At ‘Women for Burt Jones,’ loyalty to Trump and talk of the 2020 election
On Day 39 of this year’s 40-day Legislative session Tuesday, Lt. Gov Burt Jones left the Senate floor and headed north for a “Women for Burt Jones” event in Buckhead.
The lunch-time meet-and-greet could have been any other ladies-who-lunch event in the wealthy Atlanta neighborhood. But the topics at hand — Jones’ run for governor, the $70 million in attack ads being spent against him, and his close relationship with President Donald Trump — told you this was no charity event.
Salleigh Grubbs, whom Jones appointed to the State Election Board, was there, along with her fellow Republican-appointed board member, Dr. Janice Johnston. Neither has officially endorsed Jones, since board rules ban them from publicly backing candidates. But introducing Jones, Grubbs told the crowd she was there to describe the man she knows.
“There were only a handful of people who were willing to put everything on the line for our elections in the state of Georgia, and really for the United States of America, in 2020,” she said. Jones was one of them.
In the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 elections, then-state Sen. Jones helped pushed for a special legislative session to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia. The session never happened, but election skeptics never forgot the man they saw as an ally and a friend.
“Whenever I have questions about legislation or whenever election integrity measures need to be passed, Burt Jones is always there for us,” Grubbs said.
Like Grubbs, GOP Fulton County Commissioner Bridget Thorne said she decided to get involved in politics after she felt demonized by Democrats for raising doubts about Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Jones was an ally then and now, she said.
“(Democrats) come to kill, steal and destroy,” she told the crowd, paraphrasing theBook of John in the New Testament. “That’s why it’s so important that we have conservative leadership at the top like Burt Jones.”
When it was Jones’ turn to speak, he used the same laid back, no-notes approach he employs everywhere from the state Capitol to campaign events.
“This is going to be the deciding vote right here in this room,” he said. “It is the mamas and the grandmamas who are the ones who go to the polls and vote.”
Jones’ easy demeanor at the event can be understood through the lens of the close relationships he has with the women in his life, from his mother, sister, and wife, Jan, to his female-heavy senior staff. His chief of staff, legislative director, campaign manager, and communications director are all women.
Jones and his leadership team have had their work cut out for them since Rick Jackson, the billionaire health care executive, jumped into the GOP primary, calling the lieutenant governor “as lazy as the day is long,” and spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat him.
“After going through what we’ve been through these last six months, if your husband or your significant other is thinking about it right now, y’all go home and punch him in the mouth,” Jones jokes.
He didn’t have advice for the women in case they wanted to run for office themselves, but none in the conservative audience took offense at the line, which got a big laugh before Jones dove into talking about his record as a state senator and then lieutenant governor, especially supporting Trump.
“I was the one that took all the bullets on election integrity,” he said. “I was the one that took all the bullets on protecting girls’ sports.”
He also talked up his votes on tax cuts, private school vouchers, policing, and election law changes.
“I’ve got a conservative voting record and nothing to hide,” he said. “I didn’t just parachute in with $100 million because Georgia needs to be saved.”
Several women who arrived to the event as Jones supporters left as devotees.
“He’s the only candidate in the Republican primary that has taken slings and arrows to do the right thing for election integrity,” said Denise Burns, who drove in from Ringgold to see Jones speak.
Patricia Sullivan worked on Trump’s campaign in 2015 and said his endorsement of Jones was a big factor for her supporting him as well.
Jackson, on the other hand, “puts out there that he’s a conservative, but he’s not a conservative.”
Original Tea Party activist Debbie Dooley was there, too, along with her friend Julie Allen. They will both vote for Jones.
“Burt is honest and a leader and I like what I’ve seen,” said Dooley.
Allen likes what she’s seen, too. She describes herself as, “just a mom,” but she’s also a well known activist for what she calls “medical freedom,” fighting against vaccine requirements for children.
While mainstream Republicans have ignored or shunned her groups at the state Capitol, she said Jones never did.
“Why is everybody in the race to beat Burt Jones?” she said. “Because he’s one of us.”
But not every woman left a Jones convert.
“I came to listen,” one woman said, who did not want to be quoted in the press. “And I’m still listening.”
With that, Jones headed back to the Capitol, with one day left in the legislative session and the biggest election of his career six weeks away.
About the Author
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.
