Georgia GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Rick Jackson Promoted DEI Through His Nonprofit

Rick Jackson, a Republican billionaire seeking Georgia's governorship with a pledge to ban DEI in state government and public education, founded a nonprofit that promoted a 2021 workplace initiative. That effort urged Georgia CEOs to invest in DEI, measure progress, examine racial pay gaps, use race-conscious hiring practices and lead workplaces "with race in mind."

Jackson founded Jackson Healthcare and its network of companies, including Jackson Physician Search and Jackson Therapy Partners. He has called himself President Donald Trump's "favorite governor," modeled his campaign launch after Trump's and said he has never met a Trump policy he doesn't like. Trump has targeted DEI for elimination in a second term, issuing an executive order after his inauguration to remove it from public services and universities. His administration has pursued DEI challenges in courts.

Jackson also founded and leads goBeyondProfit, a Georgia nonprofit. It calls itself a "no-cost resource for Georgia business leaders interested in evolving their corporate generosity efforts into a business strategy." The group says Jackson believes businesses can and should be a force for good. In 2021, goBeyondProfit started a DEI initiative focused on keeping "race in mind" in workplaces. It included a Telly Award-winning video series for CEOs on the "do's and don'ts" of diversity, equity and inclusion. The series, which aims to help companies implement DEI, remains on the nonprofit's website.

One video promoted critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi's book "How To Be An Antiracist," described by critics as a key text in race-conscious ideology that rejects colorblindness and supports discrimination for equity. Experts in the series called "doing nothing" on DEI "cringe worthy" and framed workplace race issues around slavery and Jim Crow.

Matthew Harrison, then a Jackson Healthcare DEI executive, appeared in the videos. He said the share of "people of color" hired into new roles at Jackson Healthcare rose from 9% to 25% after the company adopted diversity measures from the videos. Harrison described a "Rooney Rule" hiring policy he implemented in June 2019. "Personally here at Jackson Healthcare, I took over leading talent acquisition here in June of 2019 and put that in place, and within a year, we saw our increase in the number of people of color that we hired into new roles. It went from 9% to 25% and that’s the only thing we changed," Harrison said.

Another speaker pushed tying DEI metrics to employee evaluations, "taking those proactive steps and being anti-racist" per Kendi's book, periodic pay equity reviews and financial investment in DEI. "Put your money where your mouth is," the speaker said. That expert called slavery "America’s first race-based economic system" with vestiges in workplaces today. Harrison noted, "Oddly, the American workplace is the one place where we should be having more of these conversations, but ironically, it’s the one place where we’re least likely to do." Jackson Healthcare also ran a "race series" with an outside vendor to avoid an HR mandate image.

A goBeyondProfit blog post by Harrison and another expert urged executives to take an Implicit Association Test for subconscious biases and make a "Bias Breaker" list covering gender, sexual orientation, race or skin color, weight, age and more.

Jackson's campaign platform promises to prohibit DEI in state government, public universities and classrooms. His messaging vows to "ban DEI insanity" and "criminalize reverse discrimination." "We need to ban every bit of idiotic DEI insanity and criminalize reverse discrimination," he posted on social media.

Fox News Digital contacted Jackson’s campaign, Jackson Healthcare and goBeyondProfit about the "Race in Mind" initiative, Jackson's awareness and approval, and how it fits his anti-DEI stance. "Rick hires like the Georgia Bulldogs: only the best players hit the field, and he will prohibit reverse discrimination as governor," a campaign spokesperson replied. The campaign noted that "many of Georgia's most successful and conservative business leaders" joined goBeyondProfit, including Chick-fil-A and Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus until his death.

The initiative launched in 2021 amid social justice pushes after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others. It is called "Leading a Thriving Workplace with Race in Mind."

Past reports noted similar issues. In March, Fox News Digital reported Harrison's 2020 podcast comments crediting Jackson Healthcare leaders with seeing DEI's importance. Last month, one of Jackson's staffing companies mocked Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

These details surface as Georgia's GOP gubernatorial primary nears its end next Tuesday, ahead of the November general election. The race has focused on Trump allegiance. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones holds Trump's endorsement; Trump warned in a tele-rally, "I endorse a man named Burt Jones." Jones calls Jackson a "Never-Trumper" and "fraud" for funding Trump's foes like Jeb Bush.

Jackson positions as a Trump-style outsider, pledging to be "Trump’s favorite governor," donating $1 million to Trump's MAGA Inc., launching with an elevator descent like Trump and saying he likes every Trump White House policy. He attacks Jones as establishment and likens Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "Judas" for 2020 election actions.