Rick Jackson sharpens anti-establishment pitch with term limits push

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Test your knowledge with our news quiz.
• Gretchen Whitmer will be in Marietta to campaign with Keisha Lance Bottoms.
• Rick Jackson is trying to turn Bottoms’ summer travel into a campaign issue.

Outsider playbook

Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson speaks during his rally at The Bibb Mill Event Center in Columbus on Thursday. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Billionaire Rick Jackson sharpened his war on Georgia’s political establishment Thursday night, using a campaign stop in Columbus to elevate a plank in his outsider pitch: term limits.

“Ethics and accountability comes first,” the Republican nominee for governor said. “We will root out public corruption and self-dealing, listen to the people, not the special interests, and — like I said — enact term limits on the politicians.”

Jackson didn’t spell out what those limits should look like, though his campaign said it will be part of a broader ethics package.

It was one of the clearest examples yet of Jackson putting the idea at the center of his policy agenda.

Term limits are hardly a staple of Georgia politics. Last year, the state Senate voted to call for a constitutional convention to place term limits on Congress. The resolution, which ultimately did not pass, notably would not have applied to state lawmakers.

Some federal candidates, like former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Derek Dooley, have also pushed for term limits. Jackson didn’t say how long officials should serve or which offices would be covered.

There’s also a built-in tension: If Jackson wins, he’ll need lawmakers to pass his agenda. Some may be less enthusiastic about a governor increasingly campaigning against the political establishment they represent.

Jackson paired the proposal with a broader argument that the governor’s race is a test of public trust and who can break what he described as the elite’s “grip” on state government.

As he attacked Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms over her handling of taxpayer dollars as Atlanta mayor, Jackson repeatedly returned to a simple refrain: “character matters.”

“Power does not create character. It reveals it. When the money belongs to taxpayers, and your decisions impact the lives of others, character matters. That is the choice in this election,” he said. “Not personality. Not politics as usual. But character.

“And the fairest way to judge character is simple. You are who your record says you are.”

Friday news quiz

U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff (left) and Raphael Warnock, seen here at a 2024 event in Covington. (Ben Hendren for the AJC)

Good morning! How closely did you follow the news this week? Find out by taking our quiz. You’ll find the answers at the end of the newsletter.

Georgia voters will decide on three proposed constitutional amendments in November. Which of the following will NOT be on the ballot?

• A) Create a fund to pay for a Next Generation 911 system.
• B) Require Georgia to expand its Medicaid program to make more people eligible.
• C) Expand a property tax break for owners of large farms and timberland.
• D) Make probate judges nonpartisan offices.

U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock recently split their vote in the Senate over what issue?

• A) New sanctions against Russia.
• B) Voter ID.
• C) Farm bill.
• D) All of the above.

What statewide candidate missed a deadline to disclose their latest fundraising numbers?

• A) Rick Jackson.
• B) Greg Dolezal.
• C) Keisha Lance Bottoms.
• D) John King.

Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones still have not mended their feud following an intense GOP primary for governor. What elected official has been working behind the scenes to get the two candidates to come together ahead of the midterms?

• A) Gov. Brian Kemp.
• B) Former U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
• C) Vice President JD Vance.
• D) President Donald Trump.

Campaign watch

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers the State of the State address at the Michigan state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, earlier this year. (Devin Anderson-Torrez/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will be in Marietta today to campaign with Bottoms as she runs for governor in Georgia.

Whitmer, the vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association, will discuss Bottoms’ plan to expand Medicaid — the long-sought goal of Georgia Democrats.

Michigan expanded Medicaid way back in 2014 with a bipartisan vote from the state Legislature. A report from the University of Michigan last year found the expansion resulted in a “large and sustained drop in the percentage of Michiganders with no health insurance” and “increases in employment among people who had previously been unemployed.”

Bottoms, of course, wants to do the same thing. Jackson opposes traditional Medicaid expansion. Instead, he wants the federal government to send the money to Georgia in the form of a block grant so Georgia can spend it how it sees fit.

Vacation scrutiny

Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms, left, and Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson. (Arvin Temkar and Jason Getz/AJC)

Jackson is trying to turn Bottoms’ summer travel into a campaign issue, accusing the Democratic nominee of living a “taxpayer-funded, jet-setting lifestyle” during her time as Atlanta mayor.

The Republican’s campaign released a new ad this week highlighting Bottoms’ travel and spending as Atlanta mayor, while also noting her recent stop at Martha’s Vineyard, where her family owns a second home. She is scheduled to return this weekend to speak at a book festival.

“Keisha Lance Bottoms can retreat to Martha’s Vineyard, but she cannot escape her record,” Jackson’s campaign said.

TaNisha Cameron, a spokesperson for Bottoms, called the ad “a pathetic and desperate attack from a billionaire jet-setter like Rick Jackson, whose private jet has been spotted in the Bahamas recently.”

“It’s no wonder Slick Rick wants to hide from his record of making $1 billion off of taxpayer funded contracts from his political cronies,” she said.

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