Democrat Josh McLaurin announces run for Georgia lieutenant governor in 2026

ATLANTA (AP) — Democratic Georgia state Sen. Josh McLaurin announced Monday that he's running for lieutenant governor in 2026, saying he would make opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies a key part of his campaign.

Burt Jones, the current Republican lieutenant governor, is expected to run for governor next year, and could announce his candidacy within the next few weeks.

McLaurin, of Sandy Springs, scheduled a Monday news conference in Savannah to highlight the threat to Georgia's largest port that McLaurin sees from Trump's tariff policies.

“Georgia should be putting up every obstacle possible to Trump’s authoritarian agenda at the state level,” McLaurin said in a statement. "And while we’re at it, the Georgia legislature should be passing widely popular policies that Republicans have been blocking for years — Medicaid expansion, restoration of reproductive freedom, common sense gun safety legislation, and more.”

McLaurin is a onetime roommate of now-Vice President JD Vance when both were students at Yale Law School.

McLaurin was elected to the Georgia House in 2018 and to the state Senate in 2022. He's frequently spoken out against what he sees as wrongheaded Republican policies, including delivering speeches that he called “Trump Morning News” attacking the Trump administration most days of the 2025 session.

Georgia's lieutenant governor presides over Senate sessions, but senators decide how much power or influence the official has. Republicans are likely to retain a majority after the 2026 elections, but McLaurin said even if he's sidelined, the office “will be extremely useful for changing the tone of the Senate's business and shining more of a light on the extremist policies Republicans increasingly are passing.”

On the Republican side, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery of Vidalia has already announced that he's running for lieutenant governor. Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy of Macon and Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch of Dahlonega are also expected to join the GOP field. Other Republicans could run as well, including state Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming.