georgia state senator and the grandson of the late President Jimmy Carter, is backing former state Sen. Jason Esteves in the Democratic primary for Georgia governor – a key endorsement for Esteves as he vies for the Democratic nod amid a crowded field.
“I’m proud to endorse Jason Esteves to be our next governor — the strongest candidate to meet this moment and build the coalition Democrats need to win next year,” Carter, who was the Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee in 2014, said in a statement issued through the Esteves campaign.
“He’s the new generation of leadership that Georgia needs, and he still has a long record of fighting for our families,” he added. “I’ve known Jason for many years: I know his family, I know he has heart and wisdom, and I know he understands being a business owner and a public school parent.”
Esteves, in a separate statement, called it “an honor” to have the backing of a prominent Georgia Democrat, adding that “Jason and his family’s legacy of public service is an inspiration to me and countless Georgians across our state.”
Carter announced earlier this year that he would not be running for governor amid much speculation, telling The Associated Press, “I can’t imagine making a decision to run because it’s the wrong time for my family” as his wife battles with glioblastoma, a brain cancer.
Carter had previously told The Associated Press he didn’t plan to endorse anyone, though he hinted that he was supportive of Esteves.
“I’m very excited about Jason (Esteves),” Carter told The Associated Press at the time.
Esteves is among seven candidates running in the Democratic contest to succeed term-limited Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Former pastor Olu Brown, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also running.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R), Attorney General Chris Carr (R) and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) are seen as the three most serious challengers for the GOP nod.
The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates Kemp’s seat as a “toss up.”
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Kirk Fordice-like Rick Jackson is sounding a whole lot like Daniel Kirkwood Fordice as he tries to be elected Georgia’s next governor.
Fordice came out of nowhere — actually, Vicksburg is somewhere but you know what I mean — in 1991 to become a two-term Mississippi governor.
He had money but nothing like Jackson, a billionaire businessman who’s also trying to emerge from nowhere politically to win Georgia’s top office.
“The establishment hated Trump, because they couldn’t control him. They are going to hate me,” Jackson says in an ad for Georgia’s Republican Primary on May 19, sounding like one of my favorite Mississippi governors — Fordice, because of his unpredictable personality (he could vilify or charm you, all in one sentence), not his politics. He died in 2004 of cancer.
I stood by a cafe entrance one morning, waiting to cover a Fordice speech. When he appeared, I stuck out my hand to shake his. “I’m not shaking your damn hand. You’re part of the problem down there (referring to the newspaper),” he told me, smiling and moving on.
Jackson rose to become one of economic giant-Georgia’s wealthiest people. He came from Atlanta’s rough midtown area, ending up in the foster care system. He left college due to poor financial circumstances.
The 71-year-old Jackson wormed his way into the dynamic city’s business scene in the late 1970s, mostly of the healthcare variety with mixed success before starting a workforce staffing and services company and later an antibiotics manufacturing plant. He turned those businesses into billion-dollar enterprises.
“It’s God’s money,” he said in rural Blakely, and he’s been charitable with it.
Jackson doesn’t try to hide his vast wealth. His family lives in a 48,000-square-foot mansion at Cumming, a place of nearly 100,000 people near Atlanta in Forsyth County, which once promoted its almost all-white population as a virtue.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill Torpy recently wrote that Jackson will spend a ton of his own money in seeking another mansion, the one occupied by Georgia’s governor. Torpy noted that present Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was once heavily favored to win the primary race, but he’s fallen behind Jackson’s bold money bid.
“The one-time front-runner in the Republican primary (Jones) has been relegated to No. 2, the result of a $100 million Mack truck running him over.
Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare tycoon, a man with a sly smile and reptilian gaze, is the guy driving that truck,” Torpy wrote.
The GOP field includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who spurned Trump’s demand to find 11,780 votes that would’ve allowed him to win Georgia in 2020.
Fordice was effective with some bombastic rhetoric during his run for governor, but I don’t remember it reaching the histrionic level employed by Jackson. In a major ad blitz, often referencing (Georgia college student) Laken Riley’s murderer, Jackson promises that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will be “deported or departed … any questions?”
In another ad, Jackson growled, “Like President Trump, I don’t owe anybody anything, and like you, I’m sick of career politicians.”
Fordice spent only $1 million to get himself elected Mississippi’s governor. He somewhat sneaked up on the establishment, riding no escalator to the first floor of his Vicksburg concrete river mats-contracting office to declare his intentions. Who could ever forget his announcement seeking the governorship that ran on page 5 of the Clarion Ledger?
Recent polling ahead of Georgia’s May primaries for governor shows the eventual Republican nominee faces a strong Democrat in the November general election, most likely former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. That’ll require another whole pot of money.
— Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired Mississippi newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.
Gulfstream recently announced a $5 million investment in Georgia education, welcoming students and leaders to its Savannah headquarters.
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