Trump’s pick trounced in primary as Georgia’s voters take a stand

DONALD TRUMP suffered a stinging loss as his favoured candidate was defeated in a landslide in the race to become the Republican nominee for governor of Georgia.

The former US president had backed David Perdue against the incumbent Republican governor Brian Kemp, but Mr Kemp won by more than 50 percentage points.

Mr Kemp had been backed by Mike Pence, the former vice-president, in a clear split with Mr Trump.

The result appeared to represent a repudiation by Republican voters in Georgia of Mr Trump’s claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen. Mr Trump remains furious with Mr Kemp for not overturning the result in Georgia, where Joe Biden won narrowly by fewer than 12,000 votes.

Five US states held party nomination contests on Tuesday to pick candidates for governorships and midterm congressional elections in November.

The focus was on Georgia where Mr Trump had spent $3 million backing Mr Perdue. In addition to Mr Kemp, a key target of Mr Trump’s ire was Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, who certified Georgia’s results in 2020.

Mr Raffensperger defeated a Trumpbacked candidate by 18 percentage points.

However, Mr Trump was successful in backing Herschel Walker, a former US football star who cruised to the Georgia Republican nomination for a seat in the US Senate.

Mr Kemp’s policies, including tough immigration laws and low taxes, were popular with many of Mr Trump’s own supporters.

Erick Erickson a Conservative commentator, said: “Georgia Republicans do like Trump but they’re tired of his bull---t and want to move on.” Mr Trump has endorsed nearly 200 political candidates across the US since leaving office.

One of the most high-profile, the television doctor Mehmet Oz, ran for the Republican Senate nomination in Pennsylvania. That race has yet to be decided after a close finish in voting a week ago.

In Georgia, Mr Pence campaigned for Mr Kemp in the run-up to voting day.