By The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was a prime goal of former President Donald Trump, has gained the Republican main as he seeks reelection.
Raffensperger beat three challengers, together with Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who had criticized his dealing with of the 2020 election.
Raffensperger was amongst Trump’s chief targets when the previous president turned his wrath on prime Georgia officers for not taking steps to overturn his slim election loss to Democrat Joe Biden within the state. Trump insisted with out proof that victory had been stolen from him by way of widespread voter fraud.
In a now-notorious January 2021 telephone name, Trump advised Raffensperger may “find” sufficient votes to overturn President Biden’s victory. That led a prosecutor in Atlanta to open an investigation into whether or not Trump and others tried to illegally affect the state’s election. That investigation is ongoing.
Hice embraced false claims in regards to the 2020 election being stolen and objected to Georgia’s electoral votes being counted for Biden.
The different two candidates within the Republican main have been former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle and former probate and Justice of the Peace choose T.J. Hudson.
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Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas and Minnesota are holding main elections Tuesday.
HERE’S WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:
— Kemp wins Georgia GOP governor’s race in stinging rebuke of Trump
— Georgia US Senate race will pit Warnock in opposition to Walker
— Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger defeats Trump ally
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wins GOP main in take a look at of her divisive politics
— Unopposed Stacey Abrams nonetheless a goal in Republican main
— Texas Attorney General Paxton defeats Bush in GOP runoff
— Ex-Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders wins GOP bid for Arkansas governor
Follow all AP tales on the midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
ATLANTA — Businessman Mike Collins and Vernon Jones, a former Democrat endorsed by Donald Trump, will compete in a runoff election to determine the Republican nominee for an open congressional seat in Georgia.
Collins and Jones have been the highest finishers out of eight Republican main candidates operating within the tenth District east of Atlanta. Both contenders fell wanting successful a majority of the vote, forcing a runoff June 21.
The race for the conservative-leaning seat drew a crowded area after Republican Rep. Jody Hice introduced he was forgoing reelection to problem Georgia’s secretary of state — a race Hice jumped into with Trump’s blessing.
Collins owns a trucking firm and is the son of former U.S. Rep. Mac Collins, who died in 2018.
As a Democrat, Jones served within the Georgia legislature and because the elected CEO of Atlanta’s DeKalb County earlier than switching events final yr and turning into an outspoken Trump supporter. Jones dropped out of the governor’s race to marketing campaign for Congress at Trump’s behest. The former president had already endorsed a challenger to GOP Gov. Brian Kemp.
The GOP winner will run in November in opposition to the victor of a five-candidate Democratic main.
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — County official Dale Strong and former Huntsville faculty Superintendent Casey Wardynski have superior to a runoff within the Republican main for the congressional seat given up by U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama.
Both ran on points which are reliably common amongst Alabama Republicans: assist for gun rights, opposition to abortion and assist for former President Donald Trump and his insurance policies.
Brooks gave up the place to run for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. The winner of the June 21 runoff will face the Democratic nominee within the reliably Republican district in November.
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Kathy Warner-Stanton has gained the Democratic nomination in north Alabama’s closely Republican fifth Congressional District.
Warner-Stanton, who labored as a pc specialist for the federal authorities earlier than transferring to the personal sector, defeated Charlie Strong. Warner-Stanton will meet the GOP nominee within the fall race to succeed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, who gave up the seat to run for Senate.
Strong was a first-time candidate with expertise within the automobile rental trade.
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has turned again eight main challengers to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination and not using a runoff in a race that pushed her far to the appropriate.
Ivey, 77, is looking for her second full time period and can meet whoever emerges from a Democratic main of six poorly financed candidates in November.
Facing a problem from candidates who portrayed themselves as extra conservative, Ivey repeated former President Donald Trump’s false claims about election theft and pulled a pistol out of her purse in a TV industrial.
Ivey was catapulted to the state’s prime workplace when Robert Bentley resigned in 2017. She simply gained her full time period in 2018.
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s Republican main for U.S. Senate goes to a June runoff between Katie Britt and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks after neither candidate captured a majority of the vote.
The winner of the runoff will face the Democratic nominee in November to find out who will characterize the reliably Republican district because the successor to retiring GOP Sen. Richard Shelby.
Britt is Shelby’s former chief of workers and the previous chief of the Business Council of Alabama. Brooks is a six-term congressman from north Alabama. Former President Donald Trump initially endorsed Brooks within the race however withdrew that endorsement in March.
The two edged out Mike Durant, a businessman greatest referred to as the helicopter pilot shot down and captured within the occasions chronicled in “Black Hawk Down.”
Shelby, one of many Senate’s most senior members, introduced final yr that he wouldn’t search reelection in 2022, igniting a messy GOP main at a time when the nationwide Republican Party is making an attempt to chart a course after Trump’s departure.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former Hormel Foods CEO Jeffrey Ettinger has gained a Democratic main to complete the time period of a Minnesota congressman who died in workplace.
Ettinger, a political newcomer who had far outraised a number of rivals, simply prevailed Tuesday in a area that included Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota regulation professor who was an ethics lawyer throughout President George W. Bush’s administration.
He’ll face the winner of the Republican main in a particular basic election Aug. 9 to finish the time period of Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died of most cancers in February. The southern Minnesota district is generally rural and agricultural, apart from the cities of Rochester and Mankato, and leans Republican.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who gained the Republican main for Arkansas governor, referred to as the deadly capturing of 18 kids at a Texas elementary faculty a “stark and humbling reminder of just how precious life is.”
Sanders, who has opposed gun management efforts, talked about the capturing throughout her victory speech Tuesday night time in Little Rock after successful the first. Sanders is closely favored within the basic election in solidly pink Arkansas.
“Every single life has value and the most vulnerable among us are the ones we should be fighting for and protecting the most,” Sanders stated. “I can assure you that in my administration, that’s exactly what we will do. We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they’re as safe as they are in the classroom, the workplace, the nursing home, because every stage of life has value.”
Sanders didn’t point out her former boss, former President Donald Trump, or former President Joe Biden throughout her victory speech. Sanders had centered closely on nationwide points with adverts that went after Biden and Democrats on points like inflation. Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones gained the Democratic nomination to run in opposition to Sanders.
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ATLANTA — Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock have opened their contest for Senate in Georgia with sharp assaults.
During a speech to supporters in Atlanta on Tuesday, Walker accused Warnock of being a rubber stamp for President Joe Biden who was chargeable for inflation, crime and different issues within the nation.
In a press release, Warnock Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks stated Walker has a “pattern of lies, exaggerations and outright bizarre claims” that present he’s not able to serve Georgia within the Senate.
Warnock and Walker gained their respective primaries handily on Tuesday, organising what is predicted to be a fierce basic election contest that would determine which celebration controls the Senate.
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ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp celebrated his main victory with out mentioning former President Donald Trump, who had endorsed former U.S. Sen. David Perdue within the governor’s race.
“Conservatives across our state didn’t listen to the noise. They didn’t get distracted. They knew our record of fighting and winning for hard working Georgians,” Kemp instructed supporters on the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta.
He thanked Perdue for a pleasant telephone name earlier within the night and for his assist. He then turned his consideration to his upcoming rematch with Democrat Stacey Abrams.
“Our battle is far from over. Tonight, the fight for the soul of our state begins to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor or the next president,” Kemp stated.
He attacked Abrams’ “woke” agenda and stated she’s not taken with Georgia and simply desires to make use of the state as a steppingstone to the White House.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sen. John Boozman has gained the Republican main in Arkansas, warding off efforts by challengers on the appropriate after relying closely on his endorsement from Donald Trump and the state’s prime GOP figures.
Boozman defeated three rivals in Tuesday’s Republican main. Three Democrats have been looking for the celebration’s nomination for Boozman’s seat in Tuesday’s main.
The soft-spoken two-term senator had Trump’s backing, which featured prominently in each advert and mailer, and had adopted a extra combative fashion throughout his reelection bid. Boozman is within the line to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee if Republicans win management of the Senate and he had the backing of teams just like the National Rifle Association.
But his challengers had tried to painting the incumbent lawmaker as not conservative sufficient. They included former NFL participant Jake Bequette, who had the assist of a brilliant PAC that spent greater than $1.5 million on adverts supporting his bid and attacking Boozman.
Conservative activist Jan Morgan and pastor Heath Loftis additionally sought the nomination.
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ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath has defeated fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux in a Georgia main race between two incumbents who grew to become rising stars after flipping districts lengthy held by Republicans.
The contest in metro Atlanta’s seventh Congressional District value Democrats one of many two Georgia lawmakers who had picked up House seats for the celebration since 2018.
McBath elected to run for Bourdeaux’s seat slightly than stand for reelection within the neighboring sixth District, which she had represented for 2 phrases. McBath left her former district after the Republican-controlled state legislature redrew it to be extra conservative.
Bourdeaux, who was looking for a second time period, stated she was shocked by the problem from a colleague she had referred to as a “sister.” McBath stated her choice was pushed by her need to maintain advocating for gun security in reminiscence of her teenage son, who was fatally shot in 2012.
In the November election, McBath will face the winner of Republican main between 5 candidates.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Nuclear engineer and ordained minister Chris Jones has gained the Democratic nomination for governor in Arkansas as he mounts an uphill bid for the extraordinarily pink state’s prime workplace.
Jones defeated 4 rivals in Tuesday’s main, successful the bulk wanted to say the nomination and not using a runoff. He’ll face Republican Sarah Sanders and Libertarian nominee Ricky Dale Harrington within the November election.
Jones is amongst dozens of Black Democrats operating for workplace in areas that former President Donald Trump gained. Arkansas has by no means elected an African American to statewide or federal workplace earlier than.
He launched his marketing campaign final yr with a web based video final yr that shortly went viral. In the video, Jones talked about his religion, love of science and his household’s historical past within the state.
Jones is operating to succeed Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who’s barred by time period limits from looking for reelection and is contemplating operating for president in 2024.
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ATLANTA — Former Sen. David Perdue stated he referred to as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to congratulate him on his victory within the Republican gubernatorial main.
Perdue had been recruited by Donald Trump to problem Kemp, who had attracted the previous president’s wrath for rejecting his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. But Perdue by no means gained a lot traction within the race and was simply crushed by the incumbent Tuesday.
Perdue stated he would work to make sure Kemp beats Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams within the November election, a rematch of their contest 4 years in the past.
“Everything I said about Brian Kemp was true, but here’s the other thing I said was true: He’s a much better choice than Stacey Abrams. We are going to get behind our governor,” Perdue stated.
“We are going to do everything we can to make damn sure Stacey Abrams doesn’t take over this state and let the woke mob take over our beloved children and grandchildren,” he stated.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has gained the Republican nomination for governor in Arkansas after a marketing campaign the place she centered totally on nationwide points and criticizing President Joe Biden.
Sanders defeated former discuss radio host and podcaster Doc Washburn, who mounted a longshot bid for the GOP nomination in Tuesday’s main. Five Democrats have been additionally looking for their celebration’s nomination for governor in Tuesday’s main.
Sanders was endorsed by her former boss, former President Donald Trump, and shattered fundraising information since getting into the race final yr. Sanders, the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, blanketed the state with adverts concentrating on Biden on points like inflation and vowing to battle the “radical left.”
She’s operating to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who’s barred by time period limits from looking for reelection and is contemplating a run for president in 2024.
Trump had publicly inspired Sanders to run for governor when she introduced in 2019 she was leaving the White House to return to her dwelling state.
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is once more the GOP nominee for his job in a main runoff victory over Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush.
Bush is the one member of his well-known household nonetheless in workplace, however the loss means he’ll now exit in January. That will depart the Bush dynasty out of elected workplace for under one of many few occasions within the final 40 years.
The coming finish of the Bush period — a minimum of for now — got here by the hands of a two-term incumbent nonetheless dogged by a 2015 felony indictment and a separate FBI investigation into accusation of corruption. But importantly in Texas, Paxton had the backing of Donald Trump — the previous president who has mocked and antagonized the Bush household on his technique to taking their mantle because the GOP’s standard-bearer.
Paxton, who has denied wrongdoing, is now inside attain of a 3rd time period in Texas, the place a Democrat hasn’t gained statewide workplace in almost 30 years.
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ATLANTA — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated 5 fellow Republicans in a Georgia main that examined conservative voters’ tolerance of the first-term congresswoman’s divisive politics.
Greene, a celeb among the many GOP’s right-wing fringe, will likely be on the poll once more within the November basic election. She will face the winner of a three-way Democratic main in northwest Georgia’s 14th District, a seat drawn to present Republicans an enormous benefit.
Jennifer Strahan and different Republican challengers sought unsuccessfully to persuade voters that Greene’s combative rhetoric and willingness to embrace baseless conspiracy theories did little to learn her constituents.
Greene raised greater than $9 million to defend her seat and spent greater than $6.6 million within the main warding off assaults from inside her personal celebration. She remained on the poll after voters mounted a failed effort to disqualify her by claiming she inspired the Jan. 6 Capitol rebel and riots that disrupted Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
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ATLANTA — Georgia’s Republican legal professional basic has defeated a GOP main challenger who entered the race with the backing of former President Donald Trump.
Unofficial election returns present Attorney General Chris Carr successful the Republican nomination over John Gordon, who largely campaigned on Trump’s baseless allegations of widespread election fraud.
Gordon stated he wished an investigation into the 2020 election and blamed Carr for not doing sufficient. Carr stated flatly that Trump and Georgia’s two Republican senators misplaced that election and there was no want to analyze.
Appointed to the legal professional basic’s workplace by the governor in 2016, Carr is looking for his second full time period. He counts his prime achievements as prosecuting human trafficking, securing a $636 million opioid settlement, and defending the 2021 Georgia voting regulation.
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ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has defeated his Donald Trump-backed challenger David Perdue after a livid push by the previous president to punish Kemp for not overturning the 2020 election outcomes.
Kemp’s victory on Tuesday units up one other basic election race in opposition to Democrat Stacey Abrams, who was unopposed in her main. The November rematch of their 2018 contest is more likely to be one of many nation’s costliest and intently watched.
Perdue was courted by Trump to enter the race as retribution for Kemp not going together with the previous president’s effort to overturn his defeat in Georgia’s 2020 election. Perdue embraced Trump’s election lies, opening two debates between the candidates with the declare that the 2020 balloting was “rigged and stolen.” Election officers discovered no proof of fraud after a number of critiques.
Kemp survived the problem through the use of the ability of his incumbency to push a raft of laws by way of Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature. He signed measures that reduce taxes, allowed individuals to hold hid handguns with out permits and helped ban transgender ladies from highschool sports activities.
The governor additionally tapped bountiful state coffers to present pay raises for public staff and introduced two giant electrical automobile factories.
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ATLANTA — Football nice Herschel Walker, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, gained Georgia’s GOP Senate main.
Walker defeated 5 fellow Republicans, together with Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black and former Trump administration official and Navy veteran Latham Saddler.
Walker is a political newcomer however has almost unmatched title recognition in Georgia from his days as a school soccer operating again. He led the University of Georgia soccer group to a nationwide title in the course of the 1980 season and gained the Heisman Trophy in 1982.
Trump, an in depth buddy of Walker’s, backed his run regardless of questions on Walker’s enterprise dealings and historical past of violence in opposition to ladies. Walker has been open about his lengthy wrestle with psychological sickness and acknowledged violent urges.
He gained the first regardless of skipping debates together with his Republican opponents and making some gaffes.
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ATLANTA — U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock gained Georgia’s Democratic main as he seeks to carry on to his Senate seat within the upcoming midterm elections.
Warnock defeated magnificence trade skilled Tamara Johnson-Shealey.
The junior senator and pastor is looking for a full, six-year time period within the Senate after successful a particular election in 2021 for the ultimate two years of former Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson’s time period. Republicans consider Warnock is susceptible and are concentrating on his seat of their efforts to regain a Senate majority.
Warnock is the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the place the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as soon as preached. On Capitol Hill, he has attacked Republicans’ push for tighter voting guidelines as “Jim Crow in new clothes.”
In Georgia, he has careworn his work in bringing dwelling funding for well being care, nationwide safety analysis and different tasks. He has additionally highlighted his efforts to attempt to cap the price of insulin and briefly droop the federal fuel tax.
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ATLANTA — Stacey Abrams has gained the Democratic nomination for Georgia governor after narrowly dropping the 2018 race to present Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
Abrams grew to become a star within the Democratic Party after her first gubernatorial election and ran unopposed on this yr’s main. She has develop into a number one advocate for voting rights and is credited with laying the organizational groundwork for Joe Biden to develop into the primary Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia in 28 years.
Abrams is more likely to face both Kemp or former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in a November contest that’s gearing as much as be one of many nation’s costliest and intently watched.
The centerpiece of Abrams’ platform is a name to increase Medicaid to all adults. But she can also be highlighting her assist for abortion rights and opposition to state legal guidelines abolishing the requirement for a allow to hold a hid handgun in public.
Abrams has confirmed the flexibility to lift thousands and thousands, however Republicans have raised the specter of her turning into governor to attempt to unify a celebration fractured by former President Donald Trump’s makes an attempt to unseat Kemp.
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ATLANTA — Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, says she expects the private assaults to proceed as she strikes towards the final election in November.
Abrams was requested at a information convention Tuesday in Atlanta a couple of remark the day earlier than from Republican rival David Perdue, who stated Abrams had been “demeaning her own race” with remarks she had made. She turned the dialog again to Perdue’s opponent, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who’s main in polls and fundraising.
“I had an inelegant delivery of a statement that I will keep making — that is Brian Kemp is a failed governor who doesn’t care about the people of Georgia,” Abrams stated.
On the eve of Tuesday’s main, Perdue took a shot at Abrams’ remarks Saturday at a Democratic dinner. She had stated, “I am tired of hearing about being the the best state in the country to do business when we are the worst state in the country to live,” and went on to elucidate that when Georgia has dismal rankings for psychological well being entry and maternal mortality, “then you’re not the No. 1 place to live.”
“She is demeaning her own race when it comes to that,” Perdue stated Monday in an interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks and former Trump adviser Peter Navarro.
Abrams stated she expects Republicans to proceed to assault her personally.
“I have listened to Republicans for the last six months attack me, but they’ve done nothing to attack the challenges facing Georgia,” Abrams stated.
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AUSTIN, Texas — Tuesday’s main runoff election in Texas will take a look at how a lot weight the Bush household title nonetheless carries in America’s largest pink state within the race for legal professional basic.
But George P. Bush, who’s difficult embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Republican nomination, says Tuesday’s vote isn’t about household dynasty.
Speaking in Austin after casting his poll, Bush says the election is “about doing the right thing and supporting the right people for the right offices.”
Paxton is the topic of an ongoing FBI investigation over accusations of corruption, and he’s nonetheless awaiting trial on securities fraud costs after being indicted in 2015.
Bush, who now serves as Texas’ land commissioner, referred to as Paxton “a crook … who continually abuses his office.”
Bush compelled a runoff in opposition to Paxton throughout a crowded four-way main election in March. But he nonetheless trailed Paxton by 20 factors within the March election, underscoring Paxton’s continued political sturdiness in Texas.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”