ATLANTA – John King, Georgia’s insurance commissioner, has joined the Republican primary election in hopes of unseating Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff next year.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement last week that he would not be running for the Senate opened the door to a host of potential candidates. Days later, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of St. Simons Island became the first Republican to enter the race.
King, a major general in the U.S. Army National Guard and a former police chief, is the first official elected statewide to join the race. He won the election for insurance and safety fire commissioner in 2022 after Kemp appointed him to the position in 2019.
The native of Mexico is the first Hispanic to have won statewide office in Georgia.
King came to America at age 17 and enlisted in the National Guard, rising from private to major general when he retired in 2023. He was deployed to Afghanistan, Africa, Bosnia, and Iraq. Over four decades in law enforcement, he rose from beat cop in Atlanta to police chief in Doraville.
In his announcement Monday, King emphasized these roles, his statement saying he “was shot and stabbed in the line of duty.” King also underscored his ties to President Donald Trump, noting that he was deployed to the southern border during Trump’s first term and co-chaired Trump’s 2020 campaign in Georgia.
Despite his statewide election success, King could struggle with national name recognition, which plays a role in campaign fundraising. Ossoff has proven a prodigious fundraiser, bringing in more cash than any sitting U.S. senator.
Still, King drew a veteran GOP strategist to his campaign. Dan McLagan, who worked for Gary Black’s campaign in the U.S. Senate primary won by Herschel Walker, is handling communications for King.