Republican voters in Georgia defied former US president Donald Trump and overwhelmingly chose Brian Kemp as their candidate for governor.
With about 9% of the votes counted, Kemp amassed three times as many votes as his main rival – enough for the AP news agency to declare him the winner.
The vote was a bloody nosebleed for Trump, who vilified Kemp for certifying Joe Biden’s election victory in Georgia in 2020. Trump has called Kemp a “handsman” and a “coward” and campaigned heavily for his opponent, David Perdue.
Results are added to a mix of primaries for former presidentwho went on to suggest that he would run for president again in 2024. Some of the candidates he endorsed have achieved notable victories, such as JD Vance in Ohio and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania.
But others have failed, such as Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina. Mehmet Oz, the daytime TV star Trump endorsed for the senator from Pennsylvania, is towards a retelling of his race against David McCormick, the former hedge fund mogul.
Kemp spent Monday campaigning alongside Mike Pence, the former vice president whom Trump has also blamed for his 2020 election defeat.
“I had a great relationship with Mike Pence; I have had a great relationship with President Trump,” Kemp said Monday. “I never said anything bad about him, I didn’t mean to do that.
“I’m not mad at him, I think he’s just mad at me. It’s something I can’t control.”
Perdue, the former US senator who secured Trump’s endorsement, spent the final stages of the campaign engulfed in a controversy over remarks he made on Monday about Stacey AbramsDemocratic candidate.
“[She] said Georgia is the worst place in the country to live,” he told supporters about Abrams, who is black and has lived in Georgia since she was a teenager. Perdue claimed Abrams was “downplaying her race” with comments she made in 2018 that people don’t need to go to farming or hotels to make a living.
Perdue acknowledged the race on Tuesday night, saying: “Everything I said about Brian Kemp is true but here’s another thing I’ve been told is true – he’s a much better choice than Stacey Abrams, and because so we’ll go after our governor. ”
Another Republican endorsed by Trump, Jody Hice, was more competitive. Early results on Tuesday night showed him lagging behind Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger – who wooed Trump by certifying Biden’s victory in the state in 2020 – although Hice is expected to do so. the better of votes cast on polling day, calculated later.
Herschel Walker, a former American football player and Trump ally, also easily won the Republican nomination for a US Senate seat from Georgia. He will face incumbent Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock in the general election this fall.
The strength of Trump’s personal endorsement was also tested on Tuesday in Alabama, where Mo Brooks staged a late-night rally even after losing the former president’s endorsement to become the nominee. Congress.
Brooks voted on Tuesday two months ago, prompting Trump to withdraw his support. But a poll from Emerson University this month showed him up 13 points and one in three candidates with a good chance of winning.
Trump’s support could prove more successful in Texas, where Ken Paxton is set to beat George P Bush, one of the youngest members of the US political dynasty, in the race to become the candidate. Republican for State Attorney General.
Paxton has backed Trump’s false claims to have won the 2020 election and secured the former president’s support. That seems to have cleared all doubts raised by securities fraud allegations against him seven years ago, and more recent allegations of bribery while in office by several of his deputies, all Both were denied by him.
