I sat down recently with Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to talk about his decision to run for governor. Carr will face off against current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, plus a couple of no-names in next May’s Republican primary, seeking to succeed current Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term-limited and cannot seek a third term.
The winner will face the Democrat’s candidate in November’s general election.
I have known Carr since his days as chief of staff to Johnny Isakson, the late U.S. senator from Georgia, and a statesman whose likes we aren’t apt to see anytime soon in today’s poisonous world of Washington politics.
So, first question: Why give up the job as attorney general and throw his hat in the ring to become the state’s 84th governor?
“I want to see Georgia continue to grow,” Carr says. “And I feel called to run. I have a great job but having worked with Govs.
Kemp and Nathan Deal, I see the impact a governor can have in jobs, education, public safety, and quality of life. I know I can do the job; I just need to convince people I can win the race.”
Carr became Georgia’s attorney general in 2016 when Deal appointed him to succeed Sam Olens, who had resigned to become president of Kennesaw State University. Carr later won elections in 2018 and again in 2022 to retain the position.
“When I became attorney general, our office was largely a civil practice representing the various agencies, boards, and authorities in state government. Working with Govs.
Deal and Kemp and with the Legislature, we got the necessary approvals and now have a very effective criminal practice, focusing on human trafficking, gangs, and retail crime cases,” Carr told me.
“Our Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit has rescued over 200 children since 2019, young girls between the ages of 14 and 17, and secured lengthy prison sentences for their traffickers,” he continues.
In 2022, Carr also created Georgia’s first statewide Gang Prosecution Unit and said it has secured more than 120 convictions across the state so far, resulting in getting gang members off the street.
Prior to his appointment as the state’s chief legal officer, Carr was commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
“I am very proud of the fact that Georgia has been the top state in the nation in which to do business for 12 years running. During my tenure there, we added some $14 billion in investment and the creation of more than 84,000 jobs,” he says of the experience.
Back to the governor’s race, Carr says, “Burt Jones has the support of the ‘Ever Trumpers’ and Raffensperger is supported by the ‘Never Trumpers’ and I’ve got everybody else.”
He notes the last time the three of them were on a ballot together was in the 2022 Republican primary where he got 75% of the vote (roughly 840,000), as did Kemp. Raffensperger got 62% (610,000) and Jones received 50.2%, (550,000), narrowly avoiding a runoff.
Carr recognizes Raffensperger has high name recognition among Republicans but claims he’s viewed negatively by most of them. Jones, he says, is using David Perdue’s failed 2022 playbook of “rich guy dipping into his personal fortune” — Jones recently “loaned” $10 million to his campaign — “and touting Donald Trump’s endorsement.”
“You have to be able to appeal to persuadable voters in Georgia who voted for Brian Kemp for governor and Raphael Warnock for the Senate.
That’s 60% of the voters,” he says.
So, how does he propose to do that?
“We know there are about 750,000 Republicans who vote in the primary and some 2.5 million in November. That is a difference of some 1.8 million voters,” Carr says.
“Our task is to move as many of them as we can into voting in the primary and talking about issues that matter to them like jobs, safety, affordability, and education. I believe that if you ask them, they will do it and that is what we intend to do.”
In closing, I mentioned to the attorney general that four recent polls show him with between 7 to 19 percent of the vote, Raffensperger with 14 to 20 percent and Jones between 20 and 30 percent.
His answer?
“Brian Kemp, Nathan Deal and Sonny Perdue were all in third place in the early stages of their elections. Today, we call them ‘governor.’” You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@ dickyarbrough.comor at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
