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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Geoff Duncan, a former Republican, will run for Georgia governor as a
Democrat
By David Wright, CNN
Updated:
11:23 AM EDT, Tue September 16, 2025
Source: CNN
Geoff Duncan, the former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia,
announced Tuesday he will run for governor in 2026 as a Democrat,
cementing a high-profile party switch and entering a key midterm
contest.
In a announcing his campaign, Duncan says that “Georgia Republicans
threw me out of their party,” but “I was leaving anyway.”
And Duncan says he’ll “focus on what matters most to Georgians,”
referencing rising costs for child care, medicine and housing, while
vowing to “make Georgia the front line of democracy and a backstop
against extremism.”
A longtime Georgia Republican who served in the state legislature and
as outgoing GOP Gov. Brian Kemp’s No. 2 between 2019 and 2023, Duncan
announced that he was switching parties in an last month. He has long
been critical of President Donald Trump and endorsed former Vice
President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, leading the state GOP’s
executive committee to from the party.
“My journey to becoming a Democrat started well before Donald Trump
tried to steal the 2020 election in Georgia,” Duncan wrote in the
op-ed, calling out between Kemp and his administration and the Trump
campaign over the certification of former President Joe Biden’s
victory there in 2020. “There’s no date on a calendar or line in
the sand that points to the exact moment in time my political heart
changed, but it has.”
Duncan, a former CNN contributor, enters a high-profile race in one of
the country’s top battlegrounds, aiming to succeed an administration
he once served in.
“Georgians deserve leaders with the courage to take on Donald Trump
and do what’s right,” he said in a statement. “As Georgia’s
first Democratic governor in 28 years, I will stand up to Trump and his
yes men in our state while bringing down the costs of childcare, health
care, and housing so every Georgia family is in the best position
possible.”
Kemp, the outgoing governor, improved his margin of victory in repeat
matchups against Democrat Stacey Abrams in Georgia’s last two
gubernatorial contests, winning reelection in 2022 by more than 7
points.
Georgia has not elected a Democratic governor since Roy Barnes in 1998.
Democrats remain bullish on their chances statewide, however, as they
hold both of Georgia’s US Senate seats and are prepared to
aggressively contest next year’s governor race. The 2022 contest drew
more than $80 million worth of ad spending for the general election,
ranking among the five most expensive gubernatorial contests that year,
according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
Among the candidates already running in the Democratic gubernatorial
primary are former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former state
Sen. Jason Esteves. On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is
running with Trump’s endorsement in a primary against state Attorney
General Chris Carr.
Bottoms reacted to Duncan’s campaign announcement with a statement
criticizing his ideological evolution, saying Georgians want a governor
“who puts Georgia, not political ambition, first.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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