Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan entered the race for Georgia governor on Tuesday as a Democrat, completing a political transformation that has taken him from a pro-Donald Trump Republican to a contender for the state’s highest office under a new party banner.
Duncan’s decision to join a field already crowded with prominent Democrats raises a central question: Can a onetime conservative stalwart who championed GOP priorities win a Democratic primary likely dominated by liberals?
He’s making a case aimed squarely at electability, noting a proven record of winning independent voters in a statewide race — albeit as a Republican in 2018. In his campaign launch video, he labels himself a “proud Democrat” who defied Trump’s calls to overturn his 2020 defeat.
“I’m the only candidate in this primary that can actually show up in November 2026 and garner the votes to win,” he told “Politically Georgia” in an interview. “It’s an important win for Democrats, because at the end of the day, Donald Trump will be the default governor of this state if one of his hand-picked puppets wins.”
His vision of becoming the first Democrat to win Georgia’s top job since Roy Barnes in 1998 collides with his long track record of supporting conservative causes — including Trump’s 2016 and 2020 White House bids.
Once a close ally of Gov. Brian Kemp, Duncan helped shepherd GOP-backed measures such as abortion restrictions, gun expansions and other conservative priorities through the Legislature. Now he’s positioning himself as a consensus-builder working to reverse some of the policies he helped pass.
Duncan said he would tap 10% of the state’s rainy day fund to help struggling Georgians. Once an opponent of Medicaid expansion, he now says he’d broker a compromise with Republicans in the Legislature to support the idea. And he pledged to press for an immediate repeal of the anti-abortion law he once backed, coupled with an executive order clarifying that doctors can treat pregnant patients without fear of prosecution.
“The highest quality an effective leader can have is having the ability to say that they got something wrong,” Duncan said in the interview. “And I got it wrong. Women deserve the right to choose.”
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
For Duncan, the shift began after the 2020 election, when he broke with Trump over his false claims of widespread voter fraud. He urged Republicans to move beyond the president and published a book called “GOP 2.0” rejecting Trumpism in 2021, before deciding against seeking a second term as lieutenant governor.
Over the last year, Duncan escalated his break with the GOP. He endorsed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, spoke at the Democratic National Convention, and formally switched parties in an opinion piece in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he served as a contributor until recently.
Now, he joins a primary race stocked with well-known contenders. His rivals include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, ex-state Sen. Jason Esteves and former DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond — each running as Trump critics who promise to build a durable coalition.
Across the aisle, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is running with Trump’s endorsement. Attorney General Chris Carr is also in the GOP hunt, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — who also gained national attention for defying Trump — is expected to join.
To admirers, Duncan is a truth-teller: one of the few statewide Republican leaders who openly opposed Trump’s election falsehoods. They see him as a credible voice for democracy and middle-ground in state and national politics.
But his transformation has also made him a lightning rod. Duncan’s Democratic rivals issued a flood of statements calling him a political chameleon.
“Georgians want a governor who has fought to expand Medicaid instead of eliminate it, who protects reproductive rights rather than stands 100% against them and who puts Georgia, not political ambition, first,” Bottoms said.
Credit: AJC file photo
Credit: AJC file photo
Meanwhile, Republican leaders who once tabbed Duncan as a rising star now brand him a turncoat — and worse. Jones has called him a “disgrace to Georgia” and a “useful idiot.” The Georgia GOP exiled him, and party chair Josh McKoon compared him Tuesday to an “aging Hollywood star desperate for one more moment in the sun.” Duncan’s shift even caught the attention of Trump, who recently blasted him as a “total loser” — a broadside that Duncan has embraced.
“This attack from Donald Trump is a badge of honor for me,” Duncan said in his launch video. “It means I’m doing something right.”
‘Adults in the room’
A former Georgia Tech baseball standout, Duncan pitched six seasons in the Miami Marlins minor league system before shoulder surgery in 2001 forced him to end his career. He later settled in the Forsyth County suburbs, where he started a health care firm.
He entered politics in 2012 when he won a newly created state House seat by just 55 votes, stunning local GOP leaders who backed a better-known rival. He quickly made a mark by championing a tax credit program for rural hospitals.
In 2018, Duncan ran for lieutenant governor and upset longtime state Sen. David Shafer in a GOP runoff, buoyed by more than $3 million in outside spending. He went on to defeat Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico in the general election.
As lieutenant governor, Duncan presided over the Georgia Senate. He aligned with both Kemp and Trump, supporting a 2019 law that barred most abortions as early as six weeks and legislation that vastly expanded where licensed gun owners can carry weapons. Party leaders saw him as a top GOP contender for governor or U.S. Senate.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
But the 2020 election dramatically altered his path. Duncan joined Kemp and then-House Speaker David Ralston in opposing a special session that could have bolstered Trump’s attempt to overturn the election. After publicly acknowledging Biden’s victory on national TV, Duncan and his family became targets of harassment and threats from the far right.
His split with Trump soon widened. In 2021, he boycotted a Senate debate on voting limits and refused to back Trump-endorsed candidates Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate and Jones for lieutenant governor. The same year, his “GOP 2.0” urged Republicans to be the “adults in the room” and chart a post-Trump vision for the party.
Duncan also emerged as a key witness in the now-stalled Fulton County election interference trial, testifying before a grand jury shortly before District Attorney Fani Willis announced indictments against Trump and his allies.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Over the past year, Duncan accelerated his break from the GOP. After flirting with a third-party presidential run, he embraced Democratic policies and formally backed the Democratic ticket. At the DNC, he told a cheering crowd he was no traitor to GOP values.
“If you vote for Kamala Harris, you’re not a Democrat,” he said. “You’re a patriot.”
In August, he announced in an AJC opinion piece he is joining the Democratic Party, citing his “daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican.” He pledged to support an expansion of Medicaid, fight GOP cuts to safety net programs and oppose “heartless” immigration crackdowns.
Georgia has a long history of politicians changing parties, particularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when conservative Democrats joined the GOP as the state shifted right.
Former Democrat Sonny Perdue won the governor’s office as a Republican in 2002. His successor, Nathan Deal, also made the switch — having left the Democratic Party in 1995.
Still, Duncan’s move is unusual: Rather than shifting right, he’s moving left in a state where Republicans dominated in 2024 after Democratic gains in the previous two campaign cycles. He argues it was the GOP that left him behind.
“I’ve given up on them,” he said in a recent interview, “as much as they’ve given up on me.”
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