Rick Jackson campaign launches first ad in massive $87M buy

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The first ad in Rick Jackson’s massive $87 million ad buy in his quest to become Georgia’s next governor hits the digital and broadcast airwaves on Saturday.

The ad attacks his opponent, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, on her one term as Atlanta mayor.

In a story first reported by Atlanta News First, Jackson’s campaign announced earlier this week the largest general election ad buy so far in Georgia’s nationally watched gubernatorial race.

The new round of attack ads focus on Bottom’s term as Atlanta Mayor, and her use of taxpayer dollars to buy flights for her husband to attend the Super Bowl, and an alleged $11,000 on a luxury car service for travel.

The Bottoms campaign said the then-mayor recognized on her own that the purchases were not made using a personal account, and the money was reimbursed.

“Slick Rick Jackson is lying, just like the man he wants to be — Donald Trump,“ said campaign spokesperson TaNisha Cameron in a statement. ”If Rick Jackson wants to talk about greed, let’s talk about the billions he made from taxpayer-funded, no-bid contracts while rural hospitals closed and Georgians lost access to health care. Now he’s trying to buy the governor’s office so he can protect the same rigged system that made him a billionaire.”

Jackson spent a huge amount out of his own fortune to win the gubernatorial primary last month. The billionaire founder and CEO of Jackson Healthcare stunned Georgia’s political establishment by not only entering the race late but seeding it with $50 million of his own personal fortune, including a $40 million ad buy.

Throughout the primary election cycle, Jackson spent over $100 million of his own money to win despite his opponent, Lt. Governor Burt Jones, carrying the favor of President Donald Trump.

Atlanta News First political analyst Dr. Ben Taylor said not only is this the largest ad buy of the current election cycle, but it may also be the largest in state election history.

“This is a massive campaign expenditure, and it looks like Jackson will spare no expense in this race,” Taylor said. “In a year that looks generally bad for Republicans, to fight that tide you’d need something like this.”

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