Rick Jackson: Where the Georgia candidate for governor stands on the issues

Rick Jackson is a political newcomer and billionaire executive who founded Alpharetta-based Jackson Healthcare. The Republican from Cumming is seeking his party’s nomination for governor.

Here are his stances and record on key issues:

Affordability

Jackson views tax cuts, lower healthcare costs and agriculture business development as the keys to making life less expensive for Georgians.

Jackson says he would increase affordability by reducing both state income taxes and local property taxes, and he pledges not to run for a second term if he can’t fulfill those promises.

Jackson proposes reducing healthcare costs by making prices more transparent, improving technology and removing layers of middlemen he says inflate prices.

He also wants to work with Georgia’s agriculture industry to create co-ops that would restore food storage and processing facilities. Jackson argues that if more of those facilities were located in Georgia, fruits, vegetables and meats would stay fresh for market longer and costs would fall because farmers could avoid some shipping expenses.

Taxes

Property taxes have risen even higher than the inflation rate in some areas, a burden on homeowners that Jackson says he’ll address.

He says he would reduce housing costs by freezing and then cutting property taxes, the primary funding source for schools and local governments, which pay for public safety, transportation, libraries and parks.

The General Assembly lacked the votes this year to move forward with proposals to drastically reduce property taxes. Instead, legislators passed a bill to cap property value assessments at the inflation rate.

Jackson says he would also work to cut state income tax rates in half, continuing a trend in Georgia.

The General Assembly this year approved gradually reducing Georgia’s income tax rate from 5.19% to 3.99%.

Immigration

Jackson says he wants Georgia to lead the nation in deportations of immigrants who are living in the country illegally and have committed crimes.

He says he would prevent cities from adopting sanctuary-style policies for immigrants who are in the country illegally and would ensure that state police work with federal immigration authorities.

Georgia law already forbids any local government from adopting policies that would limit enforcement of immigration laws.

Jackson blames Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, for fostering resistance to federal immigration authorities that he says put lives at risk.

Immigration agents killed two American citizens during confrontations in Minnesota in January.

Healthcare

The founder of Jackson Healthcare says he would put his experience to work for Georgians.

Jackson says he would work with the federal government to obtain Medicaid block grants for Georgia that are contingent on work requirements. Georgia already requires low-income adults to work to qualify for Medicaid, the state and federal health care plan for the poor and disabled.

He says if the federal government financed block grants for Medicaid, the states would be able to spend that money more responsibly, resulting in better care and lower costs.

Jackson opposes the full-scale expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, along with most Georgia Republicans.

Georgia is one of 10 states that has decided against broad Medicaid expansion. The ACA would provide 90% federal funding for health insurance coverage to lower-income adults who still earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid.

Housing

Jackson says protecting access to reasonably priced home ownership is essential to preserving the American Dream.

He says many home-buyers don’t have enough money to buy a home until their 40s, preventing them from beginning to build wealth earlier in life. The median age of first-time homebuyers in the United States reached 40 years old in 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Jackson says making home ownership more available to Georgians in their 20s and 30s will give them a stake in the future of their communities and make them more engaged.

He proposes reducing government bureaucracy and cutting property taxes to ensure people can afford to stay in their homes.

Several bills seeking to reduce housing costs didn’t pass the Republican-led General Assembly this year, including a Democrat-sponsored bill to incentivize higher housing densities and a GOP-sponsored bill to prevent investors from buying more than 500 single-family rental homes.