Georgia
Anonymous money fuels $5 million in attacks on Georgia’s Lt. Gov. Burt Jones
ATLANTA (AP) — It’s the biggest mystery in Georgia politics right now: Who’s paying for the attacks on Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones?
Someone operating under the name “Georgians for Integrity” has dumped around $5 million into television ads, mailers and texts. The attacks claim Jones, who already has President Donald Trump’s endorsement in his run for governor next year, has been using his office to enrich himself.
For any Georgian settling down to watch a football game, the ads have been nearly inescapable since Thanksgiving. They’re the opening shot in the public battle for the Republican nomination that will be settled in May’s primary election. But the ads also show how dark money is influencing politics not only at the national level but in the states, with secretive interests dropping big sums seeking to shift public opinion.
The Jones campaign is hopping mad, threatening legal action against television stations if they don’t stop airing ads that a lawyer calls “demonstrably false” and slanderous.
So far, the ads remain on air.
“They want to be anonymous, spend a lot of money, and create a lot of lies about myself and my family,” Jones told WSB-AM in an interview Dec. 16, calling the ads “fabricated trash.”
Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Jones’ top rivals for the Republican nomination, say they are not involved in the attacks. All three want to succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who can’t run again because of term limits. There are also multiple Democrats vying for the state’s top office.
Dark money marches on
The Georgia Republican Party has filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission. The GOP claims the ads violate Georgia’s campaign finance law against spending on an election without registering and disclosing donors.
“I think there are far-reaching consequences to allowing this activity to go forward unchecked,” state Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon told The Associated Press. “And the consequences are much broader than the outcome of the May primary.”
It’s a further filtering down of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which led to dramatic increases in independent spending in U.S. elections, said Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center, which seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics.
“Dark money is becoming more and more the norm in races, up and down the ballot, and at early times,” Ports said.
Claims that Jones has been engaged in self-dealing are nothing new —- Carr has been making similar attacks for months. But things escalated after Georgians for Integrity was incorporated in Delaware on Nov. 24, according to that state’s corporation records. The entity identifies itself as a nonprofit social welfare organization under the federal tax code, a popular way to organize campaign spending that lets a group hide its donors.
The Jones campaign says the ad falsely leads viewers to believe that Jones enabled government to take land through eminent domain to help support his family’s interest in a massive data center development in Jones’ home county south of Atlanta. As a state senator, Jones did vote for a 2017 law that opened a narrow exception in Georgia’s law prohibiting governments from conveying property seized through condemnation proceedings to private developers. But eminent domain isn’t being used to benefit the $10 billion development that government filings show could include 11 million square feet (1 million square meters) of data centers.
Group’s records are a dead end
Georgians for Integrity lists its local address as a mailbox at an Atlanta office supply store east on some paperwork submitted to television stations. A media buyer named Alex Roberts, with a Park City, Utah, address, is also listed on those papers, but he hasn’t responded to an email from the AP. Neither has Kimberly Land, a Columbus, Ohio, lawyer listed on incorporation papers. After weeks of heavy spending, no one has proved who’s providing the cash.
The Republican Party contends Georgians for Integrity is an independent committee under Georgia law. That means it can raise and spend unlimited sums, but must register before accepting contributions and must disclose its donors.
But that law identifies such committees as expending “funds either for the purpose of affecting the outcome of an election for any elected office or to advocate the election or defeat of any particular candidate.” And the ads targeting Jones don’t ever identify him as running for governor or mention the 2026 elections, instead urging viewers to call Jones and “Tell Burt, stop profiting off taxpayers.”
But McKoon said those are “semantic games” and that regular voters would definitely think the ads are designed to influence them.
“If you are funding a message that is designed to impact an election — and I think it strains credulity to argue that that is not the case here — then you ought to have to comply with the campaign finance laws that the legislature has seen fit to pass,” McKoon said.
NORCROSS, GEORGIA — Geoff Duncan, former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, won’t stop apologizing.
He’s sorry for supporting the state’s 2019 “heartbeat bill,” which bans abortion at around six weeks, after a fetal heartbeat is detected. He’s sorry for facilitating the passage of a “constitutional carry” bill in 2022, which allows most people to carry a concealed handgun with no license or background check. He’s also sorry for opposing Medicaid expansion, arguing at the time that it was not fiscally responsible.
“I’m sorry for those positions and any harm that they may have done,” Duncan told me.
Duncan first rose to prominence as one of the Republicans who resisted President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 win in Georgia. Duncan has been speaking out against what he calls Trump’s “toxic” and “dangerous” Republican Party since leaving office in 2023, and even endorsed Kamala Harris and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2024. After being excommunicated from the Georgia Republican Party in January 2025, Duncan switched parties in August. He is now running for governor as a Democrat in what will be one of the most closely watched races in the midterms.
Georgia Tech didn’t let the weekend get away.
The No. 2 Yellow Jackets were flying high with a 13-game win streak heading into the weekend showdown against No. 3 North Carolina. The Tar Heels took the first two games, but Tech salvaged the finale 5-2 on Sunday.
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 2 Georgia Tech got back to its winning ways, defeating No. 3 North Carolina (33-7-1, 15-6 ACC) by a final score of 5-2 from Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Yellow Jackets (32-7, 16-5 ACC) held UNC in check from the third inning on, using 6.1 scoreless innings from Caden Gaudette and Mason Patel to salvage the series and collect its 10th Top 15 victory of the season for this first time this century.
After both teams traded runs in the first inning, the Jackets struck for three runs on three hits in the third. The inning started with a leadoff double from Drew Burress who was quickly brought to the plate by a single from Jarren Advincula. Vahn Lackey drew a walk off a full count before Kent Schmidt connected for an RBI double, bringing in Advincula for what would become the game-winning run. Lackey made it a three-run inning when he scored on an RBI groundout by Ryan Zuckerman. UNC would work the bases loaded and score a run in the bottom of the inning before Gaudette entered the game and induced an inning ending groundout. UNC wouldn’t get another runner into scoring position until the eight inning as Gaudette and Patel slammed the door on any potential comeback.
QUICK HITS: TEAM
- The Jackets improve to 32-7, the best start to a season since 2010. Tech is 16-5 in ACC play, the best start since 2011.
- Tech has won 32 of its first 39 games for only the 6th time in the program’s 131 seasons: 2010, 2003 2002, 1997, 1993 and now 2026.
- James Ramsey owns the best record by any GT head coach in his first season through 39 games (32-7).
- The Jackets improve to 8-1 in nationally televised games this season.
- Tech has now won 10 games over Top 15 opponents for the first time this century.
- Tech has scored 417 runs through their first 39 games. It’s the most runs Georgia Tech has recorded after 39 games in the program’s 131-year history and the most runs any Power 4 team has scored through 39 games in the BBCOR era (since 2011).
- The Jackets scoring average now stands at 10.7 runs/game this season. The program record is 10.3, set back in 1984.
- GT is outscoring its opponents 417-174, that +243 margin is the highest through 39 games in program history.
- The bullpen delivered 6.1 scoreless innings, marking the 15th scoreless outing of the season and second of the weekend.
QUICK HITS: THE BATS
- Junior Drew Burress produced his 17th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored.
- He has scored 51 runs this season, one shy of Vahn Lackey for the most on the team. Burress has scored 201 runs over his career, tied with Danny Payne (2005-07) for the 11th most in Georgia Tech history.
- He becomes the first Yellow Jacket in the BBCOR era to record 200+ runs over a career.
- Junior Kent Schmidt went 2-for-4 with a go-ahead RBI double and a shift-beating bunt.
- He leads the team with 26 RBI in ACC play and has delivered 35 for the season.
- Schmidt has now collected extra base hits in three straight games for the first time this season and third time in his GT career.
- He finishes the series with a .500 average, going 4-for-8 with two doubles, a home run, three RBI, two runs scored and three walks
- Junior Jarren Advincula recorded his 24th multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
- He leads the ACC with 68 hits this season, averaging 1.7 hits per game and putting him on pace for 94 hits over the course of the regular season. With potential postseason games, that would put him in striking distance of being the first 100-hit player at GT since 2005 (Wes Hodges & Tyler Greene).
- He drove in his 45th RBI of the season, the third most on the team behind Vahn Lackey and Ryan Zuckerman.
- Junior Ryan Zuckerman became the first Jacket to reach 50 RBI when he drove in Lackey for the fourth run of the game.
- Sophomore Caleb Daniel came off the bench in the 5th inning and blooped an RBI double, it was his 24th RBI of the season and his 5th as a pinch hitter.
QUICK HITS: THE ARMS
- Sophomore Jackson Blakely made his sixth consecutive weekend start, pitching 2.2 innings with two earned runs allowed and three strikeouts.
- He has only allowed runs in only three of his eight appearances this season (37.1 innings) this season.
- His ERA stands at 2.65, the lowest among all starting pitchers on the roster.
- R-junior Caden Gaudette made his team-leading 16th appearance of the season and 2nd of the weekend, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings.
- He entered the game with a two-run lead (4-2) and the bases loaded with two outs before inducing an inning ending groundout to short.
- Gaudette lowers his ERA to 2.86 in 22.0 innings of work.
- The man they call “Rock” pitched a total of 3.1 innings this weekend, allowing only one hit with four strikeouts.
- He has now pitched as many innings this season as he had in his previous two years combined (22.0) while allowing less than half as many earned runs (7 in 2026, 15 in 2024-25) and exactly half as many hits (12 in 2026, 24 in 2024-25).
- Mason Patel got the ball to start the 6th inning, keeping the score at 5-2 for the final four frames and collecting his fourth save of the season.
- Since recovering from an injury that saw him miss 20 days, Patel has made six appearances out of the bullpen, pitching 13.2 scoreless innings with a victory and four saves.
- Over the last two seasons, Patel has made 29 appearances out of the bullpen, posting 12 wins and nine saves.
- This was his longest relief appearance of the season (4.0 innings) after pitching at least 3.0 innings in 15 of his 23 appearances during his All-American season last year.
Up Next
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. Tuesday at 7 pm at Truist Park. Tickets are available HERE with all proceeds benefiting the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech baseball team, follow us on X (@GTBaseball), Facebook, Instagram (@gt_baseball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
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