Georgia Governor 2026
A sourced guide to the Georgia governor race between Keisha Lance Bottoms and Rick Jackson: every public poll, the ratings and where official results will appear. This is not an endorsement.
Our Final CallBottoms by 1Read why →The Georgia governor race: history, data and the final week
Jackson skipped the Atlanta Press Club debate on Oct 12 and instead launched a five-city tour with Gov. Brian Kemp, presenting himself as Kemp's political heir. The AJC/UGA poll (Oct 7-15) found 68% of Democrats 'very enthusiastic' versus 48% of Republicans, Kemp's approval near 70% and Trump's at 41%. Bottoms has tied Jackson to Trump, while Jackson skipped Trump's Macon rally for a Cherokee County event; Atlanta News First reported a record 2.8 million-plus early ballots.
How this state voted before
Historic vote shares describe previous electorates, not a projection of the 2026 outcome.
Meet the candidates
Keisha Lance Bottoms
Bottoms was mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and later served as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. She won the May 19, 2026 Democratic primary outright with 56.2% of the vote.
Rick Jackson
Jackson, born in 1954 in Atlanta, founded the healthcare staffing company Jackson Healthcare in 2000 and lives in Cumming. He has not held elected office; he announced his campaign in February 2026 saying he would self-fund much of it, and beat Lt. Gov. Burt Jones 52.6%-47.4% in the June 16 runoff.
Also on the ballot: No other candidates named in Atlanta News First's Oct 28 candidate guide (Bottoms and Jackson only).
Ratings and money
Cook and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rate it a Toss-Up; Inside Elections moved it from Toss-Up to Tilt D on Oct. 29.
Per the Georgia Campaign Finance Commission figures on Wikipedia, as of July 31, 2026 Jackson had raised $118.9 million and Bottoms $5.8 million. The AJC reported (Oct 20) that Jackson spent at least $108 million of his own fortune to win the nomination.
Race timeline
Primaries: Bottoms wins Democratic nomination outright; Jones and Jackson advance to GOP runoff
Jackson beats Burt Jones 52.6%-47.4% in GOP runoff
Jackson skips Atlanta Press Club debate, tours state with Gov. Kemp; Bottoms faces empty podium
AJC/UGA poll: Jackson 46, Bottoms 45 among likely voters
State Navigate poll: Bottoms 50, Jackson 47
Election Day; polls close 7 p.m. ET
Polls and polling average
Every public poll of Keisha Lance Bottoms vs. Rick Jackson we have tracked since Apr 9: 18 in all, 16 of them from independent pollsters that count toward the average. Updated October 31, 2026. Tap a dot for the poll’s details and source; switch to Margin for the clearest read on a phone. This is published polling, not a forecast.
Loading the interactive poll tracker… Every public poll we track for this race, newest first:
| Fielded | Pollster / source | Sample | Bottoms (D) | Jackson (R) | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 23–Oct 27 | State Navigate | 679 LV | 50 | 47 | D+3 |
| Oct 16–Oct 23 | Echelon Insights | 508 LV | 49 | 48 | D+1 |
| Oct 6–Oct 20 | ActiVote Excluded | 400 LV | 48.5 | 51.5 | R+3 |
| Oct 15–Oct 17 | Quantus Insights | 755 LV | 47.5 | 49 | R+1.5 |
| Oct 7–Oct 15 | University of Georgia SPIA | 1,000 LV | 45 | 46 | R+1 |
| Oct 12–Oct 13 | InsiderAdvantage | 800 LV | 47 | 49 | R+2 |
| Sep 22–Sep 23 | InsiderAdvantage | 1,200 LV | 46 | 48 | R+2 |
| Sep 21–Sep 23 | Big Data Poll | 678 LV | 46.7 | 48.7 | R+2 |
| Sep 15–Sep 18 | YouGov | 3,299 LV | 44 | 46 | R+2 |
| Sep 14 | Rasmussen Reports | 1,019 LV | 45 | 48 | R+3 |
| Aug 16–Aug 17 | InsiderAdvantage | 800 LV | 46 | 46 | Tie |
| Jul 29–Aug 1 | Quantus Insights | 815 LV | 46 | 45 | D+1 |
| Jul 13–Jul 16 | Fabrizio Ward (R) / Impact Research (D) | 1,060 LV | 48 | 46 | D+2 |
| Jul 10–Jul 13 | State Navigate | 448 LV | 51 | 44 | D+7 |
| Jun 27–Jun 30 | Wick | 1,175 LV | 43 | 43 | Tie |
| Jun 23–Jun 27 | Fox News / Beacon–Shaw | 1,002 RV | 52 | 47 | D+5 |
| May 30–Jun 2 | Concord Public Opinion Partners (D) Partisan | 510 LV | 53 | 38 | D+15 |
| Apr 3–Apr 9 | Echelon Insights | 407 LV | 49 | 43 | D+6 |
Source notebook
Selected sources for this page; every poll has its own source link in the table above. Reviewed 2026-10-31.
Corrections welcome: corrections@electiontracker.live. Independent coverage; no endorsement.
What to watch on November 3
Georgia polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern. Late October polls ranged from Jackson +3 to Bottoms +3, so watch how the record early vote compares with Election Day ballots as counties report.
Reading a race call: preliminary totals are unofficial. Media projections must name the projecting outlet; certification comes from authorized election officials.