Trump's favored congressional candidate, prosecutor prevail in Georgia primary election

ATLANTA (CN) — Election officials reported solid turnout but short wait times in Georgia’s primary election Tuesday, when voters chose candidates for Congress and state courthouses, including the reelection of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

Despite her national spotlight and opposition from Trump supporters, Willis beat her Democratic challenger, attorney and author, Christian Wise Smith, by a landslide with 88.9% of the vote.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee also succeeded against attorney and radio host, Robert Patillo, with 83.9% of the vote in the nonpartisan contest.

Trump’s influence, however, did help his former political director, Brian Jack, clinch the most votes for the Republican nomination in Georgia’s conservative 3rd Congressional District.

Jack’s promotion throughout his campaign as the most Trump-aligned candidate — with television ads touting praises from the former president and fundraising from a core of MAGA partisans — proved beneficial as he sealed 47% of the vote. But because Jack did not get at least 50% of the votes, he heads to a runoff on June 18 with Mike Dugan, who trailed behind him with 27% of the votes.

As of May 1, Jack spent $568,509 on his campaign of the $924,838 he raised, according to the Federal Elections Commission. The runoff winner will face off against the Democratic nominee Maura Keller in November.

Dugan, an Army veteran and former state senator, took a slightly more moderate campaign approach. He promoted that while he was majority leader of the state Senate, the chamber cut taxes, passed the state’s six-week abortion ban and shortened the period to request an absentee ballot and limited ballot drop boxes.

Three other Republicans sought the party’s nomination to replace Republican U.S. Representative Drew Ferguson, who is stepping down. They include former state Senator Mike Crane, former state Representative Philip Singleton and former police officer Jim Bennett.

In a show of hands during a debate, all of the GOP candidates said they believe Trump won Georgia in the 2020 election despite a lack of credible evidence to the contrary. They all attempted to prove themselves as the most conservative choice, with all of them describing themselves as pro-life, pro-military and pro-border security.

Polling locations in the district that encompasses parts of Douglas, Carroll, Coweta and Fayette counties, saw steady voter turnout, but most voters were reluctant to share which candidates they voted for.

“We need a good government,” a voter at Midway Church in Villa Rica said of his reason for voting. He added that he wished to see more young adults out voting, noting that most voters he saw, including himself, were older.

“We need to do something in our schools to teach kids the responsibility of voting. When I was young, I wasn’t interested either, but it is really important,” he said.

Running for the newly redrawn 6th Congressional District, incumbent Lucy McBath, dominated over her two challengers with 16,997 votes.

The district was redrawn late last year to add an additional majority Black congressional district in portions of western Metro Atlanta after a federal judge ordered Georgia’s Republican-led General Assembly to create an additional political district with a majority of Black voters, ruling the previous map violated the Voting Rights Act.

However, the state’s House districts remain strongly gerrymandered with the GOP being able to do so without sacrificing their majority control of the Georgia’s legislature and congressional delegation.

The majority of voters in the district are Democratic-leaning, making for a competitive race between McBath, Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Representative Mandisha A. Thomas.

McBath’s name rose to notoriety through her advocacy for gun control following the 2012 murder of her son Jordan Davis, leading her to flip the old 6th District, a longtime suburban Republican stronghold, in 2018.

Her message still resonated with voters despite the district’s redrawn boundaries.

“I only have one child and I couldn’t imagine,” a voter at the Collar Community Center in Austell, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

“I’ve been following her for a couple years and she gets out and works for the people,” she added.

In her race to reclaim the seat, the incumbent raised significantly more money than her challengers, spending over $1 million towards her campaign. McBath is likely to prevail in November’s general election when she faces Republican Jeff Criswell, a political newcomer.

Like McBath, longtime incumbent and fellow Democrat David Scott also faced challengers from his own party in a redrawn district, but prevailed.

The six other Democratic candidates who gunned for the 13th district seat in Atlanta’s southern and eastern suburbs did not even come close to Scott’s 62% of votes. South Fulton City Council member Mark Baker received the second most votes at just over 3,000, while Army veteran Marcus Flowers received 2,957 votes.

Scott’s challengers had raised concerns about the 78-year-old’s age and health problems. Scott also triumphed over former East Point City Council member Karen René, physician and public health advocate Uloma Kama, education entrepreneur Rashid Malik, and attorney Brian Johnson. On the Republican side, Jonathan Chavez beat Johsie Fletcher with 69.3% of the votes.

The 13th District previously represented parts of southwest metro Atlanta, but now stretches east from Clayton, northern Henry, Rockdale, Newton and Gwinnett counties.

At least one Democrat and one Republican contested each of Georgia’s 14 congressional districts in the primary. The current balance of power in the House is tight, with Republicans having a 217 to 213 majority, with five vacancies. But all 435 seats are up for election in November, with 44 current representatives not running for reelection.

Kentucky, Oregon and Idaho also held state primaries Tuesday to choose nominees for Congress and other contests.

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