The Georgia governor's race is essentially tied as Republican Rick Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms prepare for their first one-hour debate. Multiple September polls show Jackson ahead by 1–3 points but with a sizable share of undecided voters, making Tuesday's town-hall potentially decisive. The debate begins at 8 p.m., will be aired statewide on Gray Media stations, and is the only confirmed face-off before the Nov. 3 election. The gubernatorial contest contrasts with a wider lead for Sen. Jon Ossoff in the state's Senate race, raising the possibility of unusual ticket-splitting.
Georgia Governor Debate Tonight: Race Nearly Deadlocked as Undecided Voters Take Center Stage
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson speaks during a general election campaign rally at Meadows at Mossy Creek in Cleveland, Georgia, on Thursday, July 16. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Republican Rick Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms meet for their first head-to-head debate as Georgia's gubernatorial race remains virtually tied, with multiple September polls showing narrow leads for Jackson and a meaningful share of undecided voters who could determine the outcome.
Three recent September surveys put Jackson ahead by 1 to 3 percentage points, but none showed either candidate at or above 50 percent, and each left several percent of voters undecided.
An InsiderAdvantage poll of 1,200 likely voters, conducted Sept. 22–23, found Jackson leading Bottoms 48% to 46%, with 6% undecided; the two-point gap fell within the poll's ±3 percentage-point margin of error. A YouGov survey collected Sept. 15–18 among registered voters showed Jackson ahead 45% to 44%, with 9% undecided. Rasmussen Reports, polling 1,019 likely voters on Sept. 14, put Jackson at 48% and Bottoms at 45%, with 7% undecided; Rasmussen's margin of error was also ±3 points.
The one-hour debate, produced by Atlanta News First and airing across Gray Media stations statewide, begins at 8 p.m. It will use a modified town-hall format in which undecided voters will be able to question Jackson and Bottoms directly. The campaigns will not receive questions in advance. This is the only debate currently scheduled between the two before the Nov. 3 general election.
The matchup pairs Rick Jackson, the billionaire founder of Jackson Healthcare and a first-time candidate for public office, with Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as Atlanta's mayor from 2018 to 2022 and later as a senior adviser and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement in the Biden administration.
Jackson entered the race in February and invested more than $108 million of his own money to win the Republican primary. He founded Jackson Healthcare in 2000 and built the Alpharetta-based company into a healthcare staffing and technology firm with more than 20 subsidiaries.
The close governor's contest stands in contrast to Georgia's U.S. Senate race: the same InsiderAdvantage poll found Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff leading Republican Rep. Mike Collins 50% to 42%, with 8% undecided. InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt Towery said the divergence between the two statewide contests could produce an unusual amount of split-ticket voting in Georgia.
“Usually a well-funded Republican Senate candidate is close [in terms of percentage of likely voters] to that for a well-funded gubernatorial candidate,” Towery said. “But if this trend holds, there will be a lot of ‘ticket splitting’ in a state not known for it.”
University of Georgia political communications professor David Clementson told the Georgia Recorder in August that debates rarely flip large numbers of voters but can help energize supporters and solidify base turnout. With early voting set to begin Oct. 13, Tuesday's town-hall format gives undecided voters a direct role in questioning the candidates on the issues they care about.
Important dates: Georgia's voter registration deadline is Monday. Early in-person voting runs from Oct. 13 through Oct. 30, and Election Day is Nov. 3.
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