‘It’s good to be unfiltered’: Burt Jones lets loose after GOP rout
Outgoing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is floating a compromise to solve one of Georgia’s most divisive political issues: Medicaid expansion.
In an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jones suggested Republicans could support expanding Medicaid if Democrats agree to scrap state regulations that restrict where hospitals operate.
The proposal offers one potential path for Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms, who made expanding health coverage a centerpiece of her successful campaign but will need GOP support to fulfill that promise.
That was just one surprise from Jones, who emerged from the GOP wreckage with sharp criticism of his former rivals and some unexpected ideas for the Democrats now taking power.
“It’s good to be unfiltered,” he said.
And Jones didn’t hold back.
He blamed billionaire Rick Jackson and his political consultants for damaging the GOP brand, arguing his “scorched-earth approach” painting Jones and other Republicans as corrupt and inept alienated voters and demoralized the party’s activists.
“It was really almost kind of sad to watch, because, there was no optimism whatsoever about their chances,” said Jones, adding that one unnamed statewide candidate told him three weeks before the election, “We’re beat.”
In the course of the interview, which will air in full on the AJC’s “Politically Georgia” podcast Tuesday, Jones also revealed new details about the collapse of a Republican redistricting push over the summer, weighed in on the looming power struggle in the state Senate and discussed the possibility of serving in President Donald Trump’s administration.
He rejected the argument that his party’s candidates were doomed by Trump’s sagging approval ratings and a hostile national political environment, pointing to Republicans in Florida who successfully won statewide offices.
“They were able to make it about Florida and not make it about D.C.,” Jones said, adding that Republicans in Georgia struggled to tie their brand to Gov. Brian Kemp, even as he campaigned for Jackson and other candidates.
“Republicans last week were the losers. Democrats were the winners,” he said. “But on the Republican side, the only winners were the guys who got their cash, their checks, and now move on to the next race.”
Jackson’s allies fired back, arguing Jones was ignoring a national backlash against Republicans that extended far beyond Georgia.
“Who knew that Rick Jackson’s primary strategy was to blame for flipping the Kansas Senate seat, losing a South Carolina Senate seat, losing the Texas House? It’s laughable,” said Brian Robinson, a former Jackson adviser who emphasized he was speaking for himself.
Robinson, who had long warned that Republicans were in trouble if Trump’s approval ratings dipped below 40%, said Georgia was hardly an outlier.
“That argument would require serious reflection if Georgia was an outlier, and everywhere else Republicans held. What we saw was a national blowback that affected everybody equally,” he said.
Robinson argued Jackson’s vast personal resources — he spent at least $200 million of his own cash — kept Republicans far more competitive than if he wasn’t on the ballot.
“If Rick Jackson had never entered the race and Burt Jones had waltzed into the nomination, he’d have gotten crushed,” Robinson said. “No serious person thinks otherwise. Rick’s resources were what gave the whole ticket a fighting chance.”
A scorched-earth campaign
Jones hasn’t made peace with Jackson since losing the GOP nomination, despite Trump’s personal attempts to broker a truce between the two former rivals.
He refused to endorse Jackson after the runoff and said he has no regrets about that decision, even after Democrats swept every statewide office on the ballot and flipped control of the Georgia House for the first time in more than two decades.
Asked whether a Jones endorsement might have helped unite the fractured party, he offered a flat response: “No, I don’t think so.”
Instead, Jones blamed Jackson and a circle of veteran Republican strategists, including Nick Ayers, Austin Chambers and Jay Walker, for turning the primary into a war against Georgia’s GOP establishment.
“They’re good at fleecing wealthy candidates,” Jones said. “They’re good at winning primaries, but they don’t ever win general elections.”
He contrasted the Republican disarray with the “whole ballot energy” unity of the Democrats, who ran coordinated campaigns that brought U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, Bottoms and Lt. Gov.-elect Josh McLaurin together around a common message.
“They ran with good energy. And they stuck to the issues that people cared about. They cared about access to healthcare. They cared about making life more affordable,” Jones said. “And on our side, we had everybody trying to run in different lanes, and the message wasn’t the same.”
A possible Medicaid bargain
For all his criticism of the GOP campaign, Jones struck a more conciliatory tone about the divided government that awaits Georgia in January.
He sees Medicaid expansion as an “easy” potential area for compromise between Bottoms and Republicans, who will have a bare 29-27 majority in the state Senate.
His proposed bargain would link expanded health coverage to repealing Georgia’s certificate-of-need law, a longstanding priority of Jones and other conservatives.
The current regulations require state approval for many new hospitals and medical facilities. Supporters argue they protect the state’s hospitals from new competition, while critics say the restrictions limit access to care and discourage investment.
“They want to pass Medicaid. And if you’re going to add hundreds of thousands of more people to the rolls, you’ve got to allow healthcare providers to build more facilities,” Jones said. “There’s the possibility of a compromise.”
The idea is not entirely new. In 2024, a bipartisan Medicaid expansion proposal nearly advanced through a Senate committee. Four GOP senators signed on to another expansion measure the following year.
But the political landscape has changed dramatically since then, leaving the Republican-led Senate as the chief obstacle to one of Bottoms’ signature campaign promises.
Jones has long made certificate-of-need repeal one of his signature legislative priorities. It is also an issue that has drawn scrutiny because of his family’s business interests.
His father, Bill Jones, owns land tied to a proposed hospital and sprawling development in Butts County that could have been helped by an overhaul of healthcare rules.
Jones has long rejected suggestions that his policy stance was driven by his family’s business interests, arguing that loosening the restrictions would improve healthcare access across rural Georgia.
The outgoing lieutenant governor also pointed to education as another area ripe for bipartisan cooperation, particularly efforts to improve literacy.
And he suggested that legalizing casino gambling, a funding source for Bottoms’ universal pre-K proposal, might be achievable on her watch.
“The thing about gaming, it never was whether or not you could get it passed. It was how was the money going to be divided,” he said.
A warning for Democrats
Jones encouraged Senate Republicans to work with McLaurin rather than immediately strip him of the powers that come with the lieutenant governor’s office.
“The margins are too slim right now,” he said, adding: “I would at least allow him to have a seat at the table.”
He stopped short of endorsing a formal power-sharing arrangement, arguing that the chamber functions better with clear leadership. But he said the tiny Republican majority should make lawmakers more willing to talk through their differences.
“When we disagree on stuff, we don’t have to get mad and be disagreeable. It would make a better working relationship,” he said.
Jones also offered advice to the resurgent Democrats after a historic election victory: Don’t confuse a mandate with a blank check.
“Democrats have a lot of momentum. Everybody likes to win, but you wonder if it might be too big,” he said. “Because it makes people want to be too aggressive.”
He pointed to his own experience navigating conservative Republicans who pushed red-meat proposals popular in their districts but less appealing to voters statewide.
“McLaurin is going to have to do the same thing with folks on his side — something that might be really popular in a very liberal district, but not so much on the broader level.”
The redistricting reversal
Jones also shed new light on the breakdown of the Republican push to redraw Georgia’s congressional and legislative maps during a special session in June.
He said he was prepared to move forward with the overhaul. But GOP legislative leaders abruptly announced they would not pursue the effort, citing pending litigation and the need for more transparency.
Jones said he wasn’t consulted before House Speaker Jon Burns and other leaders revealed their decision, which they announced as the special session started the day after his runoff defeat.
“The first I heard about it was when they were having the news conference,” he said.
At the time, Jones publicly opposed the retreat and urged lawmakers to proceed.
But he now supports Kemp’s decision not to call another special session after the election to redraw political maps or limit Bottoms’ authority before she takes office.
“I think the optics would be terrible,” he said.
The GOP defeat left Jones weighing his own next move.
He said he’s open to the possibility of accepting a position in the Trump administration if the president asked him to serve, though he said it would have to be the right opportunity.
For now, he said he’s willing to help the Democrats who will replace him and Kemp. After 14 years under the Gold Dome, he said, he knows the agencies, understands the budget and has seen many policy ideas succeed or fail.
“I want the state to be successful,” Jones said.
As for another campaign, Jones sounded less certain. And after one of the nastiest campaigns in modern Georgia history, he acknowledged that there are other rewards beyond public office.
“There’s life after politics, and it’s a pretty good one.”