Burt Jones makes Rick Jackson’s big spending his closing argument in Georgia gubernatorial runoff

By David Wright, CNN

(CNN) — Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is criticizing rival Rick Jackson’s campaign spending as the billionaire breaks state records in the final stretch of a tight runoff for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

“Rick Jackson is everywhere – spending over $100 million trying to buy our vote,” says a new ad from Jones’ campaign, featuring AI-generated imagery of voters recoiling at Jackson’s omnipresent image. “But Georgia is not for sale.”

Jackson, a former healthcare executive, has leveraged his personal fortune to elbow into the race, dropping tens of millions of dollars on ads and mailers to place himself in front of voters. It was enough to garner him roughly a third of the vote in the primary in May, forcing Tuesday’s runoff with Jones to decide who will face Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic former mayor of Atlanta, in November.

But whether Jackson can convince Georgia’s Republican voters to back him against Jones, President Donald Trump’s chosen candidate in the race, remains unclear — with Tuesday’s election offering the latest test of whether multimillionaire and billionaire political outsiders can translate their business expertise into ballot box victories at a time when affordability is top of mind for many Americans.

Jackson deflects questions about his wealth with a rags-to-riches story – growing up in deep poverty, the child of a broken marriage cycling through foster homes, running away and starting a successful business career. And while he’s acknowledged “legitimate concern” about his campaign spending, Jackson argues that “money cannot buy this election, I’m gonna have to earn it.”

“The question is, do you want money that’s been buying other people, through special interest groups, and donors, and so forth? Or somebody that’s spending hard-earned money in order to make a difference? Because I can’t be bought,” Jackson told ABC affiliate WJCL.

‘I’ll spend whatever it takes’

Jackson finished just 6 points behind Jones in the first round of the GOP primary last month, beating out well-known Georgia officials like Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr — a remarkable showing for a candidate who only entered the race in February.

“He’s gone from 0% name recognition to, he got a third of the vote in the primary,” said Charles Bullock, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia.

Entering the weekend, Jackson had given his campaign more than $100 million and ranked as the second-biggest advertiser of the 2026 election cycle, breaking Georgia gubernatorial campaign records while spending $90 million on advertising, according to the tracking firm AdImpact. That’s produced more than 380 unique ads, per AdImpact data, generating more than 450 million impressions.

Jones, a multimillionaire whose family found success in the petroleum industry, has also contributed to spiraling totals. He’s loaned his campaign $25 million and has spent more than $35 million on advertising – ranking him third among individual candidates so far this cycle.

The state official has leaned heavily on Trump’s endorsement, holding a tele-rally with the president this week. “It’s very important you get out and vote for Burt. He’s been with me from the very beginning,” Trump said on the call.

Here, too, Jackson has tried to leverage his money, donating $1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. a little over a month before he launched his governor campaign — even though the president had already endorsed Jones last year.

Bullock cautions that it “hasn’t worked out well” for many wealthy, self-funding candidates in Georgia, recalling former Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s high-profile runoff loss in 2021 a year after her appointment to the seat. He also pointed to the example of Guy Millner, a multimillionaire businessman who ran twice for governor and once for US senator as a Republican in the 1990s, losing all three races.

“History has not been that you can make that transition in Georgia – maybe the explanation for Jackson is he’s willing to spend even more than they were,” Bullock said.

In a statement to CNN, Jackson’s campaign said that “when you grow up the way Rick did, you never forget those who are still fighting. Rick will fight for all 11 million Georgians and make Georgia the most affordable state in the nation.”

And it dismissed the new ad from Jones’ campaign targeting Jackson’s spending: “reeks of a campaign that knows it is losing.”

While Jones and Jackson continue to rack up massive spending in the Republican gubernatorial runoff, Bottoms won the Democratic nomination outright in a crowded primary field last month.

The former Atlanta mayor turned Biden administration official has had a free hand to consolidate her support and begin her general election campaign, partnering with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who faces his own competitive reelection this year.

Democrats view the prolonged GOP runoff as a meaningful advantage, leaving whichever potential rival that emerges bruised and drained.

“We’re ready to face whichever out-of-touch Trump lackey emerges from the slugfest of a Republican runoff. Whether it’s Jackson or Jones, both candidates have spent the last four months beating each other up and talking about everything but the kitchen-table issues, while Keisha has relentlessly focused on lowering costs and creating opportunity for Georgians,” said TaNisha Cameron, Bottoms’ communications director.

Jackson’s ability to continue funding his campaign is a wild card, though, and after initially committing $50 million to the election, he’s since revised estimates upward.

“I’ll spend whatever it takes to win this race,” he says in an ad launched last month.

A mixed record for self-funded candidates

But it’s unclear whether money alone can move the needle, as several expensive self-funded campaigns in recent years have demonstrated.

“Self-funding a campaign can buy visibility, but it doesn’t necessarily buy votes,” said Hilary Braseth, the executive director of transparency organization Open Secrets. “History shows that even massive personal investments don’t guarantee success at the ballot box.”

A few examples played out in the weeks leading up to the Georgia runoff.

In California, billionaire Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund founder turned Democratic activist, spent more than $200 million on a gubernatorial campaign that failed despite pressing every possible financial advantage – nonstop TV spots, influencer partnerships, billboards and mobile advertisements.

It carried echoes of another costly miss: Steyer’s quixotic run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination as a first-time candidate, costing more than $300 million and failing to produce a single delegate. Steyer’s commitment in that race, however, was overshadowed by that of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent more than $1 billion of his own money on a roughly 100-day campaign.

Down the ballot, progressive Saikat Chakrabarti far outspent rivals in California’s 11th Congressional District, only for the former Stripe engineer to finish in third place in the primary. And back at home in Georgia, US Rep. Buddy Carter lost his Senate bid last month, failing to make the GOP runoff despite investing several million dollars of his own money into the campaign.

At a time when affordability concerns are paramount, the intensifying efforts of ultrawealthy candidates can also risk alienating the very voters they are spending so lavishly to court.

“Our data shows that voters are increasingly skeptical of ultrawealthy candidates who write their own checks. Of the 65 federal candidates who put more than $1 million of their own money into their races in 2024, only 10 won,” said Braseth.

But other super-rich candidates like Jackson are hoping for better results. Vivek Ramaswamy, a billionaire biotech entrepreneur and 2024 presidential candidate, is the GOP nominee for governor of Ohio, contributing $25 million to his campaign, while Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, heir to a famous family fortune, has similarly seeded his bid for a third term with $25 million.

And, in an upcoming test later this month, former Rep. David Trone, the founder of Total Wine & More, is challenging incumbent Rep. April McClain Delaney for his old seat in Maryland’s 6th District, with the local titans spending a combined nearly $20 million on advertising in a safe Democratic district.

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