Meet the candidates running for Georgia Attorney General

ATLANTA — Republican incumbent Chris Carr faces Democratic challenger Georgia Sen. Jen Jordan in the Georgia Attorney General race.

The attorney general serves as the attorney and legal advisor for the state.

The attorney general provides opinions on legal questions concerning the state, represents the state in all civil cases and capital felony appeals before the Georgia Supreme Court.

The attorney general by law cannot provide legal advice to private citizens.

Chris Carr (R)

Chris Carr has served as Georgia’s attorney general since he was appointed to the position in 2016. Carr was appointed to the role by then-Gov. Nathan Deal, and in 2018, he was elected statewide to a full, four-year term.

He is running for the position once again in 2022 on the Republican ticket.

Carr has made combating the opioid crisis a top priority for his office.

As commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development from 2013 to 2016, Carr led the state agency responsible for creating jobs and investment in Georgia. Georgia was named the “No. 1 state for business” each of the three years Carr was commissioner.

The department under Carr’s leadership helped facilitate 1,069 projects across the state that represented approximately $14.4 billion in investment and the creation of more than 84,000 jobs.

Carr also created the Statewide Opioid Task Force, which has been praised as a national model and includes more than 300 public, private and nonprofit entities working together to save lives in this fight.

Before becoming attorney general, Carr served six years as U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s chief of staff. Carr advised the senator on federal legislation and on judicial nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts in Georgia and across the country.

Carr also served on Georgia’s Judicial Nominating Commission, the body charged with recommending candidates to the governor to fill judicial vacancies from 2011 through 2018.

He is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and Lumpkin School of Law.

Carr is married to his wife, Joan Carr. They have two daughters.

Candidate website: http://chriscarrga.com/

Jen Jordan (D)

Jen Jordan currently serves as a state senator, representing parts of Fulton and Cobb counties in the Georgia State Senate.

Jordon is originally from Eastman, Georgia, but now lives in Fulton County.

An attorney by trade, Jordan specializes in complex civil cases.

“Her work in the courtroom on behalf of Georgia consumers has resulted in multiple successful verdicts and reported appellate decisions, most notably USA Payday Cash Advance Center #1, Inc. v. Evans and Georgia Cash America, Inc. v. Strong, cases where she represented consumers in multiple class action lawsuits against predatory payday lenders,” her campaign website said.

In 2017, Jordon won a special election to replace a Republican in the Georgia State Senate, flipping a Republican-held seat and ending the GOP’s super-majority in that legislative body. She was reelected in 2018 and 2020.

“Jen has waged battles against efforts to dump more corporate money into our politics, restrict the basic rights of Georgians, and to politicize our elections system. She has promoted efforts to ensure quality education for all Georgia’s children and to ensure the adequate funding of our judicial system,” her website said.

Jordan graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia, School of Law where she was a member of the Georgia Law Review and of the law school’s award-winning National Moot Court Team.

Jordan is a mother of two.

Candidate website: https://jen4georgia.com/

Candidate Access

(Note: Chris Carr did not participate in WSB-TV candidate access)

Candidate Access: Jen Jordan, Democratic candidate for Georgia Attorney General

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