Rick Jackson looks to AI to give his campaign a country-music boost
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Brandon Beach will not run for Congress this year.
- A plan to slash some property taxes clears a House committee.
- Lawmakers consider eliminating vehicle registration stickers.
Honky-tonk hype
A month ago, billionaire Rick Jackson entered the race for Georgia governor. The contest hasn’t looked the same since.
He’s surged in early polling, blanketed the airwaves and relentlessly targeted Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, the race’s front-runner.
His legal team also delivered a stinging blow to Jones by successfully challenging his use of a leadership committee that had bolstered his spending power.
Now Jackson is signaling again that he intends to rewrite the campaign playbook.
His latest move is a four-minute music video and campaign theme song generated by artificial intelligence. It features a cowboy-hatted country crooner narrating Jackson’s arc from foster child to man of faith to wealthy businessman.
It’s kind of catchy — in a country-pop sort of way. One lyric sums up the vibe: “When the world says stay down, you get up and stand your ground.”
We’re told the concept came directly from Jackson. His campaign hasn’t disclosed the cost. But it’s safe to assume it’s far, far less than hiring, say, Zac Brown to headline a stadium rally.
The Jones campaign mocked the effort.
“While Trump-endorsed Lt. Governor Burt Jones is out earning support from real Georgians, Rick Jackson continues to try and buy the state and prompt ChatGPT when his overpaid consultants run out of ideas,” Jones spokeswoman Kayla Lott said.
AI in Georgia races has been deployed as a weapon — think of U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ deepfake targeting U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. Jackson’s gambit shows another potential use: telling a campaign’s story.
Things to know
Good morning! Gov. Brian Kemp, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and others rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. The group highlighted Atlanta as a World Cup host city this summer.
Here are four other things to know for today:
- A parade of prospective candidates filed through the Georgia Capitol on Monday during the first day of the qualifying period for the November general election, Greg Bluestein reports.
- Georgia Senators are again trying to ditch the state’s touchscreen voting system and replace it with paper ballots filled out by hand, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.
- Atlanta’s gas prices rose after the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Analysts expect it to get worse, the AJC’s Savannah Sicurella reports.
- A bill in the state Legislature would block Cobb and Gwinnett counties from pursuing countywide transit referendums until at least 2032, the AJC’s Sara Gregory reports.
Staying put
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach won’t run for Congress — at least not this time.
Allies say Beach will remain in Washington as part of the Trump administration rather than seek the open U.S. House seat left by retiring U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who represents a swath of northwest Georgia.
Beach had been viewed as a top-tier contender. And President Donald Trump is expected to back him if he pursues a House bid down the road.
For now, that leaves a developing GOP field that includes Rob Adkerson, Loudermilk’s chief aide and his preferred successor, and Dr. John Cowan, the Rome neurosurgeon who lost a 2020 runoff to Marjorie Taylor Greene. Public Service Commissioner Tricia Pridemore is also expected to run. More candidates could jump in before Friday’s noon qualifying deadline.
As for Beach, his future isn’t settled. But one potential opening looms: U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick could challenge U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2028, triggering another domino effect.
Tax plan
House lawmakers on Monday amended Speaker Jon Burns’ property tax proposal. It would now slash property taxes for primary single-family residences, but not completely eliminate them.
The proposal cleared a committee Monday on a party-line vote. But the measure — a constitutional amendment — faces a much steeper climb on the House floor, where it will need a two-thirds majority to pass.
Burns ally Stephen Lawson, a political strategist, sees real risk for anyone voting “no.”
“It’s clear cost of living is by far the number one issue with voters,” he said, “and skyrocketing property bills are at the very top of their list of concerns.”
Lawson added: “Being on the wrong side of an 80/20 issue with this much intensity is a very risky political proposition. Even in districts that may not have been competitive otherwise, voters hearing about a ‘no’ vote on property tax relief for six months could very well change that dynamic.”
Democrats, however, are mounting determined opposition. They warn the plan could undercut funding for local schools and governments.
Greater push
The Greater Georgia political group founded by Republican Kelly Loeffler is jumping into the 14th Congressional District special election with a new 30-second ad urging turnout ahead of the March 10 vote.
“Tell President Trump to keep fighting for Georgia,” the spot says, framing the race as a show of support for the president.
The ad is part of a broader Republican push to boost turnout in the contest to fill the remainder of former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s term. Trump is backing former prosecutor Clay Fuller in the race, which features more than a dozen Republicans along with several Democrats and third-party contenders.
“Special elections can fly under the radar with even the most active voters, but engagement still matters,” said Carmen Foskey Bergman, a senior adviser for Greater Georgia Action. “We’re deploying precise, data-driven outreach to engage voters who don’t always participate because when they show up now, they’re more likely to stay engaged through November.”
Sticker drama
State Rep. Rhonda Taylor, D-Conyers, renewed her car’s registration back in September. On Monday, she realized she still hadn’t put the sticker on her license plate.
“Maybe you won’t have to worry about it,” state Rep. Derrick McCollum, R-Chestnut Mountain, told her.
McCollum is sponsoring a bill that would repeal a state law requiring drivers to display these stickers. He said most law enforcement officers don’t rely on the stickers anyway because license plate readers tell them whether a car is properly registered.
The bill cleared the House Motor Vehicles Committee on Monday. The Georgia Department of Revenue says the switch would save taxpayers about $4.6 million per year. But the bill’s prospects are unclear because of opposition from the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association.
Mike Mitchell, the association’s deputy executive director, told lawmakers he knows of multiple counties that don’t have license plate readers. Plus, he said an expired sticker often gives officers “reasonable suspicion” to initiate traffic stops.
“I would say let’s let technology catch up here in Georgia before we roll this out,” he said.
It was enough to convince state Rep. Martin Momtahan, R-Dallas, to vote against it. But it wasn’t enough to block the bill.
Under the Gold Dome
It’s Day 26 of the legislative session. Crossover Day is Friday. Some happenings:
- 10 a.m.: House convenes. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on a number of bills, including House Bill 1196, which would create the criminal offense of trespass involving a wild animal.
- 10 a.m.: Senate Committee on Investigations meets to discuss Senate Bill 605, which would create new grounds for removing a district attorney from office.
- 11 a.m.: Senate Higher Education Committee meets to discuss Senate Bill 556, which would include advanced placement and international baccalaureate fine arts courses in the calculation of grade point averages for the HOPE Scholarship.
- 1 p.m.: The House Natural Resources and Environment Subcommittee on Resource Management meets to discuss House Bill 570, which would declare that the United Nations and the World Health Organization have no jurisdiction or power within Georgia.
- 1 p.m.: Senate convenes. They’re scheduled to vote on a number of bills, including Senate Bill 443, which would increase penalties for obstructing highways or streets.
Mask rules
Most Georgia public schools have dropped face mask requirements that were first put in place during the pandemic. Today, the Georgia Senate could make sure they can’t make a comeback.
A state law passed four years ago says schools must allow parents to opt out of any rule requiring their children to wear face masks in class. That law is set to expire on June 30 of next year. Senate Bill 471, which is eligible for a vote in the state Senate today, would make the law permanent.
State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming who is running for lieutenant governor, said a constituent called him to say she was worried about the law expiring and “nobody is going to be here to fix it.”
“I’m on it,” Dolezal said he told her.
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast former state Sen. Jen Jordan and trial attorney Miracle Rankin join the show to talk about their campaigns for the Georgia Supreme Court.
You can listen and subscribe to Politically Georgia for free an Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.
Today in Washington
Happenings:
- President Donald Trump will meet at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He will also meet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
- Members of the House and Senate will attend separate briefings with White House officials on the strikes in Iran.
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that is likely to focus on immigration enforcement.
Poll watch
A new Public Policy Polling survey shows former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in a tight race against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup for governor.
The poll pegs Bottoms, a Democrat, with 41% among registered voters and Jones, a Republican, at 39%. That’s within within the poll’s 3.6% margin of error. Another 20% were undecided.
The accompanying memo argues those undecided voters lean Democratic and are opposed to President Donald Trump. That suggests Bottoms’ edge could expand.
But there’s a significant caveat. The survey was conducted Jan. 28-29. That’s before Republican Rick Jackson entered the race and scrambled the GOP field.
Still, Bottoms is expected to tout the numbers as evidence of general election viability, particularly alongside findings that Trump’s approval rating in Georgia stands at 43%.
Shoutouts
Today’s birthday:
- Georgia Supreme Court Justice Charles Bethel.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
Before you go
Atlanta is a finalist to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention. The others are Boston, Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia.
That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
Correction
This story has been edited to correct an error in the description of Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns' property tax legislation.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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