November 10, 2025
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state who rejected Donald Trump’s call to help overturn the state’s 2020 election results, said Wednesday that he’s running for governor in 2026.
The wealthy engineering entrepreneur might appeal most to business-oriented Republicans who once dominated GOP primaries in Georgia, but he is pledging a strongly conservative campaign. Raffensperger's entry into the field intensifies the primary in a state with an unbroken line of Republican governors since 2002.
“I’m a conservative Republican, and I’m prepared to make the tough decisions. I follow the law and the Constitution, and I’ll always do the right thing for Georgia no matter what," Raffensperger said in an announcement video.
Raffensperger's first challenge may be to even qualify for the primary. Georgia’s Republican Party voted in June to ban Raffensperger from running under its banner, although the party chairman said that attempt might not go anywhere.
Two other top Republicans are already in the race — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr. Jones swore himself to be a “duly elected and qualified” elector for Trump in 2020 after Democrat Joe Biden had been declared the state’s winner. Carr sided with Raffensperger in rejecting challenges to the results. Other Republicans include Clark Dean, Scott Ellison, and Gregg Kirkpatrick.
On the Democratic side, top candidates include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves, and former state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. Geoff Duncan, who, like Raffensperger, spurned Trump's push to overturn the 2020 election as Republican lieutenant governor, entered the governor's race Tuesday as a Democrat.
Raffensperger pledges what he calls a “bold conservative agenda,” including eliminating the state income tax, capping property taxes for seniors, banning puberty-blocking drugs used in so-called gender-transitioning treatments, and purging “woke curricula” from schools. He also promises to work with Trump to increase jobs, deport immigrants with criminal records, and “restore law and order.”
Although he starts later than other candidates, Raffensperger benefits from an electorate that already knows him, plus an ability to finance his own campaign. The 70-year-old sold his concrete reinforcement company, Tendon Systems, for an undisclosed amount in 2023.
Raffensperger opposed abortion and pushed tax cuts as a state legislator, running for secretary of state in 2018 on a platform that emphasized managerial competence. During that race, one of his three sons, Brenton Raffensperger, died at age 27 from a fentanyl overdose.
He spent most of his first two years in office battling lawsuits filed by Democrats that fruitlessly alleged Georgia, under then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp, engaged in illegal voter suppression in 2018 in Kemp’s victory over Democrat Stacey Abrams. Raffensperger was also tasked with rolling out new Dominion voting machines for the 2020 election, which was thrown off-kilter by the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden’s narrow win in Georgia changed things. Raffensperger said publicly that he wished Trump had won, but firmly held that he saw no evidence of widespread fraud or voting irregularities.
That refusal to buckle made Raffensperger a political target. Lawmakers outlawed a repeat of his decision to mail absentee ballot applications to voters and restricted the use of absentee ballot drop boxes. Trump endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who objected to Georgia’s electoral votes being counted for President Joe Biden, to challenge Raffensperger in the 2022 Republican primary.
Raffensperger didn’t change his public style. He stuck to a campaign of quiet speeches before civic club members dozing off after a heavy lunch. Voters renominated him, including thousands who previously voted in Democratic primaries but cast ballots in the GOP contest. He then cruised to reelection over a Democrat.
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