“We’ve Never Seen Anything Like It”: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Report Digs Deep on Georgia’s “Vicious” “Unmatched” “Bare-Knuckled” GOP Gov Primary

"We've Never Seen Anything Like It": Atlanta Journal-Constitution Report Digs Deep on Georgia's "Vicious" "Unmatched" "Bare-Knuckled" GOP Gov Primary

New reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution looks at how the "bruising intraparty brawl" between Burt Jones and Rick Jackson is one of the most vicious, acrimonious Republican primaries in modern Georgia political history.

"The two have clashed everywhere," the AJC reports, calling the Republican primary a "bare-knuckled fight awash in record spending and relentless attacks" and a "big-money slugfest." With both candidates spending tens of millions on deeply personal attacks while embracing a cost-raising MAGA agenda, whoever makes it out of this "vicious" primary will enter the general election with serious baggage.

Check out more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's reporting here or read more below:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Jones-Jackson clash has engulfed governor's race - and Georgia politics

KEY EXCERPTS:

• Georgia has had plenty of bruising intraparty brawls - but nothing quite like the big-money slugfest between Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson. Their feud has transformed Georgia's GOP race for governor into a bare-knuckled fight awash in record spending and relentless attacks.

• In the six weeks since Jackson jolted the field with his surprise campaign launch, the two have clashed everywhere: in courtrooms, under the Gold Dome, on the campaign trail, in the White House orbit and, most of all, spending nearly $52 million across Georgia's airwaves.

• The fight has squeezed the rest of the GOP field, pushing Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to the margins and leaving down-ballot candidates struggling for attention in a landscape dominated by two heavyweights with seemingly bottomless resources.

• And it has turned vicious, with both trading deeply personal shots at each other. Longtime politicos say the ferocity of the attacks is unmatched. Jones has cast Jackson, the founder of Jackson Healthcare, as an out-of-touch billionaire and closet Never Trumper. Jackson has portrayed Jones as a corrupt politician being bankrolled by his father's business. A recent Jackson attack distilled the race to a taunt: "Daddy's baby needs his bottle and nap."

• "It's just everywhere. It's all encompassing," said former Democratic state Rep. Calvin Smyre, who witnessed countless political spats over his nearly half-century in the Legislature. "Any way you can describe it probably understates it."

• "This is a whole new level," Bullock said. "We've never seen anything like it."

• All the while, the ad war is only escalating. Jackson has spent nearly $39 million on airtime ahead of the primary - far more than any other candidate for governor in Georgia history at this stage of the race - while Jones has poured in $13 million.

• With nearly two months until the May 19 primary, there's little reason to think the barrage will slow.

• "Who knows how they can escalate it beyond this," Bullock said. "But I'm sure we'll find out."

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