Billionaire businessman Rick Jackson spent $100 million to defeat Trump-endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and secure victory in the Georgia GOP gubernatorial primary runoff. Jackson will now face former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms—currently endorsed by President Biden—in November’s general election. The healthcare executive led Jones 53 percent to 47 percent with most of the expected vote counted.

Jackson, unknown to Georgia voters months ago, surged in popularity through targeted advertising that highlighted his journey building a business empire despite growing up in foster care and never being able to afford college. “I know what it’s like to feel like nobody sees you, especially the elite and the powerful,” Jackson said during speeches to hundreds of supporters. “When you grow up the way I did, you never forget where you came from.”

Throughout his campaign, Jackson repeatedly framed himself as a political outsider inspired by Donald Trump. “I just thought… if you had somebody doing business solutions for the state of Georgia, just like Trump is for the United States, I would have a major impact,” he told Fox News Digital. “I’m going to be Trump’s favorite governor because we’re just alike on the way that we handle business and handle problems.”

The race intensified as Jackson positioned himself as a natural ally to Trump’s brand of governance. His campaign strategy directly compared his outsider status to Trump’s, though he did not receive official endorsement from the former president. The contest ultimately boiled down to a fierce battle for the MAGA base, with Jones leveraging Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” while Jackson built momentum through independent messaging and late-stage support from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

Jackson’s victory marks the second Trump-backed candidate to lose a Republican gubernatorial primary this election cycle, as Jones fell short despite an eleventh-hour endorsement from outgoing Georgia Governor Brian Kemp days before early voting closed.