If you type “who will take over” into Google, the first autocomplete result is “Who will take over after Trump?” This is undoubtedly the most pressing question in American politics for the Republican party today, since Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to run for president again in 2028. Countless articles wonder whether Trumpism will be a viable ideological movement for the Republican party after its namesake is gone (first, second, and third search results, all titled “Trumpism after Trump”). Rick Jackson, a Republican candidate for Georgia’s governor, seems poised to answer that question.

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 to the presidency was, as has been noted by many observers, “the most unanticipated election outcome in contemporary American politics.” Known at the time primarily as a real estate mogul and as the host of the Apprentice, his candidacy sparked in-fighting at the Republican National Convention between the “Never Trump” movement among conservatives who rejected Trump and Trump’s followers. The political campaign model that propelled Trump into office in both 2016 and 2024 was primarily characterized by brash rhetoric, an anti-establishment message, vicious attacks against opponents, and simple, direct campaign promises. This is the model that politicians today across the country have tried to emulate, including in the race for Georgia’s new governor. Though some have drawn comparisons between Jackson and Trump, pointing to their status as political outsiders and billionaires who can afford to pump millions into their own campaigns, doing so obscures some key differences in their campaigns.

Jackson is certainly–and intentionally–inviting comparisons to Trump. He announced his entrance into the governor’s race in February, upending what had previously been thought to be a simple Republican primary. In the kickoff event for his campaign, Jackson descended to the lobby of his building in a glass elevator, just as Trump rode a golden escalator down to announce
his own candidacy, a parallel that reporters did not miss. And just as Trump positioned himself as a political outsider, a businessman who could come in and fix problems left behind by corrupt career politicians, Jackson’s own billion-dollar business is central to his political persona. Jackson’s rhetoric is also familiar, especially when it comes to opponent Burt Jones (whom Trump endorsed in August of 2025), the “so-called front runner” who is “weak as can be and as lazy as the day is long.” His goals, too, echo Trump’s platform. His campaign was clearly designed to appeal to Trump’s voter base in Georgia.

The key difference between Jackson and Trump is their background. While Trump inherited a fortune, Jackson spent his childhood in foster care - something which he has repeatedly emphasized in his campaign. At a campaign event in Winder in March, he told the story about being raised by an alcoholic mother and eventually entering the foster care system before his foster brother and sister surprised him in the audience. As Jackson tells it, it was through his resilience and work ethic that he was able to work his way up from an entry level position in a company to owning it. Jackson’s foster care background is so central to his identity that it is the first thing he mentions in his Facebook bio: “Raised in foster care. Built multi-billion-dollar business in GA. Running for Governor as a Conservative Outsider. Politicians love to talk. I’m about action & impact.”

Rather than a simple mirror of Trump, Jackson is an amalgamation of many political figures today. Much of his campaign mirrors Trump’s sentiments and rhetoric. His troubled background brings to mind JD Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy, in which Vance describes his impoverished upbringing and his own family’s struggles with addiction before being able to pull himself out of poverty and attend an Ivy League law school. Jackson’s campaign message about affordability is another departure from the Trump image, instead mirroring Zohran Mamdani, who recently won the NYC mayoral election against frontrunner Andrew Cuomo by running on affordability. Jackson is, perhaps, not a clone of Trump, but an evolution, and a potential answer for Republicans about where the future may go, post Trump.

It’s unclear whether Jackson’s strategy of appealing to the MAGA base while still trying to court other voters will work, since Georgia is in a peculiar political position. In 2020, Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992, by 0.3% of the vote. That year, both incumbent Republican senators were voted out and replaced with sitting Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who also fended off Herschel Walker’s challenge to his seat in 2022. Also in 2022, Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger (governor and secretary of state, consecutively) both beat their Republican opponents, even though Trump called on his base to vote them out for refusing to overturn 2020’s presidential election result in Georgia. Then, in 2024, Trump won the presidential vote by 2.2%. Only time will tell if voters will like the appeal to Trump’s base, even as Trump’s popularity declines to record lows.

Regardless of what happens in the Republican primary for governor, Georgia is sure to be a closely watched state during this year’s midterms.