A fierce Republican primary battle in Georgia is increasingly centered on one key question: who is truly aligned with President Donald Trump.
One of the race’s top contenders, billionaire healthcare entrepreneur Rick Jackson, has promised voters that he would “be Trump’s favorite governor.” Jackson has also sought to demonstrate his support by donating $1 million to the president’s political action committee, MAGA Inc., less than two months before entering the gubernatorial race last month.
But federal campaign finance records tell a more complicated story about Jackson’s political past.
A review of Federal Election Commission filings shows that Jackson and entities connected to him previously donated substantial sums to several Republican rivals of Trump during the 2024 presidential primary. Among them were former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom challenged Trump for the Republican nomination.
According to those filings, Jackson contributed at least $150,000 to Haley’s efforts and another $100,000 to a super PAC supporting Ramaswamy.
The contributions came through both direct donations and funding from the Jackson Investment Group, an entity Jackson has controlled for decades, according to a 2024 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Records show the Jackson Investment Group sent at least $150,000 to groups backing Haley, including the SFA Fund, Inc., and Team Stand for America. The SFA Fund alone received three separate donations totaling at least $140,000 between 2023 and 2024. One of those contributions, valued at $40,000, arrived just weeks before Haley suspended her campaign in early 2024.
Jackson also personally gave $10,000 to Team Stand for America, a joint fundraising committee that supported Haley.
Meanwhile, a $100,000 contribution from Jackson Investment Group to a super PAC supporting Ramaswamy was made in July 2023, several months before Ramaswamy ended his presidential campaign in January 2024.
The donations have become a flashpoint in the increasingly competitive Republican primary, where Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — who has been endorsed by Trump — has framed himself as the only authentic conservative in the race.
“This Primary Election is very simple,” Jones says on his campaign website. “There is one authentic conservative who has fought for President Trump.”
Jackson’s political giving stretches beyond the 2024 primary. FEC records show that over the past decade he has also donated to other prominent Republicans who have clashed with Trump, including former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and former Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah.
Jackson also contributed more than $1 million in support of Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign, when Bush ran against Trump during that year’s GOP primary.
The filings also show Jackson donated to Cheney’s leadership PAC, The Great Task, including a $2,700 contribution weeks after Cheney joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Jackson has also backed other political figures who have been critical of Trump or competed against him in the past. Those include financial support for Romney’s presidential campaign and political action committee, Romney Victory Inc., as well as contributions tied to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s 2016 presidential bid after he exited the race and endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz.
The wealthy founder of Jackson Healthcare has poured significant resources into his own campaign, seeding it with at least $50 million. His late entry into the race has shaken up a field that many observers had expected would revolve around Jones, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and state Attorney General Chris Carr.
Jackson has brushed aside criticism about his past political donations. He has argued that other figures close to Trump were once skeptics before later joining the president’s orbit, pointing to examples such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
When asked about the donations to Trump’s former rivals, Jackson campaign spokesperson Dave Abrams instead redirected criticism toward Jones.
“Self-dealing Burt Jones is recycling old attacks to distract from his failing campaign,” Abrams said in a statement to Fox News Digital. He also accused Jones of protecting Chinese vape manufacturers and shielding doctors who perform sex-change surgeries on minors.
Supporters of Jones pushed back strongly.
“Never Trumper Rick Jackson bankrolled candidates running against President Trump and the America First agenda,” said Kayla Lott, a spokesperson for the Jones campaign. “Now he’s lying to voters to try and cover it up.”
Lott also defended Jones against Jackson’s claims, saying the lieutenant governor’s legislative efforts related to nicotine vapor products were aimed at preventing monopolies and promoting free-market policies. She also pointed to Jones’s support for House Bill 54, which prevents minors from receiving sex-change surgeries or related drug treatments.
Former Trump administration officials have also weighed in on the dispute.
“To be clear, President Trump endorsed Burt Jones for governor,” a former senior Trump White House official told Fox News Digital. “Rick Jackson claiming he is Trump’s ‘favorite’ is downright dishonest.”
Georgia Republicans will decide the matter in the primary election scheduled for May 19. The winner will advance to the general election in early November, setting the stage for what is expected to be a closely watched contest in a state that has become a major political battleground.
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