Democrats elect Abrams, battle of Republican gubernatorial candidates in Georgia – NBC10 Philadelphia

Democrat Stacey Abrams secured a spot in Georgia’s November run for governor on Tuesday as polls closed across the state, while there was more competition for Republicans to lead one of the main political battlefields in the United States.

A total of five states voted, including Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota. But Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen did not fascinate anyone more than Georgia.

Abrams participated in the primaries from the Democratic Party without resistance. But Trump personally recruited former Sen. David Purdue to incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who angered Trump by refusing to accept his baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud. Kemp became a powerful fundraiser who took advantage of the position. In the company’s last days, he announced plans to build a $ 8.5 billion Hyundai Motor plant near Savannah.

Purdue’s allies were preparing for a unilateral defeat, the only question being whether Kemp would get the 50% of the vote he needs to avoid a run-off election next month.

“We will not have a second round,” said Mata Zoller, a longtime Republican activist and talk show host in northeastern Georgia who has ties to both Trump and Purdue. “It’s going to be awkward.”

The results may raise questions about where power is within the Republican Party. Although Trump remains very popular with the party’s most loyal voters, the first leg of the midterm election season has shown that they are not always on the side of his election. Other prominent Republicans, meanwhile, are becoming more assertive.

Trump’s vice president Mike Pence held a rally with Kemp in the Atlanta suburbs on Monday night.

“Elections are the future,” he told the crowd, adding that “if you vote for Brian Kemp tomorrow, you will say ‘yes’ to the future of freedom here in Georgia. You will say ‘yes’ to our most cherished values ​​at the heart of all that dear to us.

Meanwhile, Trump held a telephone rally for Purdue, describing it as “100% MAGA.”

When 19-year-old Brody Nelson voted Tuesday in the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock, he said Trump’s influence in the governor’s race was a “big deal” in his decision to support Purdue.

“When Trump was in office, he did a lot for this country, and he did a lot to help small businesses and people who fought in the world against the rich and powerful,” he said.

But Nathan Johnston, a 42-year-old surveyor, said he voted for Kemp because of his leadership over a “difficult four years.”

“Our economy in Georgia has been doing well,” he said. “We haven’t stayed closed more than we should have, and we’ve come a long way through the pandemic, and the economy is going pretty well, so I think it’s having a good effect on it.”

Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats elsewhere have struggled with ideological and strategic units that will determine which candidates to nominate and which issues to prioritize in the November general election.

Democrats were particularly focused on the second round of elections in South Texas, where longtime incumbent MP Henry Cuellar faced a tough challenge from progressive Jessica Cisneras in a race where abortion was a major issue. Cuellar is the last Democrat against abortion to serve in the House of Representatives.

Republicans have decided on a series of lower-profile primaries.

In Arkansas, former Trump aide Sarah Huckabee Sanders was expected to run for governor from Republicans. And in Alabama, Conservative MP Mo Brooks ran to represent the Republican Republic in the race to replace retired Sen. Richard Shelby. Brooks, a leading figure in the January 6 Stop the Steal rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, initially received Trump’s approval, although Trump canceled it after seeing Brooks fight in polls.

No state has had more of a landslide election this week than Georgia, a longtime Republican stronghold that changed democracy in the last election. Biden defeated Trump in Georgia with less than 12,000 votes in 2020, and Democrats with a small number won both seats in the Senate two months later.

This year, Trump’s obsession with his 2020 loss loomed over the Republican election of the governor, Senate and secretary of state.

Former NFL star backed by Trump, Herschel Walker was ready to win a Senate nomination from the Republican Party of Georgia after repelling conservative opponents who raised questions about his history of domestic violence. This fall, Walker will face incumbent Democratic President Senator Rafael Warnack.

Trump’s leading ally Marjorie Taylor Green was also expected to win her primary election in the state’s 14th constituency, despite a first term marked by her conspiracy theories and controversy.

From the Democratic Party of Georgia, two incumbent candidates for Congress, Lucy Macbeth and Carolyn Bourdain, fought each other in the Atlanta suburbs, forced to hold rare primaries between the incumbent president after Republicans redrawn a map of Congress.

Meanwhile, the primaries of the Republicans in Georgia for the post of governor – and the contest for the post of Secretary of State of the Republican Party – will have a direct impact on the Georgian electoral system for the 2024 presidential contest.

In primaries from the Republican Party for Secretary of State, Trump spoke against incumbent Republican leader Brad Rafensperger, who refused to support direct calls by the former president to cancel the 2020 election. Raffensperger faces three main contenders, including Trump-backed MP Jody Hayes. The winner will serve as the chief election officer in Georgia in the 2024 presidential election.

Georgia held its first election on Tuesday under a new law passed by the Republican-backed state legislature in response to Trump’s complaints. The changes made it difficult to vote by mail, which was popular among Democrats in 2020 amid a pandemic; new voter identification requirements have been introduced, which critics have warned could deprive black voters of their voting rights; and expanded early voting in rural areas, which typically vote for Republicans.

The new law also prohibits handing out food or water within 150 feet of a polling station, a common practice in urban areas where long queues of voters usually exist.

No serious or systemic problems were reported in Georgia in the afternoon. There were sporadic reports that polling stations opened late, minor equipment problems, and some voters were out of place.

The general results of early voting in Georgia show a great interest of voters – especially from the Republicans.

According to the Secretary of State, by last Friday, 857,401 voters had voted early, including 795,567 in person. That included 483,149 Republican votes and 368,949 Democrats.

These figures ruined the turnout of early voting in the 2020 presidential election, when 254,883 Georgians voted early.

Democrats downplayed the vote disparity, noting that the state’s most high-profile contests are held on the Republican side.

“As Democrats unite behind our candidates, Republicans are in chaos as they are driven by an extraordinary agenda and try to outdo each other as the most candidates in the MAGA,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman James Harrison.

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From Washington reported Peoples. Associated Press writer Jeff Martin of Woodstock, Georgia, contributed to this report.