Donald Who? Jackson moves on from being ‘Trump’s favorite governor’

Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was polished and Rick Jackson mostly held his own in the one and only Georgia governor’s debate of the 2026 general election Tuesday night.

Both candidates made their case for how they’d expand Medicaid and bring down the cost of living. But perhaps the biggest news to come out of the one-hour town hall debate, which was sponsored by Atlanta News First, was the name that was hardly mentioned — President Donald Trump’s.

It was striking in a year when the president seems to be the main character in an election that he’s not even running in.

Jackson, in particular, took great pains during the debate to paint himself as a Brian-Kemp-Republican after promising repeatedly during the GOP primary to be “Donald Trump’s favorite governor.”

That promise came on top of Jackson giving the Trump campaign $2 million and visiting with the president on multiple occasions at various Trump clubs to talk politics. The president didn’t endorse Jackson in the primary, but he didn’t attack him either. On Tuesday night, Jackson never said the president’s name.

It wasn’t because Bottoms didn’t try to make him. In answering a question about the economy, Bottoms reminded the audience of Jackson’s Trump-adjacent primary promises.

“He wants to be ‘Trump with a southern tone.’ He said there’s not a single policy that he disagrees with Trump on,” she said, adding, “I’m not running to be his favorite governor. I’m running to work on behalf of people like you.”

But Jackson responded in a flash.

“I don’t owe anybody anything,” he said. “Nobody’s ever told me what to do. My number one priority is Georgians.”

Looking to the audience he added, “It’s you, and I will stand up to anybody, just like Brian Kemp has done.”

Bottoms brought up Trump again in an answer to a question about the security of the upcoming elections.

“I am deeply concerned about Donald Trump’s rhetoric around our elections,” she said, before warning that the right to vote can be taken away in an instant, “And we’re witnessing that attempt in real time.”

But instead of defending Trump or parroting the president’s talking points on rigged elections or Fulton County’s ballots, Jackson pivoted to Kemp again.

“I believe Governor Kemp did a great job in 2021 to pass a bill that (made it) easy to vote and hard to cheat,” he said. “Our last two elections have been good from that standpoint. We haven’t had any problems. I don’t expect one this election.”

Was it deliberate that Jackson didn’t say the last three elections have been good since that would have meant crossing Trump, who continues to falsely claim that he won Georgia in 2020?

It’s hard to say, but it’s clear what Jackson was doing. In a midterm election when Trump is proving to be an anchor for his fellow Republicans, not a sail, the candidates who survive will be the ones building their own life boats far away from the S.S. White House.

For Jackson, that means telling Georgia voters in no uncertain terms they’ll get a Kemp, not a Trump, if they vote for four more years of Republican rule. It’s hoping they believe that he said what he said in the GOP primary, because, hey, that’s politics. It’s saying now, I’ll stand up to anybody, even the guy Kemp stood up to in 2021.

Will it work? It’s worth a shot. In fact, with Trump’s approval rating in Georgia at just 34% in the latest Civiqs’ poll, it may be Jackson’s only shot. And he took it Tuesday night in the debate.