They’re both Coastal Georgians. They’re both passionate conservatives. They’re both ardent supporters of President Donald Trump.
But when it comes to who should be the Republican nominee for Georgia’s governor, Holly Kesler and Jeanne Seaver part ways.
Kesler, a leading critic of Georgia’s election system, is backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Meanwhile, Seaver, founder and president of Moms Against Gambling, supports health care executive Rick Jackson.
One of the two will be vindicated in Tuesday’s primary runoff in what is already the third most expensive gubernatorial race in U.S. history — nearly $138 million at last count. The winner will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms in the general election in November.
‘Owned by a lot of people’
To Seaver, Jones is the ultimate political insider — the kind of politician she has deplored since she co-founded, with Marolyn Overton, the tea party’s Savannah chapter and served as Donald Trump’s grassroots coordinator during his first presidential campaign in 2015.
The 47-year-old Jones first entered politics in 2009, became a state senator three years later and ran successfully for lieutenant governor in 2022, defeating three other candidates, including Seaver, in the Republican primary.
In the process, Seaver said, he has collected a stack of IOUs.
Jones is “owned by the gambling industry, he’s owned by a lot of people,” she said, predicting that if elected governor, he will lead the push to legalize gambling. That, in turn, will usher in a level of corruption that will inflict irreparable damage and children and families and “destroy our state,” she says.
In contrast, Jackson, with his foster-care-to-billionaire biography, is “owned by no one,” she told The Current in an interview by telephone on Monday.
“I truly believe that he will represent all Georgians, and he will never allow any harm or support any harm, especially to our children.”
‘Not everybody that’s been in office is bad’
This “insider-outsider” framing of the race confounds Kesler, who says she was drawn to Jones by his work with Trump allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“I think there is this whole idea that everybody that’s ever been in office is bad, and the God’s honest truth is not everybody that’s been in office is bad, but I think you have those voters that think that,” Kesler told The Current at a campaign rally at Skippers’ Fish Camp in Darien last week.
To the extent there is an “insider-outsider” problem in our politics, she says, Jones is “not one of the bad ones.” He is “a great guy” and has a “super conservative record.”
Jackson, in contrast, is a mystery man, who “came out of nowhere with no conservative record” in February on the heels of a largely anonymous ad campaign that battered Jones with claims that he has used his office to enrich his family.
Kesler abhors such ads and the lack of laws regulating them.
“The Jackson campaign has tried to ruin a good family.” Jones is “not rolling into the Gold Dome and taking billions of dollars and going, ‘Here, Daddy.'”
He and his family are “just good, hardworking people” who built “an empire” after “starting out with a gas station.”
Addressing growth
The divergent portraits of the two candidates drawn by Seaver and Kesler overshadow their basic similarities.
Jones and Jackson are both conservatives. They are both wealthy — Jones thanks to a consortium of family businesses and Jackson owing to a healthcare staffing company he founded. They have similar views on the role of government and the hot-button cultural issues of the say. And while Trump has endorsed Jones, Jackson has aligned himself closely with the president, too, saying he will be “Trump’s favorite governor.”
On issues related to Coastal Georgia, the candidates also emphasize the prospects — and perils — of growth.
Jackson told The Current that Coastal Georgia, not Metro Atlanta, offers the state’s biggest opportunity for business expansion.
“I think we have more that we can get done in our rural areas and in Coastal Georgia,” he told The Current at a reception earlier this month at Tubby’s Tank House in Thunderbolt.
“That’s the part I’m the most excited about. I will guarantee you, I will never forget Coastal Georgia.”
In an interview with The Current at the gathering in Darien last week, Jones stressed the importance of balancing economic development with preservation of the “small-town feel,” adding: “I will tell you that my goal is to do a lot of what Gov. Kemp has done as far as spreading out economic development opportunities.”
When asked why Coastal Georgians should vote for him, the Jackson native replied: “I’m the one who doesn’t live in Metro Atlanta. I live in rural Georgia, and I’m the only one that actually has been outside of 285.”
Endorsement
To date, the 71-year-old Jackson has spent $107 million on his campaign, most of it from his own pocket, while Jones has spent nearly $30 million on his, including a loan from his pocket of $9.6 million.
As he heads into the runoff, Jones hopes the investment will pay off as he seeks to repeat the results of the first round of voting, when he defeated Jackson by 5.9% of the vote. Georgia’s lieutenant governor received a boost on Sunday, when Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed him for the nomination.
After listing the accomplishments of his two terms in office, Kemp said Jones “has been a strong, trusted ally in those victories for the people of our state.”
How Kemp’s 11th-hour endorsement of Jones will affect the outcome is uncertain.
Like many Georgia voters, Seaver on Monday described herself as “shocked” by the governor’s move. “Brian said he would stay out of it.”
This article appears in 2026 Elections: Candidate lists, news.
