A billionaire, a one-term mayor and the most powerful job in Georgia

When Rick Jackson or Keisha Lance Bottoms is sworn in as Georgia governor in January, he or she will assume one of the most powerful governor’s offices in the entire country and the most powerful job in Georgia.

Overnight, the winner of November’s election will have the authority to set the state budget, draft legislation, veto bills, and greenlight or kill lawmakers’ pet projects. They’ll also have the power to appoint every agency head in the state, thousands of board and commission positions, and in the event of a vacancy, name replacements for members of the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals and the U.S. Senate.

Jackson or Bottoms will also have the sole power to activate the Georgia National Guard, oversee the Georgia State Patrol, declare a state of emergency and call a special session of the General Assembly.

If you ask veterans of previous administrations what’s at stake in the neck-and-neck governor’s race between Bottoms and Jackson in 2026, they’ll tell you in one word — everything.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes and his wife, Marie, await election results to come in. He won in 1999 and served one term. (AJC file)

Eric Tanenblatt, the chief of staff to former Gov. Sonny Perdue when Perdue was sworn into office in 2003, said life changes overnight for the winner as soon as the election is over.

“You’re running so hard to win. And then when you win, and it’s like, ‘OK, now the work starts,’” he said.

Even before they’re sworn in, Tanenblatt said the next governor will have to tackle two of the biggest pieces of the job first: setting up their administration and writing the first draft of the state budget for lawmakers when the legislative session starts in January.

Bobby Kahn, former Gov. Roy Barnes’ chief of staff for all four years of his term, said Barnes spent nearly all of his transition putting the state budget together. “As familiar as he was with the process, it was a whole different perspective as governor,” he said.

Because Barnes, a Democrat, succeeded Democratic Gov. Zell Miller, Kahn said he delayed hiring new agency heads until after his first legislative session, because the agency leaders had all been appointed by Miller. But Perdue, a Republican who defeated Barnes in 2002, made changes at the top right away.

Sonny Perdue (second from right) and his staff celebrate his win to become governor of Georgia. (Rich Addicks/AJC 2002)

“In the case of Gov. Perdue, it was a change of party after 135 years of the Democrats being in power,” he said.

Perdue asked for the resignations of all of Barnes’ agency heads, with the option for them to reapply for their jobs. In the end, Tanenblatt said several Barnes appointees remained on board.

That’s the situation Bottoms would find herself in if she wins, since she’ll inherit a government led by GOP appointees after more than two decades of Republican power. Jackson, on the other hand, could have a smoother transition, since Gov. Brian Kemp’s appointees would mostly be in line with Jackson’s GOP politics.

Along with agency heads, the next governor will also fill vacancies on commissions and boards that make substantive decisions that affect millions, even billions, of dollars in state spending. The Board of Regents and the Georgia Ports Authority are among the most coveted and powerful. (Some require Senate confirmation, but others do not.)

Gov. Brian Kemp announces expanded vaccine sites across Georgia on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, at the Capital. (Jenni Girtman for the AJC)

As powerful as the governor is, Kahn and Tanenblatt said the next governor will need the General Assembly to pass the most sweeping parts of their agendas. Although Barnes and Perdue both served in the General Assembly for years, neither Jackson nor Bottoms has.

“Georgia has a very powerful governor, and a lot of those powers are in the Constitution, but they’re also statutory powers that come from the Legislature,” Tanenblatt said. “If you want to enact your priorities, you need to have partners in the Legislature.”

Kahn said Barnes reached out to members of the General Assembly right away.

“Roy would meet with the leadership once a week, and they would say, ‘You tell us what’s really important to you,’” Kahn said, “Sometimes he thought they were just trying to figure out what they could negotiate with.”

Tanenblatt predicted that Jackson would work well with the Legislature, since he has spent years lobbying the Capitol on foster care issues.

Kahn said Bottoms would benefit from her term as Atlanta mayor, working with — and sometimes against — the City Council.

“Bottoms’ experience as mayor, that’s no cake walk over there in terms of the politics,” he said. “It serves her well.”

And no matter who wins, Kahn said the next governor will have to deal with a closely divided House and Senate.

“Democrats will have more seats than they do now, no matter who has a majority in the chambers,” he said. “It will be closer than it’s ever been, and every vote is going to be a negotiation.”

The final piece of the power of the Georgia governor may be the most important — the role of leading the state when the unexpected becomes reality.

Like Kemp during COVID-19 or the aftermath of the 2020 elections, Bottoms or Jackson will be the first and last voice for Georgia in an emergency and the face of the state in negotiations or clashes with the White House.