Georgia Republican Attorney General Chris Carr sued Lt. Gov. Burt Jones on Thursday for taking advantage of a 2021 Georgia law allowing him to raise unlimited cash for his 2026 gubernatorial campaign while Carr is disadvantaged in the same race.
The lawsuit, filed in Atlanta federal court, alleges Jones is using his leadership committee to fundraise for his campaign in the primary election. When Jones launched his campaign last month, the leadership committee started with more than $14 million in available funds. The lawsuit lists $170,000 that Jones received from lobbyists, companies, and a hospital executive in February and March, months before his campaign announcement.
Meanwhile, Carr’s campaign is statutorily limited to a total of $13,200 per donor for both the primary and runoff elections.
“Mr. Jones is raising and spending unlimited amounts of money in the primary, and Mr. Carr is limited in what he can raise by Georgia’s existing campaign contribution limits,” the 24-page lawsuit states. “This Court should level this uneven playing field by preventing Mr. Jones from using his leadership committee during the primary election.”
Included in the leadership committee’s $14 million total is a $10 million loan that Jones made to his political group. Carr questions the source of the loan.
“The concept that Mr. Jones could acquire $10 million of cash to loan his leadership committee over a four-year period strains credulity,” the suit says, “and Mr. Jones did not report the loan as from a bank or family member, as required by statute if either was the source.”
Carr specifically asks the court to block Jones from using his leadership committee during the Republican primary for governor, prevent his opponent from repaying the $10 million loan with funds raised from donors, and appoint a magistrate judge to oversee the committee’s financial activities.
Jones’s campaign criticized the lawsuit, noting that Carr previously defended the state against multiple legal challenges to the same fundraising law.
“Georgia’s lackluster attorney general defended this law two years ago. Now, he’s running for governor and wants to challenge the same law he once defended,” a Jones campaign spokesperson said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If hypocrisy were an Olympic sport, he’d take gold.”
As Georgia’s attorney general, Carr is legally obligated to represent the state when it is battling lawsuits.
The 2021 state law permits governors, lieutenant governors, party nominees for those positions, and legislative leaders to form leadership committees that can raise and spend unlimited funds. The law excludes other candidates, including Carr, from creating leadership committees for fundraising.
Carr’s campaign, per ABC News, said Jones “is using his position to sidestep contribution limits, raise six-figure checks during legislative sessions and funnel unlimited money into a competitive primary through a structure only he can access.”
FORMER DEKALB COUNTY CEO MICHAEL THURMOND JUMPS INTO CROWDED DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR
Both Republican candidates seek to replace Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), whose second term ends on Jan. 11, 2027.
On the Democratic side, former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond was the latest politician to join a crowded primary vying for the state’s top office.
