Some 500,000 Georgia voters – more than 70 percent of them Republican – cast votes on a rainy Tuesday in the state’s primary runoff elections. The big winners? Billionaire Rick Jackson and U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, who secured wins in the GOP primary runoffs for governor and U.S. Senate, respectively.
The results mirrored some of the latest polling from InsiderAdvantage, though the margins for the winners inched wider than most politicos expected.
Jackson defeated Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to win the Republican Senate nomination, setting up a clash with former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November. He poured more than $100 million of his own money into the race – and it paid off, allowing him to shrug off the late endorsement by Gov. Brian Kemp of Jones, winning the runoff by more than five points. The race was the most expensive primary in state history.
Collins, meanwhile, delivered a second stinging rebuke of Kemp, who endorsed and campaigned beside Derek Dooley for the duration of his campaign. But boosted by President Donald Trump, the congressman cruised to a 10 point victory Tuesday. He will now face a stiffer test in the form of U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who’s been building his own war chest in anticipation of a Republican challenger emerging.
Down the ballot, state Sen. Greg Dolezal emerged from a bruising GOP lt. governor runoff over former state Sen. John F. Kennedy. He leaned into a red meat, MAGA platform to emerge victorious in the runoff – will he temper his tone heading into the general election?
Across from him will be fellow state Sen. Josh McLaurin, who defeated former state Sen. Nabilah Parkes in the Democratic primary runoff last night. The fiery Democrat will welcome the challenge from Dolezal, who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, as he showed in his runoff win.
Other results:
State Rep. Tim Fleming defeated Vernon Jones to win the GOP secretary of state nomination. He will face Democrat Penny Brown Reynolds, who won her runoff over Dana Barrett.
State School Superintendent Richard Woods narrowly survived a primary challenge from fellow Republican Bubba Longgrear, while in U.S. Congressional District 11, vacated by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, John Cowan defeated Rob Adkerson for the Republican nomination in a dark red district.
Democratic state Rep. Mary Ann Santos was a rare incumbent to go down – losing to Kim Thomas Smith in her runoff in House District 117, south of Atlanta in Henry and Spalding counties.
We’ll have plenty more analysis of these races and more this week on James Online.
