Jason Esteves launches bid for Georgia governor with pledge to fight Trump ‘chaos’

Esteves, 41, is trying to reverse a decades-long Democratic losing streak in the governor’s race. Although the party flipped both U.S. Senate seats in 2020, the last Democrat to win the state’s top job was Roy Barnes in 1998.

Esteves is the first prominent Democrat to formally enter the 2026 race, but he will face fierce competition for the nomination. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is preparing a bid for governor, and ex-DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond is also in the mix. Two former nominees — Stacey Abrams and Jason Carter — haven’t ruled out another run.

On the Republican side, Attorney General Chris Carr entered the race in November to succeed a term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp in November. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is expected to announce his candidacy soon. Both are positioning themselves as Trump-aligned conservatives eager to defend his agenda.

Esteves is framing himself as a clear counterweight to that message. A three-minute campaign video launched Monday maligns “extreme politicians in Georgia who push Trump’s reckless agenda, rig the system for special interests and stick us with the bill” while flashing images of Carr and Jones.

In the AJC interview, Esteves singled out Trump-backed tariffs, which have jolted the markets and raised concerns about an economic slowdown, along with steep cuts to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal health agencies.

“President Trump’s chaos has hurt Georgia’s families, and it will continue to hurt Georgia families,” said Esteves, an attorney who owns several breakfast eateries. “And my job as governor is to make sure that we’re doing what we can to stop that impact from hurting Georgians. And Georgia Republican leaders have failed to do that.”

A secret no more

Esteves’ plan to compete for the seat was an open secret for weeks, but his timeline accelerated after U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath suspended her own exploratory bid because of her husband’s health.

He said his candidacy is rooted in personal experience. Esteves was 2 when his father, who was in the U.S. Army, was transferred from Puerto Rico to Georgia. Raised by parents who didn’t attend college but worked multiple jobs to support his family, Esteves said their example drives his public service. If he wins, he would be the first Black and first Latino elected to Georgia’s top job in state history.

After college, Esteves became a middle school social studies teacher, a formative experience he said led him to law school and eventually to politics.

“I saw 150 kids who were just as smart and hardworking as anyone else, but because of where they lived, they didn’t have the same opportunities,” he said. “That was wrong and unfair. And that was what motivated me.”

After a failed state House bid, Esteves made history in 2013 as the first Latino elected to a school board in Georgia. He became chair of Atlanta Public Schools board from 2018 to 2021, a stretch that included the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his tenure, the district boosted high school graduation rates, gave raises to employees and hired the district’s first chief equity and social justice officer.

He also faced criticism for the system’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the board’s controversial decision not to renew the contract of then-Superintendent Meria Carstarphen, whose leadership divided many parents and stakeholders.

But Esteves said his nine years on the board taught him many of the biggest challenges facing families, from health care to housing, can’t be solved at the schoolhouse door.

In 2022, Esteves won a Georgia Senate seat covering parts of Atlanta and Cobb County, quickly emerging as a vocal advocate for abortion rights, gun restrictions and Medicaid expansion — and one of his party’s experts on education measures.

This year, he used his platform to renew calls to update the state’s decades-old school funding formula — a longstanding goal of both parties, which has nonetheless failed to move — and clashed with Republicans over Trump’s plan to eliminate the federal Department of Education.

He voted against most GOP culture war measures but notably skipped a vote on a contentious bill to block gender-affirming treatments for prisoners in state custody.

Republicans are likely to cast Esteves in the same mold as other recent statewide Democrats — as an out-of-touch liberal pushing progressive policies at the expense of everyday Georgians. Still, senior GOP operatives concede he’s one of the party’s most significant threats in next year’s midterm.

“He is far and away the most electable of the potential Democratic candidates who have been mentioned,” said Jay Morgan, a former Georgia GOP executive director who is now a lobbyist.

A personal pitch

Esteves is making his pitch personal. He said Trump’s tariffs have driven up costs at the restaurants he owns in Columbus and Macon. And he warned that cuts to public health agencies could delay medical breakthroughs for diseases like Alzheimer’s, which his mother is battling.

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

While blasting Trump’s federal policies, Esteves also took aim at state economic incentives he said leave smaller businesses behind by favoring corporate giants over local entrepreneurs.

“There’s no out-of-state company that is going to come here to save us,” said Esteves, who wants to flip the script with increased subsidies and tax credits for homegrown projects.

Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC

Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC

His approach mirrors other state Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who want to confront Trump more aggressively. Winning could depend on both energizing Democrats and peeling off swing voters who helped Trump capture Georgia in November but are now uneasy with his agenda.

Asked how he can succeed where past Democratic nominees have fallen short, Esteves said it hinges on building an effective coalition and offering a clear, hopeful message.

“We’re going to have to deliver a message about what we can do, not just what we’re against,” he said.

“And what we can do is lower the costs that Georgians are facing each and every day, and make sure that we’re keeping their hard-earned dollars in their pockets and that we’re helping them grow it.”

Takeaways from the AJC interview:

On Georgia’s economy

“We’ve had a state that for a long time has been focused on big business and special interests, and I want to make sure that we focus on small-business owners … If the state invests in Georgians, we ensure that we’re building wealth and improving communities instead of focusing on big business and special interests that are taking profits outside of the state.”

On expanding business tax credits

“We have to make sure that we’re providing the same kind of tax deductions and tax credits that we see Rivian and Hyundai get. We should be making sure that small businesses on Main Street in a small town in rural Georgia are receiving the same kinds of benefits.”

On winning where other Democrats have failed

“This campaign is not about names. It’s about Georgia. It’s about us, and it’s going to be about making sure that we have a leader that comes out of this primary who can build a coalition that can actually win the state.”