Georgia 2026 GOVERNOR FORECAST

2026 Georgia Governor Forecast:

The Pollsmax 2026 Georgia Governor forecast currently gives Republican Rick Jackson a 51.3% chance of defeating Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms. Pollsmax projects Jackson to receive 50.1% of the vote compared with 49.9% for Bottoms, a projected Republican margin of 0.2 percentage points. The model currently rates the race as Tilt Republican. The forecast is updated using 100,000 simulations incorporating polling and race fundamentals. See the Pollsmax forecast methodology.

The 2026 Georgia governor election features Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson. The governorship is open and is currently controlled by Republicans. In 2024, Donald Trump won Georgia by 2.2%, but the election for the state's governorship is rated as highly competitive in 2026. The race will test whether Bottoms can flip a Republican-held governorship in one of the nation's closest battlegrounds or whether Jackson can keep Georgia in the GOP column. Georgia's governor race could play a major role in determining the national balance of governorships after the midterms.