President Jimmy Carter's grandson endorses Jason Esteves in Georgia governor's race

Former Georgia State Sen. Jason Esteves has picked up a major endorsement in his bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2026 governor’s race, with President Jimmy Carter’s grandson Jason Carter calling him “the strongest candidate to meet this moment.”

“I’m proud to endorse Jason Estevest to be our next generation,” said Carter this week, himself a former state senator and the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014.

“He’s the new generation of leadership that Georgia needs, and he still has a long record of fighting for our families.”

Esteves, a Columbus native who represented parts of western Atlanta and its suburbs in the state senate, resigned from his seat in September to focus on his campaign for governor, which he first announced in April.

He hit the ground running in his early months, outraising apparent frontrunner Keisha Lance Bottoms as of late June, with just under $1.18 million.

The 42-year-old Black Catholic is part of a growing field of Democratic candidates, including Bottoms, a former official in the Biden administration who served as Mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022; former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was a Republican until this year; State Reps. Derrick Jackson and Ruwa Romman; and others.

Two-time gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams has also expressed interest in the race, though she has yet to declare.

Esteves has already announced a slew of endorsements for his campaign, including more than 30 state legislators as well as Atlanta city council members and other local officials from around the state. He has also garnered support from several unions and the Latino Victory Fund.

Esteves has honed in on his faith in recent weeks, highlighting his connection to Atlanta’s most historic Black Catholic parish, Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

“My public service is directly informed by the values learned in this sanctuary,” he wrote on social media on Sept. 28, including a picture with his pastor, the Dominican Order priest Jeffery Ott.

Thus far, Esteves’ campaign has focused on addressing the state’s high cost of living, healthcare coverage, and education concerns—himself being a former school teacher and decade-long board chair of Atlanta Public Schools.

He has also campaigned on restoring abortion rights in Georgia, which were largely stripped following the passage of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The state’s so-called “heartbeat bill” went into effect that year.

Among Esteves’ prominent endorsements is Shanette Williams, the mother of Amber Thurman, a Georgian who died in August 2022 after being initially denied an emergency fetal removal procedure due to the new law. Thurman had previously taken abortion pills to terminate her pregnancy, and a state medical review determined that the delay in treatment for the complications contributed to her death.

“I'm with Jason because we need leaders who will protect our daughters, our mothers and our families,” said Williams.

“As governor, he'll fight to overturn Republicans' cruel abortion ban and restore women's reproductive rights.”

Polling from September shows Esteves well behind other Democratic candidates in the primary race, trailing Bottoms, Duncan, and former DeKalb County CEO, 72-year-old Mike Thurmond. 

In comments to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Esteves called the poll—which was sponsored by the Bottoms campaign—“too early out” to be an accurate representation of what will take shape next year. The party’s voters will make their choice in the primary on Tuesday, May 19.

“The poll results are what you would expect seven months from an election when the vast majority of voters are not paying attention.”

Regardless of the candidate, the Democrats will seek to flip the governor’s mansion blue after a string of general election defeats dating back to 2003, when Roy Barnes lost his reelection bid to Sonny Perdue. Like most of the Deep South, Georgia is also led by a long-term Republican trifecta in its state government, with the Peach State’s being among the oldest at 20 years.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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