FIRST ON FOX: One of the top Republican contenders for governor in Georgia hyped that he would “be Trump’s favorite governor” and is vying for President Donald Trump’s endorsement, but his Federal Election Commission records reveal he financially backed multiple GOP rivals of Trump during the 2024 presidential race.
In particular, two top contenders, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire healthcare entrepreneur Rick Jackson, have been sparring over who is more aligned with Trump.Â
“This Primary Election is very simple,” Jones says on his campaign website. “There is one authentic conservative who has fought for President Trump.” Meanwhile, Jackson has assured voters that he would “be Trump’s favorite governor” after donating $1 million to the president’s political action committee, MAGA Inc. less than two months before he jumped in the race last month.
However, Jackson and his network of companies and investment groups have a history of donating funds to Trump’s rivals, including during his 2024 presidential bid prior to him obtaining the Republican Party nomination, according to a Fox News Digital review of FEC filings. Jackson gave at least $150,000 to Nikki Haley and $100,000 to Vivek Ramaswamy, who were both running against Trump at the time.
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Jackson Investment Group, an entity that Jackson has controlled for decades, according to a 2024 SEC filing, spent at least $150,000 supporting Nikki Haley through the SFA Fund, INC., and Team Stand for America. The SFA Fund, INC. received three separate donations from the Jackson Investment Group totaling at least $140,000 between 2023 and 2024, including $40,000 weeks before Haley suspended her campaign in early 2024. Jackson also directly gave $10,000 to Team Stand for America, a joint fundraising committee that was supporting Haley.
The $100,000 donation from the Jackson Investment Group to Ramaswamy’s super PAC occurred in July 2023, months before he suspended his campaign in Jan. 2024.
Jackson has also donated across the last decade to other Trump rivals like former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., former Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and over $1 million in support of 2016 presidential campaign against Trump, FEC filings show. Jackson also contributed funds against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., when she was fully on the MAGA train in 2020, and donated to Sen. Lindsay Graham’s, R-S.C., 2016 presidential bid shortly after he dropped out and endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
The $2,700 donation to Cheney’s leadership PAC, The Great Task, came weeks after she joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump after they said he incited the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Â
Jackson, the wealthy founder of Jackson Healthcare who is seeding his own campaign with at least $50 million, shook up a primary field that many had expected was set in stone between Jones, the Trump-endorsed front-runner, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Attorney General Chris Carr.Â
The newcomer to the race has brushed off attacks that he is not sufficiently loyal to Trump, comparing himself to people serving in Trump’s orbit who were once skeptics of the president, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President When reached for comment about his previous donations to Trump rivals, a Jackson campaign spokesperson pivoted to Jones.Â
“Self-dealing Burt Jones is recycling old attacks to distract from his failing campaign. From shielding doctors who perform sex change surgeries on minors to protecting Chinese vape manufacturers for campaign cash and family profit, the more Georgians learn about Burt Jones, the more they realize he operates like the kingpin of the Atlanta political mob. Thats why even with the endorsement, Burt Jones is losing,” Dave Abrams, a Jackson campaign spo
