Key Points
• Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, announced his candidacy for Georgia governor on Sept. 17, 2025.
• Raffensperger faced the ire of President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans’ when he refused to overturn 2020 election results.
• Platform includes eliminating state income tax, capping property taxes for seniors, restricting gender-affirming care for minors, and purging “woke curriculums” from schools.
Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who resisted Donald Trump’s pressure to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, announced Wednesday that he will run for governor in 2026.
The 70-year-old former engineering executive enters a crowded race in a state that has elected only Republican governors since 2002, according to a report from Associated Press (via GPB News).
Raffensperger is pledging what he calls a “bold conservative agenda,” including eliminating Georgia’s income tax, capping property taxes for seniors, restricting gender-affirming care for minors, and purging “woke curriculums” from schools. He also says he will work with Trump on economic and immigration policies despite remaining a target of the former president’s ire.
His candidacy further intensifies a Republican primary already featuring Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr, and several lesser-known contenders.
Democrats have fielded prominent names as well, including former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves, and ex-Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. Former GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who also opposed Trump’s election claims, joined the race Tuesday as a Democrat.
Raffensperger rose to national prominence after publicly rejecting Trump’s demand to “find” enough votes to flip Georgia in 2020. He later survived a Trump-backed primary challenge and won reelection in 2022.
Although state GOP leaders voted to bar him from running under the party’s banner earlier this year, Raffensperger insists he is running as a “conservative Republican” committed to the Constitution and says his record proves he can win in hostile political terrain.
