Carr and Jones make campaign stops in Coastal Empire ahead of Georgia GOP primary

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Two Republican candidates for Georgia governor made campaign stops in the Coastal Empire as early voting is underway for the May 19 primary.

Attorney General Chris Carr visited Bryan County, Effingham and Savannah, while Lt. Gov. Burt Jones made a stop in Midway.

Chris Carr

Carr is running on experience, touting his time as Attorney General and in other leadership roles. His campaign focuses on three pillars: economic growth, public safety and conservative governance.

Carr said he wants to keep Georgia the best state in the nation to do business and is pushing a tough law-and-order approach on crime. He argued states must step up when the federal government falls short.

“As Congress gets less and less done, issues fall to us at the state level. And governors have to deal with that. That’s when I started working with agriculture, working on farm bills. It’s when I worked with our military and our veterans,” Carr said.

Carr said early voting has seen record turnout, with Democrats currently leading by about 25,000 votes.

“We are two weeks away from the primary. Early voting has started. Record turnout. The Democrats are right now in the lead by about 25,000 votes. We’ve got to get people to the polls,” Carr said.

Carr highlighted his work as Attorney General on public safety issues, including domestic terrorism, human trafficking, gangs and organized retail theft.

His office indicted 61 people in connection with the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center protests and has rescued and assisted over 225 girls who were victims of human trafficking in Georgia.

“Nobody in this country has a constitutional right to light a construction vehicle on fire, or a police car on fire, or shooting police officer. We are not Portland. We’re not Seattle. We’re not New York. We don’t look the other way,” Carr said.

Burt Jones

Jones spoke to a crowd of voters in Midway, making the case that Republican primary turnout will be key to winning in May. Jones is leaning into his business background and four years as Lieutenant Governor.

He is highlighting what he calls a conservative record, cutting taxes, reducing regulations, and expanding school choice. Jones is also pushing for continued investment in manufacturing and agriculture and is taking a tough stance on crime.

“I am a business owner, and I’ve been Lieutenant Governor for the last four years. And in all four years I was there, we cut taxes, cut regulations, did school choice, and championed workforce development issues by partnering with our technical schools,” Jones said.

Jones said early voting turnout has been good so far.

“It’s a full sprint now to the finish line and so we got two weeks ago from today. Obviously, early voting started last week, and a pretty good turnout. We’re likely to see more of our people get out. But the turnout has been good, exit polls look good so far. So I feel really good about where we are and our momentum and everything. And so we’re looking to win this thing coming the 19th,” Jones said.

Jones said he is the only candidate with an agriculture background and emphasized support for farmers affected by Hurricane Helene and recent fires in southeast Georgia.

“We’ve got to support our farmers, we’ve got to support our AG business. And once again, I’m the only person that actually has an AG background running in this race, grew up on a cattle farm that we still have today. So, yeah, it’s great that we have a good economic development. But we also need to remember the businesses that have been there and always been producing for us,” Jones said.

Jones said his business and legislative background, partnership with Gov. Brian Kemp and endorsement from President Donald Trump set him apart from other candidates. He also addressed fentanyl legislation, saying the Austin Law was the first step in fighting the issue.

“That got us engaged on, on trying to fight this fentanyl issue. And so we’re going to, and we’ve done things, uh, last two years and trying to make it tougher on people who deal enough and, uh, and those kinds of things that will continue to be tough on crime,” Jones said.

The race

The May 19 primary is now two weeks away. Early voting is already underway.

Carr and Jones are among eight Republicans running for governor. The other Republican candidates are Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Clark Dean, Gregg Kirkpatrick, Ken Yasger, Rick Jackson and Tom Williams.

Seven Democrats are also running for governor. The Democratic candidates are former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Jason Esteves, Derrick Jackson, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond, Olu Brown and Amanda Duffy.

Gov. Brian Kemp cannot run again due to term limits. The primary winners from each party will face off in the November 2026 general election.