Georgia’s incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to survive a major challenge from former Sen. now.
Trump-backed candidates appeared to fall on Tuesday night in Georgia, although their favorite Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, is expected to win the Republican nomination. But CBS News predicted that Attorney General Chris Carr survived the Trump-backed John Gordon challenge.
And CBS News predicted that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump asked in January 2021 to “find” enough votes to overturn the results, would win the Republican nomination over his rival, the U.S. MP. Jody Hice, backed by Trump. He was one of the House Republicans who challenged the election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona on January 6, 2021.
“My thought was that the vast majority of Georgians were looking for honest people for an elected office. Someone who would do their job, follow the law, look after them, regardless of the personal cost of doing so,” Raffensperger said. “Defending yourself for yourself, defending the rule of law and electoral integrity and defending the truth, and not giving in to pressure is what people want. I was elected to serve the people and I will.” That’s how I did it. “
Trump had targeted Georgia’s Republicans for not annulling the results of the 2020 election.
Kemp, meanwhile, will face Democrat Stacey Abrams, whom he defeated in 2018.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp greets his supporters during a nightly election surveillance party on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 in Atlanta. Kemp easily rejected a major GOP challenge Tuesday by former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who had the backing of former President Donald Trump. John Bazemore / AP
“I’m fully supporting Brian Kemp in his career to beat Stacey Abrams,” Perdue told fans in his award speech. “We will do our best to ensure that Stacey Abrams does not take over this state.”
Not to mention Kemp’s victory, Trump called for Walker’s victory party, promoting his “big numbers.” Walker noted that “the big party is in November,” when he faces incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.
In one of the closely watched House primaries, CBS News predicted that Marjorie Taylor Greene would win the Republican nomination for Georgia’s Conservative 14th District, easily defeating several rivals.
In his comments on the victory, Greene issued a stern warning to Republicans in the establishment and to the “globalist elites.” “Sending me back to Washington will send a message to the chuclasang establishment. We are the ones who will set the political agenda for the next decade, not them,” he said.
In Georgia’s top Democratic primary, two incumbents clashed in the new 7th District. CBS News predicted that Rep. Lucy McBath, who was redistributed outside of District 6 of Georgia, would defeat Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, who represented District 7 of Georgia.
Alabama and Arkansas also hold primaries on Tuesday. Trump has twice announced his preferences in the Senate race for the open seat in Alabama twice. He first backed longtime loyalist Mo Brooks, but later changed his mind and left his support in March, when Brooks was fighting in the polls. After Trump withdrew his endorsement, Brooks, who was one of the members of Congress who opposed the election results, said the former president “asked me to rescind the 2020 election.”
But despite losing Trump’s endorsement, CBS News predicted that Brooks and Katie Britt, the former chief of staff to current Sen. Richard Shelby, would advance to a second round.
In Arkansas, CBS News projected that former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders win the gubernatorial primaries, after leading the group in fundraising and polls. His father, Mike Huckabee, was governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007.
A number of crucial landslides are occurring in Texas, which involved a shooting on Tuesday near San Antonio. In Texas District 28, incumbent Henry Cuellar faces Jessica Cisneros after Cuellar failed to get 50% of the vote in the March 1 primary. By the end of Tuesday, less than 200 votes separated the two.
CBS News predicts Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will win the Republican nomination, easily defeating Land Commissioner George P. Bush. Although Paxton is embroiled in many scandals, Bush – the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, nephew of former President George W. Bush and grandson of former President George HW Bush – could not surpass his last name.
According to an April poll by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, 40% of Republican primary voters said they would never vote for Bush. Two-thirds of those voters said it was because he was a member of the Bush family. Forty-one percent said they would not vote for Bush because he is not conservative enough.
Bush tweeted a concession and drew attention to Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left at least 19 children and two adults dead.
“But after today’s tragic events, it’s important to keep in mind the temporary disappointments of life,” Bush said. “There are mourning parents in South Texas today. My family and I are mourning them.”
Good Erickson contributed to this story.