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Gov. Brian Kemp captured renomination for a second term Tuesday, defeating former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the Republican primary without the need for a runoff.
By Dave Williams
and Rebecca Grapevine
Capitol Beat
News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp captured renomination for a second term Tuesday, defeating former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the Republican primary without the need for a runoff.
With 95 percent of the vote counted, Kemp had amassed 73.69 percent of the statewide vote to just 21.81 percent for Perdue.
Educator Kandiss Taylor, conservative activist Catherine Davis and retired software engineer Tom Williams trailed far behind in the low single digits.
Perdue, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, took the stage at a Sheraton Hotel in suburban Smyrna at about 8:30 p.m., pledging to support Kemp in the November election despite the bitter campaign he waged against the incumbent.
“I just called the governor and congratulated him,” Perdue told supporters. “I want you to do the same thing.”
Kemp will face Democrat Stacey Abrams, who won her party’s gubernatorial nomination unopposed.
Kemp addressed his supporters at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta about an hour after Perdue, touting his accomplishments in more than three years in office.
“We cracked down on gangs and human trafficking,” he said. “We expanded access to rural broadband. We lowered the cost of health insurance, and we back and will continue to back our men and women in law enforcement. In Georgia, we protected both lives and livelihoods during the global pandemic. We passed historic tax cuts, raised teacher pay and brought the two largest economic development projects in state history to Georgia.”
While Kemp and Perdue disagreed over some issues, Perdue focused his campaign on the governor’s refusal to go along with former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the Georgia results in the 2020 presidential election.
Former University of Georgia football champion Herschel Walker added another victory to his win column Tuesday when he beat five other candidates for the Republican nomination for a Georgia U.S. Senate seat.
Walker earned 68.19 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. He will now face off against current U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock in November.
Walker soundly defeated his five opponents in the Republican primary. Current Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture, Gary Black, was the next highest vote-getter with 13.36 percent of the vote.
Though Walker is a newcomer to the state’s political playing field, his large fan following and former President Donald Trump’s endorsement propelled him to victory.
Warnock handily beat his sole Democratic primary opponent Tamara Johnson-Sealey with 96 percent of the vote.
The results of Warnock and Walker’s contest in November could determine which party controls the Senate.
One of Georgia’s down-ballot candidates backed by former President Donald Trump was threatening to capture the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor without a runoff, while another running for secretary of state was fighting to force a second round.
With about 95 percent of the vote counted, state Sen. Burt Jones was leading Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller 50.1 percent to 31 percent. Jones, boosted by Trump’s endorsement, would avoid a June 21 runoff with Miller if he remains above the 50 percent-plus-one margin needed under state law to win the GOP nomination outright.
The Democrats, however, were certainly headed for a runoff to decide their candidate for lieutenant governor.
Former Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall was in the lead with 30.1 percent of the vote, to 17.65 percent for second-place Charlie Bailey.
In the race for secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, who drew Trump’s ire when he refused to cooperate with the then-president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, was in position to avoid a runoff with 52.32 percent of the vote. U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro, Trump’s pick, was in second place at 33.4 percent.
On the Democratic side, state Rep. Bee Nguyen of Atlanta appeared headed for a runoff for her party’s nomination for secretary of state. She was in the lead with 44.26 percent of the vote, far ahead of former state Rep. Dee Dawkins Haigler’s 18.72 percent, but not far enough to avoid a runoff.
Trump’s influence didn’t count for much in the Republican race for attorney general. Incumbent Chris Carr handily defeated John Gordon, who was endorsed by the former president.
Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan of Atlanta won her party’s nomination to challenge Carr in November, easily besting Christian Wise Smith.
Another Trump-backed candidate to come up short was Patrick Witt, who ran a distant second to incumbent Republican Insurance Commissioner John King.
Another incumbent Republican, State School Superintendent Richard Woods, trounced former Superintendent John Barge in that GOP primary.
State Sen. Bruce Thompson bested former state Rep. Mike Coan in the Republican primary for commissioner of labor. Incumbent Labor Commissioner Mark Butler is not seeking reelection.
The primary picture was less clear for the Democrats, as several down-ballot races appeared headed for runoffs.
Realtor and cut-flower farmer Nakita Hemingway appeared likely to avoid a runoff for the Democratic nomination for agriculture commissioner with 56.22 percent of the vote to 28.63 percent for state Rep. Winfred Dukes of Albany.
Also, former state Rep. Alisha Thomas Searcy had the inside track to win the Democratic nod for state school superintendent outright. She was leading with 57 percent of the vote, while the other three candidates in the race were in the teens.
However, the Democratic contests for insurance commissioner and labor commissioner were in doubt.
Janice Laws Robinson, who is in the insurance business was leading the insurance commissioner’s race with 48.71 percent of the vote. But with 95 percent of the vote counted, she wasn’t likely to get over the threshold needed to win the nomination outright.
The crowded Democratic primary for labor commissioner was even more likely to end up with a runoff. The leader, state Rep. William Boddie of East Point had received only 27.7 percent of the vote to 25.16 percent for businesswoman Nicole Horn.
Consumer advocate Patty Durand appeared to be the winner of the Democratic nomination in PSC District 2. However, she has been waging a court battle to stay on the ballot because of questions over whether she meets the residency requirement. An emergency court ruling Tuesday allowed her to remain on the ballot.
Small business owner Sheila Edwards appeared to avoid a runoff in the District 3 PSC race on the Democratic side. She was leading with 55.5 percent of the vote in a three-way contest.
Sixteen of the 17 questions posed by the Republican and Democratic parties on Tuesday’s ballot passed by large margins.
Republican voters said no to Question 5, which asked if biological males should be allowed to compete in girls’ sports.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.