ATLANTA — While Atlanta's mayor's race has wrapped up, Georgia's governor's race is picking up steam as more candidates drop their names in the hat. Early on, Vernon Jones said he would run; in April, Jones held a news conference to announce his candidacy.
The former Georgia state representative from DeKalb County gained notoriety as a Democrat who fiercely supported former President Donald Trump. He will make a run for governor as a Republican.
In September, Jones tweeted a video asking his supporters to join him in the fight. "I didn't leave the Democratic party, the Democratic party left me," he said in the video. "And they left me because I, as a Black man, decided one day to stand up and think for myself."
Jones will likely look to seize on the support and loyalty of Trump's conservative base in Georgia in trying to unseat Gov. Brian Kemp in the GOP primary next year. Jones became a favorite of the Trump base by appearing at rallies and steadfastly supporting the former president's false contention that the election had been stolen or "fixed." He was among the speakers at the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol. And before that, at an Oct. 2020 Trump rally in Georgia, Jones was spotted crowd-surfing at the campaign event.
"As a Pro-Trump Republican, Representative Jones is running on a Georgia First platform, committed to approaching every issue through the lens of what is in the best interest of Georgians," according to Jones' website.
And while he will have to face Kemp, Jones will also have to run against David Perdue, the former U.S. Senator who formally announced his candidacy on Monday. The president showed support for Perdue as he ran against Jon Ossoff. However, Ossoff landed on top to claim the Senate seat.
See who else has announced a gubernatorial bid here.