Onetime Vance roommate running for Ga. lieutenant governor

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Democratic Georgia state Sen. Josh McLaurin announced he’s running for lieutenant governor in 2026, saying he would make opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies a key part of his campaign.

Burt Jones, the current Republican lieutenant governor, is expected to run for governor next year, and could announce his candidacy within the next few weeks.

McLaurin, of Sandy Springs, scheduled a Monday news conference in Savannah to highlight the threat to Georgia’s largest port that McLaurin sees from Trump’s tariff policies.

“Georgia should be putting up every obstacle possible to Trump’s authoritarian agenda at the state level,” McLaurin said in a statement. “And while we’re at it, the Georgia legislature should be ing widely popular policies that Republicans have been blocking for years — Medicaid expansion, restoration of reproductive freedom, common sense gun safety legislation, and more.”

McLaurin is a onetime roommate of now-Vice President JD Vance when both were students at Yale Law School.

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McLaurin is the first Democrat to announce a candidacy for lieutenant governor; incumbent Republican Burt Jones, who was elected in 2024, is widely expected to launch a campaign for governor.

Having already been elected to two , Gov. Brian Kemp is constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third term, meaning Georgia’s governor’s race is wide open in 2026.

So far, only Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, has officially entered the race, with Jones and also GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger rumored to be considering the race.

On the Democratic side, state Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, is the only announced gubernatorial candidate.

Former one-term Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is also mulling an entry into the nationally watched race, as is former state lawmaker and DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond.

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McLaurin, an attorney and four-term member of the Georgia General Assembly, said he wants the state to be an example of how to live in the United States of America.

“Georgia is my home and my heart. We’ve got amazing people and culture. We’ve got Waffle House. We could be a national example of how best to live, work, and raise a family,” McLaurin said.

The University of Georgia graduate said he wants to be “a voice” for those taken aback by the Trump istration’s agenda at the state level and looks to policies that have been up for debate for a long time.

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“Georgia should be putting up every obstacle possible to Trump’s authoritarian agenda at the state level,” he said. “And while we’re at it, the Georgia legislature should be ing widely popular policies that Republicans have been blocking for years: Medicaid expansion, restoration of reproductive freedom, common sense gun safety legislation, and more.”

McLaurin plans to be at the Savannah ports around 3 p.m. to launch his campaign, according to his team. His office said recent tariffs imposed by the president have caused “dramatic economic uncertainty, and Georgia ports are widely expected to experience supply chain issues.”