Faces familiar to Macon are running for lieutenant governor. Who else is in the race?

Eight candidates have filed paperwork with Georgia’s Ethics Commission to officially launch campaigns for the state’s lieutenant governor position, including two candidates who represented parts of Macon in the last year, according to the commission’s website.

But several other candidates have announced their intention to run for the office. Primaries will take place in May this year before the November general election.

Current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who has served as Gov. Brian Kemp’s second-in-command since 2023, is running for governor with President Donald Trump’s endorsement after one term in his current office.

Much like the vice president’s role in Congress, Georgia’s lieutenant governor presides over the Georgia state Senate and can cast tie-breaking votes in that chamber. While they cannot sponsor legislation, the lieutenant governor appoints state senators to chair committees in the General Assembly, who guide legislative priorities during their respective terms.

As the second-ranking elected official in the state, the lieutenant governor is the first in line if the governor vacates the office.

Of the 11 candidates, eight are running as Republicans and three are running for the Democratic Party nomination.

Seth Clark (D-Macon) stepped down from his seat on the Macon-Bibb County Commission on Jan. 6, 2026, and filed to run for lieutenant governor the following day. While serving as a commissioner since January 2021, Clark was Mayor Pro Tempore, second to Mayor Lester Miller.

Aside from his work in local government, Clark has previously served on the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative as its executive director. The group primarily lobbies to secure the state’s first National Park in Macon.

“When I realized that what we were getting ready to do was nominate six or seven people from the great city of Atlanta, it wasn’t enough because that’s not enough,” Clark said at a press conference on Jan. 13. “That’s not representative of who we are as Georgians.”

State Sen. Joshua McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs) registered with the State Ethics Commission in May 2025, becoming the first Democrat to enter the race. McLaurin served metro Atlanta as a state representative for District 51 from 2019 to 2023, and he began a term as a state senator for District 14 in 2023.

McLaurin attracted national attention after he shared screenshots of messages from his former Yale Law School roommate and Vice President J.D. Vance, in which Vance called then-presidential candidate Trump, “America’s Hitler” in February 2016, according to reporting by the Ohio Capital Journal in April 2022.

McLaurin’s most recent activity in the Senate was to introduce a bill that would allow Georgians to take legal action against federal officials and hold them accountable to the same restrictions as state and local law enforcement are held already, according to reporting from the Georgia Recorder.

Richard Wright (D-Atlanta) registered his campaign on Jan. 12, 2026. The businessman has run for office in Atlanta before, losing in the House District 38 primary election in May 2024 and in Atlanta’s mayoral election in November 2021. According to Wright’s campaign website, he hopes to improve housing across the state and promote small businesses by expanding existing tax credits for those businesses.

Brenda Nelson-Porter (R-Macon) will run after an unsuccessful campaign for the Secretary of State’s office in 2022. The former Marine would break two barriers for the state if she wins: she would be the first female lieutenant governor of Georgia, and the first Black candidate to serve in the role since it was first created in 1946.

Outside of her foray into politics in 2022, the candidate works in research, according to Nelson-Porter’s website.

Former state Sen. John Kennedy (R-Macon) launched his campaign and resigned from his position in the state Senate in June 2025, in which he had served since 2015. Kennedy was the chamber’s President Pro Tempore from 2023 to 2025, according to the Georgia Recorder.

A lawyer by training, Kennedy is a graduate of Mercer University’s school of law and represented Senate District 18 until he resigned on Dec. 8, 2025. His resignation sparked a specially called election that will end on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

State Sen. Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia) has represented District 19 since 2017. The senator chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which directs how Georgia spends federal and state funding. Tillery also leads the Special Committee on Eliminating Georgia’s Income Tax, which released a report earlier in January that, if implemented, would nix income taxes for about two-thirds of the state by 2027, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Tillery was the first candidate to file paperwork to begin fundraising for his campaign, initiating that process in April.

State Sen. Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega) announced his bid for lieutenant governor in May 2025 and is the only candidate to serve more than a decade in the General Assembly. First inaugurated in 2011, Gooch served as the Senate majority leader from 2023 to May 2025, when he resigned from office to run his campaign.

In last spring’s legislative session, he led efforts to introduce “America First” license plates, and his website is emblazoned with the message “MAGA loves him.”

State Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming) launched his campaign in September 2025 after leading District 27 since 2019. Dolezal, who works alongside Tillery as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told the Georgia Recorder that he “stood with President Trump when it mattered most,” including questioning the validity of the 2020 presidential elections results.

State Rep. David Clark (R-Buford) announced he is running for lieutenant governor in August, though he has not yet filed paperwork with the State Ethics Commission to begin disclosing financial contributions.

Clark represented District 98 between 2015 and 2023. Prior to Georgia’s state House and Senate districts being redrawn in 2023 and implemented in the 2024 election cycle, he ran in District 100 and began his term for that district in 2023.

The veteran was involved in controversy in the state House in 2021, when he refused to be tested for COVID-19. Clark was removed from the chamber, according to the Georgia Recorder. Since then, he has told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he pledges to be a “warrior” for Georgians.

Jerry Timbs (R-Griffin) is a former officer for the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and one-time candidate for the Henry County Commission, according to the Griffin Daily News. Timbs announced his candidacy in 2025, but he has not filed with the State Ethics Commission yet.