In Georgia, Republican primary for governor goes to a runoff : NPR

The race for the Republican nomination for Georgia governor is headed to a runoff, according to a race called by the Associated Press.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones will face off against healthcare executive Rick Jackson on June 16. The result advanced two candidates who aligned closely with President Trump over two others, who had opposed his attempts to overturn Georgia’s outcome in the 2020 presidential election.

Jones, who has served as lieutenant governor since 2023, is endorsed by Trump, whom he has backed since early in Trump’s first run for president. Federal prosecutors investigated Jones for allegedly serving as a fake elector in a scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, but declined to charge him in 2024.

While Jackson, owner of a healthcare company, is not endorsed by Trump, he has closely aligned himself with the president, and has compared himself to him as a fellow billionaire.

Jackson and Jones have spent millions of dollars on TV attack ads against each other since Jackson entered the race at the beginning of this year.

The primary tested the strength of Trump’s endorsement and the MAGA base in Georgia. Trump lost Georgia by about 11,000 votes in 2020 and won the state in 2024.

Georgia, which has a Republican-controlled state government and two Democratic U.S. senators, will be a key state in November and could help decide the balance of parties in the Senate. Meanwhile the primary elections for governor serve as a temperature check for what each party’s voters are prioritizing.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Attorney General Chris Carr also ran on the Republican ticket for governor, but did not win enough votes to advance to the runoff. Raffensperger and Carr took a less Trump-centric approach to their campaigns. Carr in campaign ads described himself as a “Brian Kemp Republican,” after Georgia’s Republican governor, who has at times been at odds with Trump.

Raffensperger famously butted heads with Trump in 2020, when Trump asked him to “find” about 11,000 votes to help him win the state. Carr, as attorney general, had also supported the state’s vote results, which went to Joe Biden.

Georgia voters are also waiting for results in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, and the Republican Senate primary.  Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff was unopposed for his party’s nomination as he runs for a second term in November.

On the Democratic side of the governor’s race, primary voters are choosing between former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is endorsed by former President Joe Biden, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was a Republican but became a Democrat, former state Sen. Jason Esteves, and former labor commissioner Michael Thurmond.

The top vote-getters from that race can provide a glimpse into the divide between moderate and progressive Democrats in the state.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Sarah Kallis covers politics at GPB.