MAGA billionaire Rick Jackson has become the latest Republican candidate to scrub Donald Trump’s name from his campaign website, removing a reference to the president as the governor race in Georgia intensifies.
Jackson’s website previously promised that he would “work with President Trump to protect his state from the consequences of Washington’s failures”.
However, in the apparent sign of Republicans distancing themselves from the president, that reference has now disappeared and the pledge has instead been reduced to a promise to “protect Georgians from the consequences of Washington’s failures.”
The move is a notable shift given the former health executive, who refers to himself as “Action” Jackson and has pitched himself as someone who would be “just like Trump but with a southern tone.”
“I’m going to be this man’s favorite governor,” he said on stage with the president in July.
But with polls showing the president’s approval ratings at record lows - and Trump underwater on everything from the economy to immigration - Jackson is not the only Republican who has scrubbed online references to the president ahead of November’s midterms.
Florida Gov. candidate Byron Donalds removed eight Trump endorsements from his own website, a photo with Trump and a section titled “Enact the Trump Agenda”.
He later said that he still supported the president but simply made the changes because his gubernatorial campaign was focused on local Florida issues like affordability, insurance costs, and government transparency.
Kentucky Senate hopeful Andy Barr, who is vying for the seat soon to be vacated by retiring Senator Mitch McConnell, also removed a prominent Trump photo.
And several House candidates—including Mike Beltran, Ralph Alvarado and Joe Mitchell—have also toned down their website Trump ties.
Jackson’s removal of Trump’s name was one of several changes to his campaign website that appear to have taken place some time between August 25 and September 1.
According to web archives, he also removed a reference to “Make Georgia the Most Affordable State in America” (it now says he will “Make Georgia More Affordable”) and he is no longer promising to “Enact term limits for all politicians” (it now says he will simply “Enact term limits.”)
The timing is notable in a race that has tightened considerably.
Georgia has not elected a Democratic governor since 1998, but some polls show Jackson, who runs the Jackson Healthcare empire, is either narrowly ahead or effectively neck-and-neck with former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
“Slick Rick can scrub Trump from his website, but he can’t have Georgians forget how closely he’s aligned himself with Trump,” said Democratic Party of Georgia spokesperson Jake Strickland.
“Jackson has made clear time and again he’ll always bend the knee to Trump – no matter how much it hurts Georgians – and that’s exactly why we’re going to send him packing in November.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Jackson, who is set to go head-to-head in a debate with Lance Bottoms on Tuesday night.
His campaign has come under growing scrutiny in recent months over everything from abortion to pandemic-era loans.
Earlier this month, the Daily Beast’s political newsletter, The Swamp, also revealed how one of Jackson’s companies spent years trying to take a couple’s home in a legal battle so brutal that court filings describe a cascade of devastating health problems for both spouses—and ultimately their deaths. .
It was also reported that some of Jackson Healthcare’s other subsidiaries paid $5 million to settle claims that they exploited workers and breached labor laws.
