Rick Jackson hasn’t closed the deal yet in his bid to become the successor to Gov. Brian Kemp, but he’s already set his general election sights on Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.
The Republican gubernatorial candidate questions the former Atlanta mayor’s decision to rein in aggressive police tactics in the wake of the police killing of Rayshard Brooks in one of two aggressive ads that use threatening rhetoric.
“Law enforcement is not the enemy,” Jackson said in his ad. “That’s a woke lie. And it might get you killed.”
Bottoms responded to Jackson’s attacks in an April 22 Facebook post that included audio from Atlanta rapper Bone Crusher’s “Never Scared.”
“Gazillionaire MAGA Republican Rick Jackson says he will do whatever it takes to defeat me in November,” Bottoms wrote. “He may have the money, but we have the power.”
Jackson’s campaign hasn’t responded to an emailed request for comment.
The billionaire founder of Jackson Healthcare has supplanted Donald Trump-endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones as the frontrunner for this year’s GOP nomination since entering the race in February. He’s led Jones by 7 to 16 points in four of the past five Republican primary polls.
Bottoms, meanwhile, has also distanced herself from the Democratic field. And with early voting already underway in the May 19 Republican and Democratic primary races, time is running out for contenders to convince voters they give their party the best chance to win in November.
Up 32 points in an Education Reform Now Advocacy poll conducted from March 31 to April 10. Bottoms’ closest rival is former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, who received 12% support. Undecided voters accounted for 29% in the survey.
Jackson has characterized himself as the Georgia version of Trump, noting that both men gained notoriety in the business world before entering the world of politics.
The man who grew up in foster care in Techwood Homes recently joined Republican and Democratic opponents of Bottoms in criticizing her mayoral leadership during the 2020 unrest that erupted in Atlanta following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“When the city needed her, she let Atlanta burn,” Jackson said of Bottoms during the ad as news reels of vehicle fires and other 2020 Atlanta violence played in the background.
Another Jackson attack ad takes Trump’s hardline stance on illegal immigration even further.
“Too often, criminal illegals commit sick, violent crimes, victimize our children and get away with murder,” Jackson said during the ad. “Do that when I’m governor and you’ll get deported — or departed.”
Echoing Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric may play well for Jackson in the GOP primary, but with the president’s poll numbers at all-time lows, it’s unclear whether the strategy will help him defeat Bottoms in a general election if she prevails in the Democratic primary.
Bottoms received similar criticism from former state Sen. Jason Esteves on Monday during the latest Democratic Party gubernatorial debate organized by the Atlanta Press Club.
During the debate, Esteves — who has been polling in the single digits since launching his campaign last year — posed a question to Bottoms about whether she has any regrets about her leadership in 2020. He suggested her decision to revise police use of force tactics somehow contributed to the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner on July 4, 2020.
“Sequoia Turner, who attended Atlanta public schools while I was chair, was shot and killed after you let gang members take over blocks of Atlanta and told police not to intervene,” Duncan told Bottoms during the debate. “What do you believe [you would] change in the actions that you took as mayor?”
Bottoms said Esteves’ claim was a “lie.”
“I did not allow gangs to take over blocks,” she said. “I made every decision that I thought was the best decision at that time. But you cannot have the death of a child, of any child, and not wonder what if anything you could have done differently.”
Early voting turnout figures suggest Georgia voters are highly engaged in this year’s primary election contest. Georgians cast ballots in record numbers for a midterm primary contest on the first day of early voting on Monday, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
The more than 35,000 Peach State residents who cast their ballots in-person on Monday was 29% higher than the more than 27,000 on the first day of early voting during the 2022 primary election.
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