Josh McLaurin
Democratic nomineeYale-trained attorney and four-term legislator — two terms in the state House, now state senator for the 14th District, a seat once held by Jimmy Carter. A Cobb County native and University of Georgia graduate, he briefly roomed with future Vice President JD Vance at Yale Law. He won the Democratic runoff for lieutenant governor in June 2026.
Previously held
- Georgia State Senate, District 14 (2021–present)
- Georgia House of Representatives (2019–2021)
- Attorney — consumer-protection law
Top contributors
Runs on a populist, anti-“oligarch” message and has built a traditional Democratic donor base while campaigning explicitly against corporate tax breaks. Itemized donors are filed with the Georgia Ethics Commission.
- $11,107.81McLaurin, Joshua (Atlanta, GA)
- $10,000.00Woodward, Natalie (Smyrna, GA)
- $10,000.00Barnes, Roy (Marietta, GA)
- $10,000.00Wade, Mark (Atlanta, GA)
- $9,400.00Chance, Stephen (Atlanta, GA)
- $9,400.00Malone, Adam (Atlanta, GA)
- $8,400.00IBEW PAC Educational Fund (Washington, DC)
$596,177 raised · $135,368 cash on hand — as of Jun 17, 2026 (GA Ethics latest filing).
Source: Priorities — Josh McLaurin · Ballotpedia · Transparency USA (GA filings)Where they stand
Pro–public education. He campaigns on government accountability and on using Georgia's budget surplus to shore up underfunded public services and schools rather than hand out corporate tax breaks.
Source: Priorities — Josh McLaurin · BallotpediaSupports expanding Medicaid — he says Georgia's refusal has shuttered hospitals and left about half a million Georgians uninsured — and would push to expand coverage statewide.
Source: Priorities — Josh McLaurinRuns as a pro-labor Democrat — vowing to protect the right to organize and reinvest state revenue in working families rather than corporations — but has not named a specific minimum-wage figure. Georgia's floor is the federal $7.25.
Source: Priorities — Josh McLaurin · Georgia Dept. of Labor — minimum wageApproaches it through housing affordability, pledging to restrict corporate and private-equity ownership of housing stock to keep homes “affordable and accessible to individual Georgians.”
Source: Priorities — Josh McLaurinHas not laid out a veterans-specific platform in his lieutenant-governor campaign.
Source: BallotpediaHas not laid out a detailed immigration platform; his campaign centers on wealth inequality, housing, and health care, and he is endorsed by Stacey Abrams and Sens. Ossoff and Warnock.
Source: BallotpediaBacks gun-safety legislation — he supported a Senate bill to keep firearms from domestic-violence offenders and is listed among the legislature's gun-safety allies.
Source: Georgia gun-safety legislative alliesSupports abortion rights. He voted against Georgia's six-week ban in 2019 and has pledged to work to overturn it.
Source: Josh McLaurin — Wikipedia · BallotpediaSupportive. He was an outspoken opponent of Georgia's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, warning the law would endanger LGBTQ+ youth.
Source: Josh McLaurin — WikipediaHas not centered DEI in his campaign, but sits well to the left of the DEI bans his opponent authored, casting the race as a check on the Republican culture-war agenda.
Source: BallotpediaNo specific marijuana-policy position documented in his campaign.
Source: BallotpediaHas not issued a detailed data-center plan, but campaigns hard against the “billions in tax breaks to corporations” while housing, child care, and local services go underfunded.
Source: Priorities — Josh McLaurinScandals
None documented.