For months, I’ve been pointing out that the GOP race for governor of Georgia has been a contest between two candidates: Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr. Sure, there are other candidates, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (no, seriously), but there’s one candidate who came into the race later on with a big splash.
Rick Jackson owns a healthcare staffing company, and he jumped into the race in February with a largely self-funded campaign. He has spent Lord knows how much money on streaming ads, in which he highlights growing up in poverty and pulling himself up by his own bootstraps. Literally every day, I receive some sort of mailer from his campaign; it’s the equivalent of “Here — Rick Jackson says, ‘You throw this away.’”
He positions himself as a political outsider like Donald Trump, but he comes across as a smarmy career politician. Yet he doesn’t have the built-in name recognition and cultural cachet that Trump does due to his longstanding celebrity. And he doesn’t have Trump’s endorsement; Jones does.
He has some plans that sound great, including cutting state income taxes in half. That’s cute; Jones has a plan to eliminate state income taxes altogether.
Related: I’m Not Ready to Endorse Burt Jones, but Here’s Why I’m Pretty Dawg Gone Close
But there are some alarming things about Jackson’s past, and Jones’ campaign is working hard to bring those issues to light. It looks like Jackson’s business record and his claims of being a conservative fighter don’t line up.
“Rick Jackson has spent millions trying to buy this race and reinvent himself as a conservative — but his record tells a very different story,” said Jones spokesperson Kayla Lott. “Georgia voters deserve to know who Rick Jackson really is before they cast their ballot. We’re making sure they do.”
For starters, Jackson’s company maintains a commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. Breitbart reports:
Jackson runs a healthcare company called Jackson Healthcare, a Georgia-based healthcare staffing and services firm. In a campaign advertisement, Jackson says he will “ban DEI insanity.”
Yet, on March 11, 2022, Jackson Healthcare posted on Facebook that its president, Shane Jackson, joined academic and business leaders at the 2022 Business School Diversity Conference. According to the post, the conference was hosted by the University of Georgia Terry College of Business, sponsored by the Business School DEI Collaborative, and covered topics aimed at helping professionals advance DEI programs within their organizations. The Facebook post linked to a LinkedIn post from Shane Jackson that included the hashtag #dei. The LinkedIn post has since been deleted.
Furthermore, in February 2021, Jackson Healthcare highlighted the work of Matthew S. Harrison, Ph.D., who at the time served as Senior Vice President of Talent & Development. In a Feb. 22, 2021 Facebook post, the company stated that Harrison would speak during the HERO Winter Think Tank about diversity and inclusion as core components of well-being and as central to Jackson Healthcare’s Associate Network Groups. The post said Harrison would address diversity and inclusion in relation to allyship and employee experience.
Jackson’s company has also helped recruit doctors who support transgender surgeries for prison inmates. My Townhall colleague Dmitri Bolt reports:
In a Q&A with Dr. MaryAnn Curl, who works at a correctional facility through a position she acquired through Jackson’s company, Curl was asked, “What are the biggest differences between working in federal prisons versus state prisons? What about men’s versus women’s correctional sites?”
“I’ve worked with women’s prison populations due to our COVID response efforts, but not on their campus. In prison, women’s care tends to almost become women’s and children’s care, as some are pregnant and deliver while incarcerated, and we need to provide OB/GYN services,” Dr. Curl said. “That’s the biggest difference.”
Finally, Jackson’s company also hired for positions with Planned Parenthood. From another Breitbart report:
A key component of Jackson Healthcare is LocumTenens.com, a job recruitment service provider to the healthcare industry. That company is not only used to search for potential employees for abortion giant Planned Parenthood but also by other hospitals to recruit doctors specializing in sex-rejection surgeries and the so-called transitioning of underage children.
For example, one of LocumTenens.com live job listings at the time of Jackson’s announcement included a bilingual Planned Parenthood nurse in Minnesota — a state which has become the face of resistance against Trump.
According to the listing, clinicians filling the position “are also advocates in implementing our mission of ‘To affirm the right to reproductive and sexual health and freedom for all by providing excellent care, trusted education, and fierce advocacy.’”
Do these sound like the business decisions of a man with conservative principles? Do they sound like a man with any principles at all?
Jones’ campaign is chronicling Jackson’s non-conservative exploits at SlickRickJackson.com — with more sure to come. And it must be hitting home for Jackson because he’s suing Jones for defamation of “character.”
.@RickJacksonGA‘s thin skin is showing. Why is Rick so embarrassed to have received a billion dollars in state contracts, helped Planned Parenthood recruit, and staff a pediatric doctor’s office that serves ‘transgender patients.’ He should be proud Georgia knows how his company… https://t.co/R86eJvgq4x
— Kayla Lott (@Kayla_Lott) March 9, 2026
Last month, I said that I wasn’t ready to endorse Jones outright, mainly because I also really like Carr (see the related link above), but screw it: I’m throwing my hat in with Team Jones. He’s our best option to keep the Governor’s Mansion not just in Republican hands but also in the hands of a true conservative who will fight for all Georgians.
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