# Lieutenant Governor — 2026 Candidates — The GA Files

> Where the 2026 candidates for Georgia Lieutenant Governor stand — bio, prior offices, top donors, positions on DEI, LGBTQ+, abortion, and data centers, plus any scandals. Sourced.

*Source: https://thegafiles.com/candidates/lieutenant-governor.html · The GA Files (thegafiles.com)*

---

[← 2026 Candidates](https://thegafiles.com/candidates.html)

# Lieutenant Governor

D

### Josh McLaurin
Democratic nominee

Yale-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.

- $11,107.81 — McLaurin, Joshua (Atlanta, GA)
- $10,000.00 — Woodward, Natalie (Smyrna, GA)
- $10,000.00 — Barnes, Roy (Marietta, GA)
- $10,000.00 — Wade, Mark (Atlanta, GA)
- $9,400.00 — Chance, Stephen (Atlanta, GA)
- $9,400.00 — Malone, Adam (Atlanta, GA)
- $8,400.00 — IBEW 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](https://www.joshmclaurin.com/priorities) · [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin) · [Transparency USA (GA filings)](https://www.transparencyusa.org/ga)

#### Where they stand

Education

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](https://www.joshmclaurin.com/priorities) · [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin)
Healthcare

Supports 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 McLaurin](https://www.joshmclaurin.com/priorities)
Minimum Wage

Runs 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](https://www.joshmclaurin.com/priorities) · [Georgia Dept. of Labor — minimum wage](https://dol.georgia.gov/minimum-wage)
Homelessness

Approaches 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 McLaurin](https://www.joshmclaurin.com/priorities)
Veterans Affairs

Has not laid out a veterans-specific platform in his lieutenant-governor campaign.
Source: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin)
Immigration

Has 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: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin)
Gun Control

Backs 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 allies](https://georgiagunsafety.org/legislative-allies.html)
Abortion

Supports abortion rights. He voted against Georgia's six-week ban in 2019 and has pledged to work to overturn it.
Source: [Josh McLaurin — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_McLaurin) · [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin)
LGBTQ+

Supportive. 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 — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_McLaurin)
DEI

Has 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: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin)
Marijuana

No specific marijuana-policy position documented in his campaign.
Source: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin)
Data centers

Has 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 McLaurin](https://www.joshmclaurin.com/priorities)

#### Scandals

None documented.

[Campaign site](https://www.joshmclaurin.com/) · [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Josh_McLaurin) · [GA Files fact sheet](https://thegafiles.com/JoshMcLaurin.html)

R

### Greg Dolezal
Republican nominee

State senator for the 27th District (Cumming) and chairman of the Georgia Freedom Caucus. Born in Joliet, Illinois, he moved to Atlanta after college for ministry and Christian-music tour management before co-founding a software company and a nutraceutical firm. He won the June 2026 Republican runoff for lieutenant governor on a MAGA-aligned, limited-government platform.

#### Previously held

- Georgia State Senate, District 27 (2019–present)
- Chairman, Georgia Freedom Caucus
- Co-founder, Renewed Vision (software); owner, Catalyst Nutraceuticals

#### Top contributors

A movement-conservative, Freedom Caucus candidate. His top donors are large individual max-out contributors alongside a Cumming car dealer (Beaver Toyota) and the Georgia Highway Contractors PAC; itemized filings are with the Georgia Ethics Commission.

- $21,600.00 — Charles, Donald (Roswell, GA)
- $21,600.00 — Wilson, Christopher (Brrohaven, GA)
- $21,600.00 — Wilson, Rafaella (Atlanta, GA)
- $21,600.00 — Charles, Jean (Roswell, GA)
- $20,000.00 — Lewis, Jacob (Alpharetta, GA)
- $20,000.00 — Lewis, Kaylan (Alpharetta, GA)
- $20,000.00 — Beaver Toyota Of Cumming (Cumming, GA)

**$1,459,354** raised · **$371,619** cash on hand — as of **Jun 16, 2026** (GA Ethics latest filing).
Source: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Greg_Dolezal) · [Transparency USA (GA filings)](https://www.transparencyusa.org/ga)

#### Where they stand

Education

Authored what he calls the broadest school-choice bill in Georgia history — the Georgia Promise Scholarship voucher program — steering public dollars toward private-school and home-school options.
Source: [Greg Dolezal — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Dolezal) · [Campaign site](https://gregdolezal.com/)
Healthcare

Wants a smaller government role; he calls government involvement “one of the primary cost drivers” in health care and favors “free-market principles.” As Freedom Caucus chair he opposes expanding Medicaid.
Source: [NRI Pulse — Dolezal interview](https://nripulse.com/the-free-state-of-georgia-greg-dolezal-shares-his-vision-ahead-of-the-runoff/) · [Greg Dolezal — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Dolezal)
Minimum Wage

Did not state a position on the minimum wage in candidate questionnaires; he runs on cutting regulation and the size of government. Georgia's floor is the federal $7.25.
Source: [iVoterGuide — Dolezal](https://ivoterguide.com/candidate/46679/race/26946/election/1409) · [Georgia Dept. of Labor — minimum wage](https://dol.georgia.gov/minimum-wage)
Homelessness

No specific homelessness plan documented; his platform centers on limited government, lower taxes, and public safety.
Source: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Greg_Dolezal)
Veterans Affairs

No veterans-specific platform documented.
Source: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Greg_Dolezal)
Immigration

Runs on stronger immigration enforcement as a core plank of his MAGA-aligned platform, alongside “election integrity” and opposition to “sharia law.”
Source: [41NBC — Dolezal MAGA platform](https://www.41nbc.com/greg-dolezal-georgia-lieutenant-governor-campaign/) · [Washington Times](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/sep/30/gop-state-sen-greg-dolezal-enters-georgias-lieutenant-governor-race/)
Gun Control

A strong Second Amendment supporter; the Freedom Caucus he chairs opposes new gun restrictions.
Source: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Greg_Dolezal)
Abortion

Strongly anti-abortion — “life begins at conception and must be protected.” He backed Georgia's six-week “heartbeat” ban and pledges to keep advancing pro-life policy.
Source: [Campaign site](https://gregdolezal.com/)
LGBTQ+

Opposed. He sponsored Georgia's 2025 law designating school sports teams by biological sex and supports restricting transgender participation in girls' sports.
Source: [Greg Dolezal — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Dolezal)
DEI

A leading DEI opponent — he authored the law barring DEI mandates in K-12 schools and Senate Bill 261 to ban DEI “litmus tests” at public colleges, and praised the University System of Georgia for dropping mandatory diversity statements.
Source: [Georgia Senate Press — USG DEI](https://senatepress.net/sen-greg-dolezal-commends-university-system-of-georgia-for-eliminating-dei-standards-in-admissions-and-employment.html) · [Greg Dolezal — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Dolezal)
Marijuana

No position on marijuana documented.
Source: [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Greg_Dolezal)
Data centers

Says he is the only lieutenant-governor candidate who voted against data-center tax breaks in the Senate, arguing data centers should “pay their fair share” for power infrastructure rather than pass costs to families.
Source: [Campaign site](https://gregdolezal.com/)

#### PPP loan

Forgiven **$391,300** — Renewed Vision, LLC (Alpharetta, GA), April 2020.

The presentation-software company (maker of ProPresenter) Sen. Dolezal co-founded took a $391,300 PPP loan, forgiven in February 2021.
Sources

- [SBA PPP disclosure (ppp.directory)](https://ppp.directory/search?business_name=Renewed+Vision)

- [ProPublica — Tracking PPP](https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/)

#### Scandals

##### Said he submitted falsified mail-ballot applications to “test” election security
His own public account, framed as a security “test” — no charges or investigation. Georgia's Secretary of State and the GBI audited more than 15,000 absentee envelopes and found no fraudulent ballots; in 2021 officials said they matched and approved his own application.

On the Charlie Kirk Show in February 2026 (a clip he posted to his own YouTube channel) and again on a March 2026 podcast, Dolezal — the GOP Lt. Governor nominee and a longtime election-fraud claimant — said he and “a number of friends” in Cherokee and Gwinnett counties deliberately submitted mail-ballot applications with altered signatures, including forms “signed” by children, and received a ballot every time. He had made a similar admission about disguising his own signature in 2021. He casts it as exposing weak signature verification; critics and election-law experts note that knowingly submitting falsified ballot applications can itself be a crime. No charges have been filed, and a state signature audit found no fraudulent ballots.
Source: [AJC — absentee signature test](https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-lawmakers-seek-absentee-id-requirement-after-signature-test/DBMZRLPGRZGLNKR2LBQ7UAPLKY/) · [Democracy Docket](https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/greg-dolezal-gop-nominee-georgia-submitted-fake-mail-ballot-applications/) · [AlterNet](https://www.alternet.org/trump-fraud-2677077271/)

[Campaign site](https://gregdolezal.com/) · [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Greg_Dolezal) · [GA Files fact sheet](https://thegafiles.com/GregDolezal.html)

[⬇ Share image](https://thegafiles.com/share/candidates/lieutenant-governor.png) [⬇ Download for offline](https://thegafiles.com/candidates/lieutenant-governor.offline.html)

Every entry is drawn from published reporting, official records, or the candidate's own statements, with sources on each item. Policy summaries are condensed from that reporting and reflect the candidate's stated positions; where a matter is an allegation or unresolved, that is noted, and inclusion is not a finding of guilt. Contributor figures are early/partial where the official itemized filings (Georgia Ethics Commission) are still being compiled. Corrections welcome via the contact link in the footer. Last updated 2026-06-17.