Former Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, who was officially kicked out of Georgia’s Republican Party after campaigning for the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, announced today that he’s running for Governor of Georgia as a Democrat.
When Duncan registered as a Democrat in August, he cited “GOP opposition to tighter gun regulations and expansion of Medicaid health insurance as examples of Republican orthodoxy he could no longer support.”
President Donald Trump responded on social media by calling Duncan “a loser” who, as a gubernatorial candidate, “doesn’t even have a chance.” Duncan replied: “This attack from Donald Trump is a badge of honor for me. It means I’m doing something right.”
I’m in. Georgians deserve leaders with the courage to take on Donald Trump, lower costs for families, and do what’s right. With your help, we can win this election and I’ll proudly serve as Georgia’s Democratic governor.https://t.co/Lnq9nWuDS2 pic.twitter.com/D6Ri3dVspF
— Geoff Duncan (@GeoffDuncanGA) September 16, 2025
With the campaign launch video above, Duncan wrote: “I’m in. Georgians deserve leaders with the courage to take on Donald Trump, lower costs for families, and do what’s right. With your help, we can win this election, and I’ll proudly serve as Georgia’s Democratic governor.”
The X account “Republicans against Trump” — influential among non-MAGA Republicans adrift in the current GOP — replied to Duncan’s announcement: “Great news!”
State Sen. Jason Esteves, State Rep. Derrick Jackson and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms are among the Democratic candidates Duncan will face.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr are the top Republicans in the race to replace popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, the term-limited incumbent whose own challenges with Trump are well known after their standoff over the 2020 election results.
It’s that standoff, in part, that gives Duncan reason to believe that Trump’s condemnation isn’t a prediction of doom for his run. Trump repeatedly slammed Kemp — “he’s a disloyal guy and he’s a very average governor…little Brian Kemp, bad guy” Trump has said — and yet Kemp has remained popular among Georgians, having won re-election in 2022 even after Trump backed a Republican rival in the primary.
[NOTE: Despite the Trump-Kemp friction, Kemp still supported “the Republican nominee,” as he said, in 2024 and threw his support behind Trump, who narrowly won Georgia, reversing Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the Peach State. Georgia — which some call the definition of a purple state — has two Democrats in the Senate.]
