John King
RepublicanincumbentCommissioner of Insurance · Cobb County, Georgia · November 3, 2026
Also on the ballot: Keisha Sean Waites (Democrat)
John King is the incumbent Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, a retired Army major general and former police chief born in Mexico who became the state's first Hispanic constitutional officer. He is seeking a second term, campaigning on increased fines against insurers and fraud/arson enforcement, after a brief 2025 U.S. Senate bid.
What this office decides
The Insurance Commissioner reviews and approves insurance rates and policy forms, licenses insurers and agents, and investigates fraud and consumer complaints. The office also serves as State Fire Marshal, setting safety and building fire codes. Its decisions shape what Georgians pay for auto, home, and health insurance.
How this race lines up with you
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Dossier
Researched 2026-09-22 · Claude Code research agent with web searchDonald Trump: nothing found. No dated statement of Donald Trump endorsing King's 2026 insurance commissioner campaign was found; AJC describes King as "a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump," but that is reporting about King's own alignment, not a Trump endorsement of King, and Trump did not back King during King's 2025 Senate run either. source
Who they are
John King was appointed Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 after the prior commissioner was removed on fraud charges, then won a full term in 2022, becoming the state's first Hispanic constitutional officer (AJC). He is a Mexico-born former Atlanta police officer and Doraville police chief who retired as a U.S. Army major general (AJC; Ballotpedia).
Positions
- Business & regulation: Campaigns on "increasing the maximum initial fines allowed" against insurance companies and expanding legal avenues for Georgians to recoup money from insurers (campaign site), while as commissioner he also advocated for Gov. Kemp's 2025 tort-reform legislation, which limited certain lawsuits, including against businesses (AJC).
- Crime & policing: Emphasizes cracking down on insurance fraud and arson; says his office has arrested "more than 500 arsonists" and expanded fraud investigations since 2019 (campaign site).
- Health care: Helped move Georgia off the federally run ACA marketplace onto a state-run exchange ("Georgia Access"), which he says increased participating insurers from four to ten and enrolled 1.3 million Georgians in its first year (campaign site; AJC).
Record
Since 2019 King says his office has recovered more than $100 million for Georgia consumers from insurance companies via complaint resolution, and levied more than $22 million in fines on insurers including a $5 million fine described as the largest in state history (campaign site). As insurance commissioner he also serves as state fire marshal and says his office has more than tripled the number of arson K-9s deployed statewide (campaign site). In May 2025 King entered the 2026 U.S. Senate Republican primary against Sen. Jon Ossoff, then suspended that campaign on July 24, 2025 after Gov. Kemp backed Derek Dooley instead, saying he would seek re-election as insurance commissioner (WABE/AP).
Money
Ballotpedia/OpenSecrets data show King's 2022 insurance commissioner campaign raised $1,393,413 (Ballotpedia). His separate, later-withdrawn 2025-26 U.S. Senate campaign raised about $563,078 through June 30, 2025, per Ballotpedia/FEC data (Ballotpedia); AJC separately reported he "raised a little more than $500,000 through June 30" for that Senate bid (AJC/WABE). No specific 2026 insurance-commissioner-race fundraising total was found; Georgia's ethics.ga.gov e-filing index for King's commissioner committee (filer C2019000636) showed disclosure reports only through 2022 at the time of this research.
Recent news
- 2026-06-22 (updated): AJC profiled the general-election matchup between King and Waites, detailing both platforms (AJC).
- 2025-07-24: King dropped his U.S. Senate bid and announced he would instead seek re-election as insurance commissioner, after Gov. Kemp backed a rival candidate (WABE/AP).
- 2026-05-19: King won the Republican primary for insurance commissioner unopposed, 797,627 votes (Ballotpedia).
What we couldn't find
- A 2026-specific campaign finance total for King's insurance-commissioner re-election (only his 2022 and Senate-race totals were located).
- Any direct, dated Trump endorsement of King in this race (AJC calls him "a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump," which is the reporter's characterization of King, not evidence Trump has endorsed King).
- Ballotpedia's endorsements section for this race was empty for King as of this research.