Georgia showing fails to reflect Trump’s influence
Ever since former President Donald Trump lost in the state of Georgia during the 2020 presidential election, he has sought revenge against the Republican incumbents there whom he blamed for not helping him overturn the results.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump lost in Georgia again, with his endorsed candidates losing in their Republican primaries for governor, secretary of state and attorney general.
Gov. Brian Kemp beat his challenger, former Sen. David Perdue, by 50 percentage points. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger fended off a stronger challenge from Rep. Jody Hice. And Attorney General Chris Carr easily dispatched attorney John Gordon.
Mr. Kemp is set for a rematch against Stacey Abrams, the former state legislative leader who rose to national prominence during and after her near-miss against Mr. Kemp in the 2018 governor’s race.
Meanwhile, former football star Herschel Walker — who also was endorsed by Mr. Trump — is officially the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia. He’ll square off against incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, whose election in an early 2021 runoff helped give Democrats their thinnest of Senate majorities.
But those were not the only races voters decided Tuesday. Other contests were held in Alabama, Arkansas and Texas:
In Alabama, Mr. Trump turned on Rep. Mo Brooks
as he slid in the polls earlier this year, but Mr. Brooks regained enough traction with voters to qualify for the runoff with the top votegetter in the race, Katie Britt, a former top aide to retiring Sen. Richard Shelby, whom they hope to replace.
Ms. Britt, Mr. Brooks and a third leading candidate, Mike Durant, a military contractor, did not agree to debate, so voter impressions were shaped to an unusual degree by ads, many of which were funded by super PACs and outside groups
In Texas, the race between Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who opposes abortion rights, and his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney, appeared too close to call as of Wednesday.
The race in Texas’s 28th Congressional District is
among the most closely watched in the country, with the candidates and outside groups having spent a total of $12.5 million.
Mr. Cuellar was leading Ms. Cisneros by 175 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, with about 98% of precincts reporting.
The winner will run in November against the Republican nominee, Cassy Garcia, who worked as a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz.
In the Democratic runoff, immigration and abortion rights were central issues. Ms. Cisneros positioned herself as a supporter of abortion rights and criticized the incumbent as the last anti-abortion Democrat in Congress. Mr. Cuellar ran ads calling Ms. Cisneros’ position on border security extreme and potentially harmful to residents in this border district.