Former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones said Monday that he is “looking closely” at a run for governor of the Peach State.
In a statement to Breitbart News, Jones said it is important for Georgians to have “conservative leaders with the courage to fight.”
“If it weren’t for Brian Kemp’s cowardice, Donald Trump would be President of the United States today,” Jones said. “Georgians deserve conservative leaders with the courage to fight. That’s how we take our state back.”
Jones also said “if elected” he will “fight the battles” Gov. Kemp has been “unwilling to fight for the past four years,” vowing to never apologize for his support for former President Donald Trump.
“If elected, I’ll fight the battles Brian Kemp has been unwilling to fight for the past four years,” Jones told Breitbart News. “And most importantly, I’ll never apologize for standing beside President Trump.”
“I’ll protect women’s sports, secure our elections, remove critical race theory from our schools, and fight to preserve our Georgia values,” Jones added.
Jones gained notoriety last year after he, a registered Democrat representative in Georgia, announced his support for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
“It’s very simple to me,” Jones said at the time. “President Trump’s handling of the economy, his support for historically black colleges, and his criminal justice initiatives drew me to endorse his campaign.”
In January, Jones left the Democrat Party and condemned it for being unaccepting of “independent-thinking black men” like himself. Jones was also harassed by protesters affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement. Jones said:
I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, but I’m black. If black lives matter, I’m not a black life? Are you targeting me just because of my choice, my First Amendment freedom of speech, who I decide I want to support? And you’re supposed to be about some kind of social justice? Wait a minute, the height of hypocrisy. No, you’re thugs. You’re criminals.’
Jones also commended the officers who were in the area when he was harassed, saying that black officers were also facing scrutiny at the time.
“They literally put their lives on the line for me, and how they were treating those police officers, including some of them being African American. So this is not about black lives matter,” Jones said of the situation. “It had nothing to do with this.”
Jones served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1993 to 2001 and 2017 to 2021.
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