Jon G. Burns

Republican Party

Candidate, Georgia House of Representatives District 159

Georgia House of Representatives District 159

Tenure

2005 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

21

Compensation

Base salary

$25,315.32/year

Per diem

$247/day

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Next election

May 19, 2026

Education

Bachelor's

Georgia Southern University

Personal

Profession

Agribusiness

Contact

Official website

Official X

Official Instagram

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Jon G. Burns (Republican Party) is a member of theGeorgia House of Representatives, representingDistrict 159. He assumed office on January 10, 2005. His current term ends on January 11, 2027.

Burns (Republican Party) is running for re-election to theGeorgia House of Representatives to representDistrict 159. He declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled onMay 19, 2026.^[source]

TheGeorgia House of Representatives voted unanimously to make Burns Georgia's 75th Speaker of the House in January 2023.^[1] Before that, Burns had served as House Majority Leader since 2015.^[2]

Burns was born in Effingham County.^[3] Burns graduated from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor's degree in political science and a law degree from John Marshall Law School.^[4][2] Professionally, Burns worked on his family's timber and livestock farm, in Effingham County, and purchased and ran a feed and farm store.^[5] The Burns family owned around 4,000 acres of timberland across three counties.^[6]

Burns got his start in politics when he was he was appointed to represent a district on the 14-member State Transportation Board, part of the Georgia Department of Transportation.^[7] In 2004, Burns ran to represent District 157 in theGeorgia House of Representatives, defeating Woodrow Lovett (D) 65.% to 35%.^[8]

When asked about his top legislative priorities as Speaker, Burns said: "Continuing with our health care initiatives. Also, embrace mental health. It's been a big priority for us over the years. Certainly we've continued that. Certainly public safety will continue to be front and center. Education. We've been great supporters of higher education and K-12, and we've added another layer in there as we look at making sure that pre-K is an important part and is well-funded and well-supported in our state, and we know that if you get started early, then you finish stronger."^[9]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Shannon McCaffrey described Burns as a "consensus builder and a listener, he stresses his roots as a farmer and small business owner at home among the cornfields and pine trees of Effingham County."^[10] Effingham County Democratic Party Chairman Tony Chiariello said, "Jon Burns is a very good politician, and he has made some very good friends among the Democrats in Effingham County, including in the African American community. I don’t vote for Jon Burns, but I think he’s a decent fellow."^[11]

Biography

Burns' professional experience includes working in agribusiness.

Committee assignments

2021-2022

Burns was assigned to the following committees:

• House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee
• House Appropriations Committee
• House Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• House Ethics Committee
• Game, Fish, and Parks Committee
• House Rules Committee
• House Transportation Committee

2019-2020

Burns was assigned to the following committees:

• House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee
• House Ethics Committee
• Game, Fish, and Parks Committee
• House Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• House Rules Committee
• House Transportation Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Burns served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Burns served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Burns served on the following committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Burns served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2026

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns is running in the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on May 19, 2026.

		Candidate
		Jon G. Burns

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined.
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Endorsements

2024

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns (R)	100.0	26,319

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 26,319
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns	100.0	6,798

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,798
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

2022

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns (R)	100.0	19,114

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,114
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns	100.0	7,951

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,951
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2020

See also: Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns (R)	100.0	21,976

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,976
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns	100.0	7,022

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,022
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2018

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns won election in the general election for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns (R)	100.0	16,917

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,917
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159

IncumbentJon G. Burns advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia House of Representatives District 159 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jon G. Burns	100.0	3,276

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 3,276
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for theGeorgia House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 24, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 11, 2016.

IncumbentJon Burns ran unopposed in the Georgia House of Representatives District 159 general election.^[12][13]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 159 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jon BurnsIncumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	17,513
Total Votes				17,513
Source:Georgia Secretary of State

IncumbentJon Burns defeatedDaniel Almond in the Georgia House of Representatives District 159 Republican primary.^[14][15]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 159 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jon BurnsIncumbent	76.03%	3,857
	Republican	Daniel Almond	23.97%	1,216
Total Votes				5,073

2014

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for theGeorgia House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014, with runoff elections taking place where necessary on July 22, 2014. The general election was held onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 7, 2014. IncumbentJon G. Burns was unopposed in the Republican primary and was unchallenged in the general election.^[16][17][18]

2012

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2012

Burns ran in the2012 election forGeorgia House of Representatives District 159. Burns ran unopposed in the Republican primary on July 31, 2012. He was unopposed in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.^[19][20]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 159, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jon G. BurnsIncumbent	100%	15,829
Total Votes				15,829

2010

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2010

Burns ran for re-election to the 157th District seat in 2010. He did not have any opposition in the July 20 primary. Burns defeatedElizabeth Johnson (D) in the general election onNovember 2, 2010.^[21]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 157 (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Jon G. Burns (R)		8,598	67.4%
Elizabeth Johnson (D)		4,166	32.6%

2008

In 2008 Burns was re-elected to the Georgia House of Representatives District 157. Burns (R) ran unopposed and finished with 15,036 votes.^[22] Burns raised $38,750 for his campaign fund.^[23]

Georgia House of Representatives District 157
Candidates		Votes
Jon G. Burns (R)		15,036

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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You can ask Jon G. Burns to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing info@friendsofjonburns.com.

2024

Jon G. Burns did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Jon G. Burns did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Jon G. Burns did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Georgia

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Georgia scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

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Footnotes

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