Top Trump adviser enters Georgia race

Peachtree City native joins crowded GOP field in 3rd District.

A senior Donald Trump aide who has worked for a constellation of powerful Washington figures entered the wide-open race for a deeply conservative U.S. House district in west Georgia with the former president’s endorsement.

Brian Jack qualified Thursday to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson. He’s hoping a combination of Trump’s blessing and financial backing from the political network of another former boss, ex-U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, helps him emerge from a crowded field.

Jack, 36, was the first candidate Trump endorsed after he effectively won the GOP nomination by routing Nikki Haley in the Super Tuesday contests. Jack is one of the former president’s longest-serving advisers.

A sixth-generation Georgian who graduated from Woodward Academy, Jack worked for then-U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, as a data specialist for the Republican National Committee and as a political analyst for the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC before he joined Ben Carson’s campaign in 2015.

Shortly after Carson ended his campaign, Jack landed in Trump’s camp and was assigned the painstaking task of wrangling delegates. He led the team that recruited pro-Trump delegates, one by one, to stave off a damaging nomination battle.

After Trump’s 2016 election,

Jack, a Peachtree City native, became the deputy White House political director and worked closely with two other Georgians: Nick Ayers, who was Vice President Mike Pence’s top aide, and Billy Kirkland, a top Pence strategist.

In 2019, he was tapped as director of Trump’s office of political affairs, putting him in Trump’s inner circle during his re-election campaign. He worked from the first to last day of Trump’s administration, where he also was the liaison to Georgia elected officials. After President Joe Biden took office, McCarthy named Jack to lead his political

operation.

He rejoined Trump after the former president launched his comeback bid, helping to lead the campaign’s outreach to local elected officials and grassroots activists.

Jack becomes one of the most formidable candidates running in the 3rd Congressional District, which stretches from Atlanta’s southwest suburbs to the Georgia-Alabama line.

Former Georgia Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan jumped in the race weeks ago, and former state Rep. Philip Singleton joined the contest in January. Other Republican candidates include ex-state Sen. Mike Crane.

Democrats Val Almonord, Maura Keller and Rodney Moore also are running for the deep-red seat.

Brian Jack