First posted on Instagram
Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson took the stage with President Donald Trump at a midterm rally in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday, October 24, 2026, and urged voters to reject his Democratic opponent, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
"I need you to VOTE to make sure that Keisha Lance Bottoms doesn't DESTROY Georgia just like she did Atlanta!" Jackson told the crowd. "BAD MAYORS DON'T MAKE GOOD GOVERNORS."
Jackson, a healthcare executive, also used the appearance to praise Trump's most-favoured-nation prescription drug pricing push, telling supporters that Americans had been overpaying for medications for far too long and calling the policy a major development for healthcare.
The Perry rally, held at the Guardian Centers of Georgia training complex after an initial plan to hold it in Macon, was Trump's third visit to Georgia this year in support of the Republican statewide ticket. Trump told supporters he was campaigning for Jackson for governor and Representative Mike Collins for the U.S. Senate, and urged them to vote as if his own name were on the ballot.
Jackson's attack on Bottoms' record as Atlanta mayor is a central theme of his campaign. At the candidates' October 6 debate, he used the same "bad mayors don't make good governors" line, accusing Bottoms of presiding over rising violent crime and a failure to make residents feel safe during the pandemic and the unrest that followed the death of George Floyd, and of opening the door to data-centre development in Atlanta.
Bottoms, who served one term as Atlanta mayor and did not seek re-election, has defended her record and campaigned on making Georgia more affordable, restoring abortion rights, protecting voting rights and pausing new data-centre construction until the state sets rules for it. She has accused Jackson of profiting from data-centre investments in Texas while attacking her over the issue.
Early voting in Georgia opened on October 13, with a record turnout reported, ahead of the November 3 midterm election. Former President Barack Obama is scheduled to campaign in Atlanta on October 28 for Bottoms and Senator Jon Ossoff, who faces Collins in the Senate race.