BLACKSHEAR — During a campaign stop in Pierce County at Stewart Distributing, Rick Jackson, Republican candidate for governor of Georgia, recounted his difficult upbringing.
He outlined his path from foster care to building a multi-billion- dollar healthcare company, and detailed plans focused on taxes, education, rural healthcare, public safety and economic development.
Jackson, who has never held elective office, told those in attendance he is running to apply his business experience to help the state’s most vulnerable residents and to represent all 11 million Georgians.
“I don’t believe God sent Jesus here to save Republicans or Democrats ... He came here to save everybody,” said Jackson.
He described a childhood marked by instability. His father left when he was nine months old. His mother, a waitress with a sixth-grade education who who struggled with alcohol, remarried multiple times.
Jackson said he had seven stepfathers and attended seven elementary schools by age 12. The family lived in public housing.
He credited a bus ministry from First Baptist Church of Atlanta with exposing him to more stable families and Christian faith. He was baptized twice as a child for assurance.
Around age 12, after a family crisis, an uncle took him to enter the foster care system. In his first foster home, Jackson witnessed a family pray together at dinner — an experience he said showed him “what normal is” and what he wanted for his own life.
Jackson later lived at a Methodist children’s home and graduated from Greater Atlanta Christian School. He worked multiple jobs, including selling women’s shoes and loading UPS trucks, but left college after one quarter because he couldn’t afford it. At 19, he married and moved to a trailer park in Lilburn.
At 20, rejected for a recruiting job because he lacked a four-year degree, Jackson offered to work on commission only. He was hired, and a year later, at 21, he bought the firm. Jackson later focused on recruiting physicians to rural areas across the Southeast, which led him into healthcare.
After earlier entrepreneurial ups and downs, the company he rebuilt starting in 2000 grew from $30 million in revenue to $3 billion last year, serving 25 million patients annually.
A spiritual turning point came in 2007 at the Halftime Institute in Dallas, Texas. Jackson said he concluded the wealth he had accumulated was “God’s money” of which he was a steward.
He described his purpose since 2008 as achieving “kingdom impact” by helping “the least of these.” Through nonprofits, his efforts have included a fostercare organization that has served about 3,000 children with more than 400 adoptions.
He said about 800 young people are now in the program and “thriving,” gaining “hope” for the first time. He cited grim statistics on pregnancy and arrests among those who age out without support, noting jails hold many such young people.
Looking ahead, Jackson committed to cutting the state income tax by 50 percent in his first term. On property taxes, he proposed freezing valuations so taxes would not rise solely because of home appreciation, while requiring counties to adopt more disciplined budgeting processes similar to those used by the state under Gov. Brian Kemp.
On education, Jackson highlighted literacy as a priority. Noting that twothirds of Georgia third-graders are not reading proficiently, he praised the state’s recent literacy bill — the first in decades — and said he would lead from the front.
In healthcare, Jackson said he would expand rural access by supporting the creation of 10 additional hospitals and recruiting workforce. Jackson proposed what he called the largest state-level health IT system in the country so residents could access and share their medical records, know costs before treatment, and avoid repeatedly providing the same information.
Jackson identified keeping people safe as a governor’s top responsibility. He said he backs law enforcement “110 percent” because prosecuting crimes prevents further victimization, and he criticized his opponent, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, for prioritizing criminals over victims and police while Mayor of Atlanta.
Comments