# Truth Scorecard — Georgia Governor 2026: Bottoms vs. Jackson — The GA Files > Every major attack line in the 2026 Georgia governor *Source: https://thegafiles.com/candidates/governor-scorecard.html · The GA Files (thegafiles.com)* --- [← Governor race: Bottoms vs. Jackson](https://thegafiles.com/candidates/governor.html) GA Files · Truth in Politics # The Mud & The Facts: A Georgia Governor's Race Scorecard Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) vs. Rick Jackson (R), 2026. Every major attack line, held to the same standard — what's true, what's mangled, and the defense each side deserves. Compiled July 13, 2026 · updated July 22 · Sourced to AJC, GPB, WABE, 11Alive, Capital B, WTOC, NPR, ABC News, Axios, CBS Atlanta, Healthbeat, Forbes & Georgia Recorder · Verdicts reflect reporting to date **Why this exists.** A slogan can be technically sourced and still leave a false impression. The goal here isn't to pick a winner — it's to make sure no mangled "truth" from either camp stands without the fuller record beside it. ● True ● Mostly True ● Misleading ● False ● Unproven / Disputed ● Needs Context ## Attacks on Bottoms from Jackson / GOP Centered on 2020, crime, and policing during her time as Atlanta mayor — plus a July 2026 flap over a restaurant that welcomed Jackson. Nearly 100 (“97”) Atlanta restaurants closed “because of her lockdowns and overreach” — and now she’s “going after another one” for welcoming Rick Jackson. Source: Rick Jackson for Governor post, July 2026 · Checked vs. contemporaneous reporting Misleading What's true Atlanta restaurants **did** close in 2020–21, and Bottoms **did** publicly criticize Jackson’s recent visit to a Black-owned restaurant. The catch She had **no power to lock Atlanta down.** Georgia’s COVID rules were the **governor’s**, not the mayor’s — and Gov. Kemp was **one of the first governors in the country to reopen,** clearing Atlanta dine-in on **April 27, 2020**, over warnings it was “too soon.” When Bottoms tried to require masks and limit gatherings, **Kemp sued her** (July 2020), arguing she “exceeded her authority.” She literally couldn’t impose the lockdowns the ad blames her for; the closures were a nationwide pandemic story. The restaurant The ad flashes “Crispina Grill,” but the current dispute is over **Toast on Lenox.** Jackson posted a photo with a co-owner; the restaurant drew online boycott calls and he deleted the post. Bottoms’s own words targeted the **photo-op** — _“Don’t let Rick Jackson’s photo opps replace his words”_ — not a call to shut the business; whether that amounts to “going after” it is contested. “When the city needed her, she let Atlanta burn.” Source: Jackson campaign attack ad (2026) Misleading What's true Atlanta did see destructive unrest downtown in late May 2020, and a Wendy's was burned after the Rayshard Brooks shooting in June. Full context On May 29, 2020, Bottoms gave a nationally praised address demanding the violence stop: _“This is not a protest. This is chaos… when you burn down this city, you're burning down our community,”_ repeating _“Go home.”_ The claim she stood back and let it happen misrepresents her actual words. “Law enforcement is not the enemy. That's a woke lie. And it might get you killed.” Source: Jackson campaign attack ad (2026) — framing Bottoms as anti-police Needs Context What's true After Rayshard Brooks's death, Bottoms called it _“murder,”_ accepted the police chief's resignation within hours, and ordered a use-of-force overhaul. 170+ officers then staged a “Blue Flu” sickout, and homicides rose sharply in 2020–21. Full context Whether her reforms drove the crime spike is a legitimate, unsettled debate — but “woke lie” is a characterization, not a fact. She framed reforms around officers as _“guardians, not warriors,”_ not abolition. Crime rose on her watch as mayor. Source: GOP / recurring campaign theme True What's true Atlanta homicides and shootings climbed notably in 2020–2021, consistent with the data. Full context The spike was nationwide across nearly every major U.S. city during the pandemic. Causation specific to her policies is asserted, not proven — fair to note the rise, unfair to pin it solely on her. She “walked away” after one term — “now you want a promotion?” Source: Jackson campaign messaging (2026) Needs Context What's true Bottoms did not seek a second mayoral term in 2021, an unusual choice for a first-term Atlanta mayor. Her single term included the 2018 SamSam ransomware cyberattack that crippled city systems and federal City Hall bribery cases. Full context She framed the exit as _“a decision made from a position of strength, not weakness,”_ citing family and the toll of the term. Notably, the City Hall corruption cases largely trace to the **prior administration**, not hers — so “corruption on her watch” needs that qualifier to be fair. ## Attacks on Jackson from Bottoms / Democrats / press Centered on his wealth, state contracts, lack of political experience — and, in the general, his Trump alignment. Jackson is “Trump with a southern accent” who wants to be “Trump's favorite governor” — and is tied to the 2020 election dispute. Source: Bottoms campaign ad, July 2026 True, needs context What's true The quotes are **Jackson's own.** Through the GOP primary he repeatedly cast himself in Trump's mold — saying he'd be “like Trump, but with a southern tongue” and that he wanted to be “President Trump's favorite governor.” The words are real and on the record. The irony Yet **Trump actually endorsed Jackson's opponent**, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — Jackson won the nomination _despite_ Trump (and Gov. Kemp) backing the other man. “Trump's favorite governor” was his aspiration, not a real bond. And since clinching the nod he has pivoted, **not mentioning Trump once at his first general-election rally.** The 2020 tie The link to Georgia's 2020 election dispute is **association with Trump, not Jackson's own record** — no evidence Jackson himself pushed 2020 election-denial claims. He made “a billion dollars off Georgia taxpayers.” Source: Democratic / press framing of ~$1B in state payments Misleading What's true Jackson's companies received nearly $1 billion from Georgia agencies since FY2020 — the figure itself checks out. (Note: this is the **total across contracts**, not a single deal, and it's payment to his companies, not personal income.) Full context The largest chunk (~$709M) was **federal COVID relief money passing through** the state, not Georgia tax dollars, spent placing real clinicians when hospitals were short-staffed. A separate ~$239M behavioral-health stream **appears to have been competitively bid** against other firms. “Off taxpayers” flattens a mixed picture. His answer Facing this attack, Jackson has pledged Jackson Healthcare **will not bid on new state contracts** and will “responsibly unwind” existing ones if he's elected — a promise, not yet a completed action. The big COVID contract was a no-bid, sole-source deal for a politically connected firm. Source: Georgia Recorder / GPB reporting Mostly True What's true The ~$709M pandemic staffing contract was reported as sole-source, and the state agency did not fully explain how it was awarded. Jackson's defense It was a public-health emergency: Gov. Kemp asked him for doctors and nurses and, his campaign says, _“Jackson delivered.”_ The agency says it triaged requests and documented costs before paying. The company says it _“has always and will always follow the law.”_ The emergency mitigates — but the no-bid critique still stands. A billionaire with zero political experience trying to buy the office. Source: Democratic framing True, needs context What's true Worth ~$1B (Forbes), poured ~$108M of his own money into the primary, and has never held elected office. His record He built a $3B-revenue company with 22 subsidiaries placing thousands of clinicians nationwide, and during COVID bought a shuttered antibiotics plant he called _“a national security obligation”_ ($50M+ in; now ~8% of U.S. amoxicillin). He also won **despite Trump AND Gov. Kemp both endorsing his opponent** — cutting against a pure “money bought it” story — and has pledged to **donate 100% of his net worth to charity**. He hired illegal-immigrant landscapers while campaigning on immigration enforcement. Source: Campaign-trail reporting True What's true Jackson took documented hits over undocumented workers landscaping his Cumming estate, in tension with his hard-line immigration message. Full context This one holds up under scrutiny and is a fair hypocrisy critique. No clean defense of record has emerged; included here precisely because the standard cuts both ways. His nurse-staffing arm used “predatory stay-or-pay contracts.” Source: Lawsuit by nurses via Avant Healthcare Professionals Unproven / Disputed What's true Nurses recruited through his subsidiary Avant sued, alleging predatory contract terms. His defense The company denies the allegations, which remain unproven in court. Reported as a live dispute, not an established fact. **The bottom line:** Her “let Atlanta burn” line mangles what she actually said; his “billion off taxpayers” line mangles what the contracts actually were. In both cases a harder, real critique survives underneath the slogan. That's the case for keeping truth in our politics — shown, not preached. Method note: the money and contract figures here are the most rigorously verified (primary state records via open.ga.gov, cross-checked across AJC, GPB, WABE and Healthbeat). Verdicts on the _substance_ of the campaign-trail attacks (e.g., the exact scale of the crime rise) reflect broader reporting and remain partly contested. So far, Bottoms's counter-attacks on Jackson center mainly on the contract-enrichment theme; if she sharpens more specific lines, they'll be added and fact-checked to the same standard. Three claims circulating publicly were checked and rejected, and are deliberately excluded: that Jackson held a “no-bid contract worth over $1 billion” (the no-bid piece was ~$709M), that agencies gamed the $100K bid threshold, and that Gov. Kemp personally phoned Jackson for help. Sources: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Public Broadcasting, WABE, 11Alive, CBS News, WSB-TV, Healthbeat, Forbes, NBC News, and Georgia Recorder. Verdicts reflect public reporting as of July 13, 2026 and may be updated as the race develops. Prepared for the GA Files project. 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