If you’ve been out on the 2026 campaign trail in Georgia lately, you might have noticed that one of the great characters in political stagecraft, the Candidate’s Doting Wife, has been nowhere to be found. And wherever she is, she must have company because the spouses of all four nominees at the top of the Georgia ticket have been harder to find than a 10-karat diamond engagement ring.
A cross between a hood ornament, an emotional support animal and a trained killer, the political wife has been a mainstay in the cast of American political figures since Martha Washington. Add Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and you’ve stumbled onto a favorite obsession of political watchers over the years.
In fact, the notion of an adoring political sweetheart campaigning next to the man of the hour is so well worn that Connie Schultz, the wife of former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, wrote an entire book about her year on the trail ahead of the 2006 elections. She called the book “And His Lovely Wife” because that was how she was introduced at more than 100 political events, whether the audience was liberal or conservative, old or young.
Even the headline announcing her departure from her job must have been a kick in the teeth for the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. “Senator’s wife resigns from ‘Plain Dealer,’” it read. Did the wife have a name? You had to read further to find out.
But 2026 is a long way from 2006, even in Georgia, so much so that the most obvious attribute that the current top candidates’ spouses have in common is that they have been almost totally absent from campaign events, regardless of party, position or gender.
But take a look at their impressive resumes and busy lives, and we have to admit that Melody Jackson, Derek Bottoms, Dr. Alisha Kramer and Leigh Ann Collins may, in fact, have better things to do. They certainly have a lot on their plates, and I’m not talking about their dishes at a county fish fry.
Dr. Alisha Kramer
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Mrs. Jon Ossoff is better known by her friends and colleagues as Dr. Alisha Kramer, an OB-GYN and assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She has known her husband since they both attended The Paideia School and Georgetown University. It’s fairly well known that Jon Ossoff played on the ultimate Frisbee team in college. But less well known is that Kramer was the captain of her ultimate team. In ways large and small, she’s a power player in her own right.
Kramer showed up on occasion during Ossoff’s 2017 and 2020 races, but the couple have had two little girls since then. Kramer is now a young mom, busy raising her daughters when she’s not also delivering patients’ babies, the Ossoff campaign said.
Melody Jackson, Ph.D.
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Speaking of power players, Melody Jackson, Rick Jackson’s wife, created and directs the BrainLab at Georgia Tech, where she also earned her Ph.D. in computer science.
Melody Jackson not only once gave her own TED Talk about inventing technologies for people with disabilities to control devices with only their brain waves — her work on the brain-computer interface has been called “revolutionary and astounding.”
Although riding on a campaign bus for months on end may be astounding, it’s not exactly revolutionary. Expect to see Melody Jackson on election night, as we did during the primary and runoff elections, and possibly at an event or two, but not too much more than that.
Derek Bottoms
Credit: Natrice Miller for the AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller for the AJC
Mr. Keisha Lance Bottoms is an old hand at political spousing, having been married to his wife even before her days on the Atlanta City Council. But the former first gentleman of Atlanta is also a full-time top executive at The Home Depot. And like the other spouses, he is also taking on the lion’s share of parenting duties while his wife campaigns across the state, and occasionally across the country, for governor.
“From basketball practice pickups to campaign events, Derek and Keisha are juggling what so many families know well — busy careers, kids still at home, travel schedules, family activities and, in their case, a campaign for governor,” a Bottoms campaign spokesperson said.
Derek Bottoms spoke recently during a “Men for Keisha” virtual forum, and as Keisha Lance Bottoms wrote in her book, he has been her biggest political cheerleader, even if it’s from behind the scenes. “He consistently challenged me to shine,” she wrote, “sometimes brighter than I even thought I could.”
Leigh Ann Collins
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
On the night he secured the GOP nomination for Senate, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins called his wife, “My best friend for way more than the 37 years we’ve been married,” along with “my rock, through thick and thin.”
But Leigh Ann Collins is more than just best friend material. Although Mike Collins is often referred to as a “trucking executive,” Leigh Ann Collins took over as president of Collins Trucking, the Collinses’ decades-old family business in Butts County, when her husband was elected to Congress.
Add in grandparenting duties, and Leigh Ann Collins is expected to maintain the same below-the-radar role this year as she has for her husband’s previous campaigns.
Even if the 2026 spouses aren’t introducing their other halves at county meet-and-greets, their reality of having two working partners in a relationship is much closer to the reality that most Georgia voters are living in 2026.
They’re also navigating a political environment where candidates’ families are often considered fair game by their adversaries.
While they may not be providing the character endorsement that the “Lovely Wives” used to be responsible for, simply sharing their lives with high-achieving spouses and giving them the freedom to pursue their goals, instead of waiting in the wings at the next political confab, may be the best endorsement this year’s crop of candidates could ever get.
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