Georgia Insurance Commissioner Running for US Senate
ATLANTA //BestWire// - Georgia Insurance & Safety Fire Commissioner John King is running for one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats, becoming the second Republican to launch a campaign in the hopes of unseating incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff in the 2026 midterm elections.
John KingState Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents Georgia’s 1st District, announced his campaign on May 8, becoming the first candidate in what is expected to be a crowded Republican primary field.
In 2019, King was appointed to the commissioner role after his predecessor Jim Beck was indicted on embezzlement charges stemming from his time with the Georgia Underwriting Association (BestWire, May 14, 2019). Beck was ultimately sentenced to more than six years in prison for taking over $2 million (BestWire, Oct. 17, 2023).
King continued as commissioner after being elected to the post in 2022. Born in Mexico, he became the first Hispanic in Georgia’s history to be elected to a statewide office.
After immigrating to the United States at the age of 17, King enlisted in the Army National Guard and retired from the service as a major general in 2023. He was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Africa and the Mexico border during this service.
In addition to his military career, King spent 40 years in law enforcement, first as a beat cop with the Atlanta Police Department and later as police chief of Doraville, a suburb of Atlanta.
King is hoping to face off in the midterms against Ossoff, a media executive and journalist who entered politics as a legislative aide and was elected to the Senate in 2021.
Noting Ossoff opposed U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, transgender athletes and Israel, King said he is “California’s third senator," not Georgia’s senior senator.
“I’ve led troops in combat, been blown up by an IED in Iraq, and been shot and stabbed in the line of duty as a cop,” King said in a statement. “A tough campaign doesn’t scare me; giving Jon Ossoff six more years in the Senate does.”
If elected, King would join the likes of other commissioners that have moved on to serve in the current Congress. Maine’s Republican Sen. Susan Collins previously led the state’s Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, which oversees the insurance bureau, while Republican Rep. Troy Downing was Montana’s top insurance regulator before being elected in 2024 and former California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, a Democrat, was elected as a California congressman.
(By Steve Hallo, senior associate editor, BestWire: Steve.Hallo@ambest.com)