ATLANTA — Newly elected Lt. Gov. Burt Jones says he is “laser focused” on the well-being of Georgians.
The Jackson Republican and businessman ran for lieutenant governor after a decade as a state senator because he wanted a new challenge and thought he could help ordinary Georgians, Jones told Capitol Beat this week.
“I have always been of the mindset that you shouldn’t stay put for too long,” he said. “You either move up or move on.
“I saw an opportunity to lower our state income tax to put more money back into the pockets of hardworking Georgians, empower parents and teachers, and to make our communities safer.”
Jones beat out then-Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller in last May’s Republican primary and went on to defeat Democrat Charlie Bailey by 5 percentage points as part of the GOP’s November sweep of statewide constitutional offices.
Jones’ campaign was helped along by loans from his personal fortune. His father founded Jones Petroleum Company, a wholesale fuel distributor that also owns retail and fast-food outlets.
Besides being a businessman and lawyer, Jones’ father, William “Bill” Jones, served in the Georgia House of Representatives for four terms beginning in 1976 — as a Democrat.
The younger Jones, who was born in 1979, attended the University of Georgia, where he majored in history and served as captain of the 2002 SEC championship-winning football team after initially joining as a walk-on.
Jones went on to found J.P. Capital & Insurance, an insurance agency in Jackson, and won his first run for the Senate in 2012.
Now that Jones is firmly ensconced as head of Georgia’s upper chamber, he is concentrating on workaday issues such as public safety and growing the state’s workforce.
He called addressing gang violence in Georgia “a top priority for my office.”
This week, he announced…
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