atlanta — Georgia Republicans will continue to compete as they head toward runoffs for governor and U.S. Senate in the battleground state after Tuesday’s primaries failed to produce outright victories.
The Senate runoff will include former college football coach Derek Dooley and Rep. Mike Collins, while Rep. Buddy Carter has dropped out of the race. The winner will face Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff In one of the most followed campaigns in the November midterm elections.
Lieutenant Governor Bert Jones and health care billionaire Rick Jackson advanced to a runoff in the Republican primary for governor, expanding their bruising and costly electoral battle. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms secured the Democratic nomination on Tuesday.
With about a month left until the June 16 runoff, Republicans will spend more time and money competing against each other before turning their attention to their Democratic opponents in key races.
Ossoff is the only Democratic senator in the country seeking re-election this year in a state that President Donald Trump won two years ago, making him a tempting target for Republicans as they defend their Senate majority.
Bottoms hopes to become the first Democrat to win Georgia’s governorship since 1998. She received a rare endorsement from former President Joe Biden after serving in his administration, and said Tuesday night that she wants to make sure “every Georgian has a chance to succeed.”
“This means stopping Donald Trump every time his policies hurt Georgia, as well as taking action here to make life better for people across the state,” she said.
Ossoff, 39, had no opposition in Tuesday’s primary. This is his first re-election campaign. He has styled himself as a critic of political corruption, targeting Trump and his children over business dealings that enriched the first family.
Meanwhile, the Republican primaries were a test of loyalty to the president, who did not endorse any candidate. Collins, Dooley and Carter all said they would be the best person to advance Trump’s agenda in Washington.
Additionally, Collins has faced attacks over a House ethics complaint accusing him of misusing taxpayer money by paying a top aide’s girlfriend for work she allegedly did not perform. The Office of Congressional Conduct, after a preliminary investigation, did so He referred the matter To the House Ethics Committee.
“If taxpayers can’t trust you to properly manage their money, how can they trust you to be a U.S. senator?” Carter asked Collins in a primary debate.
“My friend, I can tell by your voice that you know how the polling process works out there,” Collins responded.
Collins sponsored the Laken-Riley Act, Law 2025 Requires immigration detention when accused of certain crimes. Republicans believe the issue hurts Ossoff because he initially voted against the measure before supporting it after Trump returned to the White House.
“You can replace a Democrat with a real conservative,” Collins said Tuesday night.
More than $125 million was spent on ads in the GOP gubernatorial primary, with more than $66 million spent by the Jackson campaign, according to the latest numbers from ad tracking firm AdImpact. By contrast, Democrats running for governor spent only about $4 million.
Jones says his conservative record as a state senator and lieutenant governor, coupled with Trump’s endorsement, should make him the obvious choice for Republican voters.
“I think Georgia just spoke,” Jones said at the election night party. He added: “I cannot leave this stage without thanking President Donald J. Trump.”
A Jones victory would strengthen the president’s influence in Georgia after a series of setbacks. Trump failed to unseat Gov. Brian Kemp and others in 2022, and supported Herschel Walker’s losing campaign against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock that year.
Still, Jackson is betting that his outsider rhetoric will win over anti-establishment conservatives. On Tuesday night, he described Jones as a political insider who “works within the system for its own benefit.”
“I can’t be bought, and I’m not backing down,” Jackson said.
Democrat Jasmine Clark won her party’s nomination Tuesday to succeed Rep. David Scott to a two-year term representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District after Scott died in April while seeking another term.
Clark is a state representative, microbiologist, and lecturer at Emory University who has promised to prioritize science in Congress. Her candidacy has been boosted by more than $2 million in outside spending by cryptocurrency-related interests, but Clark said she did not ask for support.
Clark will be the most likely candidate to succeed Scott for a full term starting next January, with Jonathan Chavez not opposed to becoming the Republican nominee.
In the 11th District northwest of Atlanta, Loudermilk announced his retirement and endorsed clerk Rob Adkerson, who advanced to a runoff against neurologist John Cowan.
In the 10th District east of Atlanta, State Rep. Houston Gaines is the top Republican seeking to fill Collins’ departing seat. Jim Kingston, son of US Representative Jack Kingston, is the most senior Republican to fill Carter’s position in Georgia’s 1st Coastal District.
In northeast Georgia’s 9th District, three-term Republican incumbent Andrew Clyde overcame primary challenges from former Gainesville Mayor Sam Couvillon and Hall County Commissioner Greg Paul.
Tuesday was the general election for judges in Georgia. These positions are technically nonpartisan, but eight of the nine justices on the state Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors.
Democrats had hoped the strong election turnout would lead to the first defeat of an incumbent justice since 1922. However, Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren defeated former Democratic-backed state Sen. Jane Jordan, and Justice Charlie Bethel defeated the Democratic-supporting Miracle Rankin. The third judge, Ben Land, has been unopposed for six years.
The state Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by judges, said in statements dated Sunday that Jordan and Rankin violated the Code of Judicial Conduct by publicly endorsing each other and making statements supporting the restoration of abortion rights.
The authority said that it reached its conclusions, which are not considered a final decision, after receiving and reviewing each candidate’s complaint.
Charlie Bailey, chairman of the state Democratic Party, called the committee’s statements “a cynical attempt by a bureaucratic arm of the Georgia Republican establishment to hide the truth about this race from Georgia voters.”
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Amy is a former correspondent for The Associated Press. Associated Press reporter Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, contributed.