A Republican has held the governor’s seat in Georgia for the last 24 years. Burt Jones made his pitch to Liberty County voters to make him the next governor to continue that streak.

Jones, the current lieutenant governor, is neck-and-neck atop the polls with businessman Rick Jackson, who was a late entrant into the race to succeed outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp. Kemp, serving the second of his two terms, cannot run for another four years as governor.

But the race to succeed Kemp has been churlish — Jones and Jackson have distanced themselves from the rest of the field and Jones boasted that the latest polls have him in front as early voting in the May 19 primary is underway.

“We’re looking to win this thing May 19,” he said.

Making a campaign stop at Clay Sikes’ Maxwelton home Tuesday afternoon, Jones also got the backing of state Rep. Buddy Deloach. The former Hinesville mayor assailed Jackson in his support of Jones.

“He says he’s an outsider,” Deloach said. “He says he’s going to shake up things under the Gold Dome. He’s already been under the Gold Dome negotiating billion-dollar nobid contracts. Instead of a shake up, that sounds more like a shakedown. We’re not buying any snake oil.”

Jones said Jackson, who entered the race in February, is trying to buy the governor’s seat, having spent $100 million of his own money to do so. Jones told the crowd the race has gotten “a little bit nasty.”

“I’ve never seen him at Republican Party things before,” Jones said. “He’s never been a part of trying to get President Trump elected. He’s never been around. He just woke up and decided he wanted to spend a bunch of money to be governor. He’ll soon be forgotten.”

A native of Jackson, Jones and his family operate Jones Petroleum Company, which has more than 50 locations and 2,000 employees. His family also still operates a cattle farm, and Jones said he is the only candidate in the race who has any sort of connection to the state’s No. 1 industry.

“The port is very important and Hyundai is going to produce a lot of jobs. But we have to remember what our number one industry is, and that’s agriculture,” he said. “The agriculture industry has been hit pretty hard the last three years. We’ve got to support our farmers. We have to support our ag businesses. I’m the only one who has an ag background in the race.”

Jones said he has pushed to support the state’s technical schools and boasted of the state’s unemployment rate. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Georgia’s unemployment rate of 3.5% for February was 11th best in the nation and better than any neighboring state, other than Alabama.

Jones also said he is the only candidate with the legislative experience and business background and the only one who is ready to start the job on the first day.

“There’s only one candidate who has been battle tested by the left and the right,” he said. “They spent $50 million against me before I said a word. At some point, I had to strike back. They started telling lies with dark money groups. They didn’t want to run against my conservative background. I’ve got the pedigree and these other guys just don’t. They’re trying to run as tough guys and none of them are like that.

Jones spent 10 years in the state Senate before running for the lieutenant governor post in 2022. He won the Republican primary outright in May 2022 over four other candidates, and edged Democrat Charlie Bailey by 5 percentage points, a little less than 200,000 votes, in the November general election.

“All four years, we cut taxes, we cut regulations,” he said. “We did school choice and we championed workforce development by partnering with our technical schools.”

Jones said he is seeking to lower property taxes and income taxes and also proclaimed he’s the only candidate who lives outside of I-285. As metro Atlanta’s population grows, it will gain more representation in the General Assembly. Jones told his supporters that the issues that matter in Jackson are the same ones that matter to them — access to health care, educational opportunities and good jobs.

Any squabbles Senate Republicans had with House Republicans in the recent General Assembly session aren’t a big issue, Jones said. Jones said he believes he can work with the House if he’s elected.

“We’ve always had a good working relationship,” he said. “Speaker (Jon) Burns and I have a great working relationship. We have disagreements; we have differences. That’s human nature. I’m not the least bit concerned I’ll be able to work with the Legislature.”

But the other Republican candidates for governor may not be able to keep the seat in GOP hands, Jones warned. Since Sonny Perdue’s upset of Roy Barnes in 2002, Georgia has had three consecutive Republicans in the governor’s chair.

“Folks need to be energized and get out the vote in November,” Jones said. “I think I give ourselves the best chance of winning. If people were to elect one of these other guys I think we’d be in trouble. You put me in any room — I’ve worked across the aisle with plenty of people. I’ve got endorsements from all kinds of groups that historically haven’t been Republican groups.”

Democrats have been targeting the seat as a potential flip, and former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is regarded as the front-runner in that race.

The Republican primary already has seen spending in astronomical figures and spending in the general election could top the $94 million spent by both parties in 2022.

“I like my chances against them,” Jones said.