The unlikely story of Rick Jackson: From shining shoes to running for governor of Georgia

Decades ago, a young man named Rick Jackson—who had no college education—applied for a sales job at a healthcare company. The position offered a fixed salary and sales commissions. However, the company rejected him because it only hired college graduates. Before leaving, he made them an offer: to work without a salary and be paid only the commissions on the sales he made. The company accepted. A few years later, the young man bought the company. Today, he is the owner of Jackson Healthcare and the Republican candidate for governor of Georgia.

In February 2026, the 72-year-old Republican surprised everyone by announcing his candidacy in a primary that already had a clear front-runner: Burt Jones. The state's lieutenant governor was comfortably leading in the polls and already had the backing of Donald Trump.

Determined to win, Jackson invested tens of millions of dollars of his own money to fund his campaign. He traveled the state and launched an intense advertising campaign on television and social media to boost his name recognition.

To the surprise of many analysts, Jackson won the primary with 52.6% of the vote against 47.4% for Jones, who had also secured the endorsement of Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp. In doing so, the businessman defeated the state's two most popular political figures.

In November, this "outsider" will face off against Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, former mayor of Atlanta and former official in the Biden administration. Bottoms will seek to end more than two decades of Republican dominance in Georgia.

Who is Rick Jackson?

Jackson's entrepreneurial success story did not get off to the best start. As he recounted repeatedly during the campaign, he never knew his father and spent much of his childhood in the foster care system.

His mother, who struggled with alcoholism, was unable to care for him. Before reaching adulthood, Jackson had lived in five foster homes, attended thirteen schools, and spent some time at Techwood Homes, a public housing complex in Atlanta.

"I grew up in the projects, in foster homes. I know hunger. I know dodging the rent collector. I know inflation and high prices hit working people the hardest. For politicians, those are just talking points. To me, they were life or death," Jackson said during the campaign.

To change his circumstances, he worked as a shoe shiner and a newspaper delivery boy. He later enrolled in college but had to drop out because he couldn't afford his tuition. That setback ultimately led him to the job interview that begins this story—an opportunity he was initially denied because he didn't have a college degree, but one that would end up changing his life forever.

Jackson Healthcare is headquartered in Alpharetta. The company oversees a group of staffing and technology firms. These firms place doctors, nurses, and other professionals in hospitals and clinics across the country. According to its website, it currently provides medical care to more than 20 million patients a year.

Regarding his philanthropic work, the Republican co-founded FaithBridge Foster Care, an organization driven by his Christian faith and dedicated to encouraging Christian families to welcome children from the foster care system into their homes, with the goal of providing them with a stable family environment.

Jackson also championed the Fostering Success Act, an initiative created to assist young people leaving the foster care system upon reaching the age of majority. The initiative provides them with housing, food, transportation, and support to attend college, a technical school, or learn a trade. "This comes from a personal conviction that a child's circumstances may explain where they start, but does not mean where it finishes," the Republican noted on the matter.

"I never saw myself as a victim"

Recently, Jackson went viral after appearing in a video from "The School of Hard Knocks", which has tens of millions of followers on social media. He was interviewed by James Domoulin, the channel's owner, who talks to billionaires about their lives and asks them for advice for young people.

"The main thing I've done is I never saw myself as a victim. A lot of people blame everybody else when they fail. I don't blame anybody but me because I want control," explained Jackson, when asked about the keys to his business success.

"I can't control anybody else. I can only control myself. So when you take ownership ownership of your failures and you learn from them, you think it up one more time, then you fall down. That's my definition of success," he added.

Later in the interview, Domoulin asked Jackson what his best sales advice was, to which he replied: "The number one thing is that you can have everything in the world you want if you help other people give what they want. So what I did is try to find out what was the win for the person I was talking to. I did try to sell them what I was doing. I basically asked them what do they need, then I fulfilled that need."

"And that's the definition of a good business. The more money you make other people, the more money you're gonna make yourself. Yeah. But it's not my money. It's God's money," the entrepreneur continued.

What does Jackson propose for Georgia?

As for his platform, he promised to make Georgia the toughest state when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants, cut the state income tax in half within four years, freeze the property tax, cut unnecessary government spending, and freeze tuition, room, and board fees at public universities and technical schools. He also emphasized that he hopes to become President Trump's "favorite governor."

In fact, Trump recently endorsed Jackson after the two participated in a rally in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta. There, Jackson promised to work side by side with the president and made a bold pledge regarding "Trump Accounts."

At that event, Jackson pledged to replicate the policy in the state of Georgia and even made a bold promise: "I believe our Legislature will approve that, but if they don't, I will personally donate it myself."

"Trump Accounts" took effect on July 4 and provide eligible U.S. children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, with an investment account featuring an initial contribution of $1,000 funded by the federal government. Parents and other third parties can make annual contributions of up to $5,000 to the account, which offers tax advantages.