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Republican Gov. Brian Kemp won a second term in office Tuesday in a rematch of the 2018 gubernatorial race.
From staff reports
and Capitol Beat
News Service
Franklin County voters helped the Republican slate of nominees remain in power in Georgia’s statewide offices and threw their support behind Herschel Walker in a race for U.S. Senate that will head to a Dec. 6 runoff.
Franklin voters gave Walker 84.7 percent of their votes in Tuesday’s elections, which aided the former football star in making a runoff with sitting Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Walker had amassed 48.5 percent of the statewide vote as of Wednesday morning, with Warnock drawing 49.4 percent, with 97 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s website. Libertarian Chase Oliver’s 2 percent of the vote was a distant third but enough to potentially put the two major-party candidates into a Dec. 6 runoff.
"We always knew this race would be close," Warnock told supporters gathered at a downtown Atlanta hotel late Tuesday night. "Y'all just hang in there."
"I don't come to lose," Walker told his supporters, who had gathered near Truist Park in Cobb County. "He's going to be tough to beat ... just hang in there a little bit longer."
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp won a second term in office Tuesday in a rematch of the 2018 gubernatorial race.
With 97 percent of the vote counted shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday, Kemp was leading Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, 53.5-45.8 percent, according to unofficial results, well above the 50-percent-plus-one margin needed to avoid a runoff next month. Libertarian Shane Hazel was running a distant third with just 0.7 percent of the vote.
Kemp won more than 88 percent of the vote in Franklin County, to Abrams’ less than 11 percent.
“I appreciate the strong grassroots supporters we have had, literally from Claxton to Calhoun,” Kemp told a cheering crowd at the Coca-Cola Roxy across from Truist Park. “We would not be here without you. Thank you so much.”
Franklin voters also aided the election of Republicans Burt Jones for lieutenant governor, Brad Raffensperger for secretary of state, Chris Carr for attorney general, Tyler Harper for commissioner of agriculture, John King for commissioner of insurance, Richard Woods for state school superintendent and Bruce Thompson for commissioner of labor.
Each Republican won easily in Franklin County with more than 85 percent of the local vote.
Jones was ahead of Democrat Charlie Bailey in the contest for lieutenant governor, 51.5-46.3 percent, according to unofficial results. Libertarian Ryan Graham picked up 2.1 percent of the vote.
Carr won a second full term as Georgia’s top lawyer. Carr was leading Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan 52-46.5 percent. Libertarian Martin Cowen was third at 1.5 percent.
Raffensperger defeated Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen 53.3-44 percent. Libertarian Ted Metz trailed at 2.8 percent.
Woods defeated Democratic challenger Alisha Thomas Searcy 54.3-45.7 percent.
Incumbent Insurance Commissioner King won a first full term in that office, leading Democratic challenger Janice Laws Robinson 54.2-45.8 percent.
Harper was elected agriculture commissioner 53.1-44.8 percent over Democrat Nakita Hemingway. Libertarian David Raudabaugh was third at 2.1 percent.
Current Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black opted not to seek reelection this year and instead launched an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.
Thompson was elected labor commissioner over Democratic state Rep. William Boddie of East Point. Thompson had 52.2 percent of the vote compared to 45.2 percent for Boddie. Libertarian Emily Anderson was third with 2.6 percent of the vote.
The seat is being vacated by Republican Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, who decided not to run for a fourth term.
No Democrat has won a statewide constitutional office in Georgia since 2006.
In addition, Franklin County gave heavy support to Republican U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde in the Ninth Congressional District race.
Clyde got 87.5 percent of the local vote, helping him to beat Democrat Mike Ford by a 72.4-27.6 precent margin district-wide.
Franklin also helped re-elect Republican State Sen. Bo Hatchett, who defeated Democrat Paulette Williams 84.8 percent-15.22 percent in the 50th Senate District. Franklin went for Hatchett with 88.1 percent of the local vote.
Dave Williams and Rebecca Grapevine of Capitol Beat News Service contributed to this article. This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.