Attorney General Chris Carr is aiming to make the most of his head start in the race for Georgia governor.
The Republican said he raised nearly $2.2 million between mid-November and the start of the legislative session on Jan. 10, when state officials are restricted from collecting donations.
Carr said the seven-figure total, which will be formally reported in February, makes “abundantly clear that Georgians have faith in our campaign and our shared vision for the future.”
The head start on fundraising is a key reason Carr launched one of the earliest bids for governor in modern Georgia history with a mid-November rollout. His campaign said his haul is the heftiest in state records for the first 40 days of an open primary for governor.
Carr predicted in a “Politically Georgia” interview that he’ll reap dividends from his pre-Thanksgiving kickoff, which gave him a jump on Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a wealthy executive who can self-finance his campaign, and others in the quest to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp.
Carr is positioning himself as a mainstream Republican who supports President Donald Trump but is not a die-hard loyalist. Trump backed a failed primary challenger against Carr in 2022 and is closely tied to Jones, one of his most influential backers in Georgia.
Pressed on Trump’s potential to sway the race, the attorney general said he is framing himself as a “pro-Chris Carr candidate” who is focused on winning over Georgia voters.
He’s centering his campaign instead on two other GOP figures. The first is the late U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a pioneering Republican who was Carr’s political mentor. Both he and his wife, Joan Kirchner Carr, served as Isakson’s top aide.
The other is Kemp, who polls regularly show is the most popular Republican in state politics. The governor and Carr are longtime political allies, and the attorney general has said he’d “model” his campaign after Kemp’s successful runs.
Jones is likely to enter the race after the 40-day legislative session ends on April 4. Potential Democratic candidates include U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath and DeKalb County chief executive Michael Thurmond. Stacey Abrams also hasn’t ruled out a third run.
Carr’s aides said 99% of his fundraising total was designated for his primary campaign, rather than a general election, meaning he can deploy it early in the race to spar with other Republicans. The campaign didn’t immediately disclose an unspecified amount Carr raised for an independent PAC supporting his bid.
In a statement, Carr said he’d focus the next three months of the legislative session, when he’s barred from raising cash, on expanding his campaign’s statewide operations and connecting with voters.
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