2026 Candidates

Hometown: Atlanta 

Occupation: CEO of Jackson Healthcare 

Do you currently hold a public office? No 

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: 

My story didn’t start with privilege or connections. I grew up in the Techwood Homes projects in Atlanta and lived in five foster homes and thirteen schools. I never knew my father and was raised by a mother struggling with alcoholism. From an early age, I learned that nothing would be handed to me — and that survival required resilience, responsibility, and hard work. 

I worked my way out. When I couldn’t afford to stay in college, I bet on myself, took a straight-commission sales job, and later bought the company I worked for. 

Today, my businesses serve all 50 states, help provide medical care for more than 20 million patients each year, and generate over $3 billion in annual revenue. I don’t share that to brag — I share it because my life has always been about action and impact. 

Success gave me the ability to step up when Georgia and the country needed leadership. 

When China threatened to cut off antibiotic supplies during trade negotiations with President Trump, I stepped in and saved the last major antibiotic manufacturer in America — increasing production and sacrificing millions to ensure American lives came before profits. 

When COVID hit Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp called me directly to help supply doctors and nurses. I delivered — making sure Georgia came first, even when it would have been more profitable to send resources elsewhere. 

And because I grew up in foster care, I fought the political system to deliver real change for children without a voice. Working with leaders across Georgia, I helped pass legislation that now allows former foster youth to attend college tuition-free — at zero new cost to taxpayers — giving hundreds of young people a real chance to break the cycle of dependency and poverty.

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Occupation: Attorney; former judge; former Mayor of Atlanta; former Senior Advisor to the President of the United States

Do you currently hold a public office? 

Mayor Bottoms served as Mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022, as a member of the Atlanta City Council representing District 11 from 2010 to 2018, and previously as a judge on the Fulton County Magistrate Court. She most recently served in the White House as Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the Office of Public Engagement.

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: Mayor Bottoms began her career in public service as a prosecutor and judge before being elected to the Atlanta City Council and then as the 60th Mayor of Atlanta. As Mayor she led the city through the largest cyberattack on a municipal government, a once-in-a-century pandemic, and a period of national civil unrest. She balanced the city budget four consecutive years without raising taxes, left office with a $180 million surplus, put all city spending online through Open Checkbook, and created the city’s first Office of the Inspector General.

Hometown: Marietta, GA

Occupation: Attorney / State Senator

Do you currently hold a public office?

I have been the State Senator for District 14 (north Fulton County) since 2023, and before that I was the State Representative for District 51 from 2019-2023.

Hometown: Cumming, GA

Occupation: Entrepreneur / Small Business Owner (Technology/Manufacturing)

Do you currently hold a public office? 
Yes, currently on my 8th year in the GA Senate

Additional background information or qualifications for this role:
Formerly Tour Manager for Musician Chris Tomlin. Have started companies that employ a few hundred people across Georgia.

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Occupation: U.S. Senator

Do you currently hold a public office? Yes, I have served as Georgia’s Senior United States Senator since January, 2021.

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: Born and raised in Atlanta, Jon Ossoff represents Georgia in the United States Senate. Jon has established a reputation as a legislative workhorse and a relentless investigator exposing corruption and the abuse of power.

Before his election to the Senate, Jon was an investigative journalist. His small business produced award-winning investigations of corruption and war crimes for international news organizations. Their investigations exposed serious crimes including human trafficking, judicial corruption, bribery, and sexual slavery.

In the Senate, Jon has applied those skills to expose corruption and abuse in government, including the abuse of children in Georgia’s foster care system, mistreatment of military families by private housing contractors, and civil rights abuses in the federal prison system

Jon is one of few United States Senators whose campaigns refuse to accept campaign contributions from corporate PACs or federal lobbyists.

Jon has introduced legislation to ban corporate PACs altogether and is leading the charge to ban stock trading by members of Congress, helping pass a Congressional stock trading ban through a major Senate Committee for the first time.

He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Dr. Alisha Kramer, and their two daughters.

Hometown: Jackson, GA

Occupation: Congressman / Trucking Executive

Do you currently hold a public office?  Congressman for Georgia’s 10th Congressional District since January 2023.

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: B.S. Business - Georgia State 1990 

Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio; family from Mississippi and Alabama

Occupation: Attorney and Georgia State Representative

Do you currently hold a public office? Yes. I was elected to represent Georgia House District 62 in November 2022 and was re-elected without opposition in 2024. My colleagues elected me Chair of the Georgia House Democratic Caucus in November 2024. This is my first bid for statewide office.

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: I've spent more than two decades practicing law, first as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice, then as a Georgia state prosecutor handling homicide cases and crimes against women and children, and later as a civil rights attorney protecting citizens from constitutional violations. I'm a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where I served as Notes Editor of the Law Review, President of the Black Law Students Association, and Executive Director of the National BLSA. In 2021, my law school inducted me into its Hall of Fame for extraordinary achievement and dedication to the legal profession.

Hometown: McDonough

Occupation: Attorney

Do you currently hold a public office? I have served in the State Senate since 2018 and served in the State House from 2013-2017

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: 
Education: Bachelor of Business Administration, Economics, Valdosta State University, 2006; Juris Doctor, Florida Coastal School of Law, 2009

I grew up on a row crop farm in Henry County where his family has been farming since the county’s founding.  My Mother’s family has been farming in Pike County for generations as well and my wife, Lindsay, grew up on timber farm in Meriwether County.  Agriculture is the foundation of who I am.

Hometown: Ocilla, GA

Occupation: Farmer

Do you currently hold a public office? Yes, Commissioner of Agriculture 2023-2026, State Senator 2013-2023

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: 

I am a 7th generation South Georgia farmer, tilling the same dirt that has been in our family for over 125 years, running a row crop, beef cattle, and timber operation on our family farm. For almost the last 4 years, I’ve had the privilege of serving our state as Commissioner of Agriculture, and I have worked to protect Georgia farmland, our state’s #1 industry, and the farm families who fuel its success.

Prior to serving as Commissioner, I represented 10 counties in Southeast and South Central Georgia in the State Senate, where I was a proud champion for agriculture and Rural Georgia and served as Chairman of the Natural Resources & the Environment Committee.  From tax cuts and economic relief for farm families, to investments in agricultural education and youth programs, to right to farm, I sponsored or co-sponsored dozens of bills designed to support agriculture and farm families that eventually became law.

I am a proud graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. I have also served in numerous leadership roles within agricultural and community organizations from the Georgia Young Farmers Association to my local rotary club.

Despite, the challenges our industry is facing and has faced over the last several years, I am proud of the accomplishments we have made over the last 4 years to support our #1 industry and our farm families. Under my leadership, we have delivered numerous wins for Georgia Agriculture:

Establishing the Georgia Farmland Conservation Fund to help farmers permanently protect their land from development.

Banning hostile foreign nations, like China, from buying Georgia farmland or any land near our critical military installations.

Securing over half a billion in federal relief for Georgia’s Hurricane Helene Block Grant Program.

Reinstating the GDA’s Law Enforcement Division to protect our #1 industry from criminal activity.

Expanding and investing in the Georgia Grown program, providing members more resources and greater access to new markets and institutional buyers.

Cutting burdensome rules, regulation, and red tape.

Fighting back against corporate consolidation in agriculture and the food supply chain that is squeezing producers from both ends.

Securing millions in additional state appropriations for the Georgia Department of Agriculture so that we may better serve farmers and consumers across the state. 

Brought Georgia’s Rural Center under GDA to make strategic investments in workforce development, education, and healthcare in rural communities around the state.

That is just to name a few. It is an incredible honor to wake up each morning and have the privilege of going to work on behalf of our state’s farm families and all 11 million Georgians. Simply put, agriculture is who I am, what I am, and what I’m about, and I will never stop fighting for you, for our #1 industry, and for our rural way of life.

Hometown: Born at Georgia Baptist, raised in Southwest Atlanta, and rooted in Snellville, Georgia.

Occupation: Candidate for Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture; farmer and founder of Baby Katie’s Pharm & Kitchen; and Systems & Infrastructure Specialist in Construction Management.

Do you currently hold a public office? Katherine E. Juhan-Arnold does not currently hold public office, and this is her first campaign for elected office. She is not a career politician. She is a farmer, founder, systems professional, and community agriculture advocate who decided to run because she believes Georgia deserves a Department of Agriculture that is clear, practical, responsive, and focused on the people it serves.

Katherine brings the perspective of someone who has worked in agriculture, food access, infrastructure, systems coordination, and community-building, and she believes those skills can help move Georgia agriculture forward.

Additional background information or qualifications for this role: 

Katherine’s qualifications for this role come from the intersection of agriculture, food access, producer support, education, infrastructure, and systems management. Through Baby Katie’s Pharm & Kitchen, Katherine has worked in community agriculture, seed and seedling access, local food production, farm-to-school initiatives, growing education, farmers market participation, and helping families understand how to grow food, preserve food knowledge, and build practical food independence. That work is rooted in a simple belief: healthy food, agricultural knowledge, and growing opportunity should not be limited by income, zip code, or access to traditional farm spaces.

Her work in food access and community agriculture also led to her invitation to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in 2022 and the HHS Food Is Medicine Summit in 2024. Katherine is also developing Pharm School through grow-farm-learn.com as a growing education platform focused on helping people learn practical agriculture, food systems, and land-based skills no matter where they are located.

In addition to her agriculture work, Katherine brings professional experience in construction management, infrastructure systems, BIM, document control, compliance coordination, and large-scale project organization. That background matters because the Department of Agriculture is a systems office at heart. It has to serve people clearly and consistently while managing inspections, licensing, permitting, food safety, consumer protection, animal health, weights and measures, emergency response, market access, and public accountability. Katherine understands how to organize complex work, improve communication, and make systems easier for people to navigate.

Katherine’s Grow Georgia Agenda brings these experiences together with a practical focus on producer support, farm-to-school opportunities, market access, food access, rural veterinary incentives, PFAS and water concerns, responsible land use, emerging agricultural technologies, disaster readiness, consumer protection, and rebuilding public trust in the Department. She is running to make the Georgia Department of Agriculture clear, practical, responsive, and useful to the farmers, producers, families, small businesses, and communities it serves.