Republican voters in Georgia have challenged former U.S. President Donald Trump and overwhelmingly selected Brian Kemp as their gubernatorial candidate.
With about 9 percent of the vote counted, Kemp had accumulated three times as many votes as his main rival, enough for the Associated Press to declare him the winner.
The vote is a bloody nose for Trump, who vilified Kemp for certifying Joe Biden’s election victory in Georgia in 2020. Trump had called Kemp a “return” and a “coward” and campaigned for his opponent. David Perdue.
The result adds to a mixed set of primaries for the former president, who continues to suggest that he run again for the presidency in 2024. Some of the candidates he has endorsed have achieved notable victories, such as JD Vance in Ohio and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania.
But others have fallen short, such as Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina. Mehmet Oz, the daytime television star Trump backed for the Pennsylvania senator, is heading for a countdown in his career against David McCormick, the former head of hedge funds.
Kemp spent Monday campaigning alongside Mike Pence, the former vice president whom Trump has also blamed for his 2020 loss.
“I had a great relationship with Mike Pence; I had a great relationship with President Trump, “Kemp said Monday.” I’ve never said anything bad about him, I don’t think so.
“I’m not mad at him, I think he’s just mad at me. That’s something I can’t control.”
Perdue, the former U.S. senator who won Trump’s endorsement, spent the last stage of the campaign surrounded by a dispute over statements he made Monday about Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee.
“[She] Georgia is the worst place in the country to live, “he told supporters of Abrams, who has been black and has lived in Georgia since he was a teenager. do in 2018 that people should not have to go to agriculture or hospitality to make a living.
Another Republican backed by Trump, Jody Hice, has been more competitive. The first results on Tuesday night showed him lagging behind Brad Raffensperger, who angered Trump by certifying Biden’s victory in the state in 2020, although Hice is expected to do better in the vote. issued on the day, which are counted later.
Herschel Walker, a former American football player and Trump ally, also easily won the Republican nomination for a seat in the United States Senate. He will face incumbent Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock in this fall’s general election.
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The power of Trump’s personal endorsement is also being tested Tuesday in Alabama, where Mo Brooks has staged a late rally even after losing the former president’s endorsement to run for Congress.
Brooks polled a distant third two months ago, prompting Trump to withdraw his support. But a poll by Emerson University earlier this month showed that it had risen 13 points and was now one of three candidates with a viable chance of winning.
However, Trump’s support may be more successful in Texas, where Ken Paxton seems willing to beat George P. Bush, one of the youngest members of the American political dynasty, in the race to become the Republican candidate for state attorney general.
Paxton has backed Trump’s false claims of winning the 2020 election and secured the support of the former president. That seems to have dispelled the doubts caused by the allegations of securities fraud that were filed against him seven years ago and the most recent allegations of bribery during his tenure by several of his deputies, a fact he has denied.