Georgia election results: Trump foe Brian Kemp wins primary as Herschel Walker secures GOP Senate nom

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Mo Brooks uses footage of himself in aftermath of mass shooting in campaign ad

Key primaries in several US states today saw high-profile Republican candidates facing off against each other and in some cases trying to triumph over rivals endorsed by Donald Trump.

In Georgia, incumbent Governor Brian Kemp won a decisive victory over his main challenger, Trump endorsee David Perdue, whose campaign failed to catch fire despite the ex-president’s interventions. Mr Trump’s former deputy, Mike Pence, campaigned for Mr Kemp.

The state’s GOP senate primary saw the nomination of controversial ex-footballer Herschel Walker, a very popular grassroots figure coaxed into the race by Trump himself whose sometimes erratic behaviour, business dealings and history of personal problems have left some Republicans worried about his general election chances.

And in Alabama, Congressman Mo Brooks hopes to make a comeback in the Republican senate race despite having lost Mr Trump’s endorsement earlier this year. At the time he was sinking in the polls, and also called on his supporters to start “moving on” from the 2020 election, thus provoking Mr Trump’s disdain.

Key Points

• Controversial Herschel Walker triumphs in GOP Georgia senate race
• Incumbent Georgia governor Brian Kemp sees off Trump-backed rival
• Mo Brooks back in running in Alabama after being dumped by Trump

[25 May 2022 12:53 · Andrew Naughtie]

Report: Trump insisted David Perdue was headed for Georgia victory

Writing for the New York Times, Michael C. Bender and Maggie Haberman have some fascinating colour from behind the scenes of Trump’s doomed Georgia endorsements – and in particular his failed effort to get David Perdue the gubernatorial nomination.

The president’s former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, cautioned Mr. Trump against backing Mr. Perdue and pushed him instead to endorse Vernon Jones, according to people familiar with the conversation. Mr. Bannon argued that Mr. Jones, a former Georgia lawmaker who had been repeatedly accused of abusive behavior toward women, was the stronger candidate nonetheless because Trump supporters viewed Mr. Perdue’s stance on election fraud as inauthentic.

The former president refused to acknowledge recent polling that showed Mr. Perdue was headed for a crushing loss. Even as some polls showed Mr. Kemp ahead by about 30 points, Mr. Trump told Mr. Perdue in a phone call last week that he believed victory was imminent.

“We’ve never lost a race,” Mr. Trump falsely claimed of his record of endorsements, according to a person briefed on the conversation.

Read the full piece below.

[25 May 2022 13:44 · Andrew Naughtie]

What do last night’s GOP results mean for 2024?

Aside from the question of whether or not Donald Trump will run again – and most observers currently think he will – the main guessing game about the 2024 Republican presidential race is whether he or some anointed successor will face a serious primary challenge, and if so, from what angle.

And now, the failure of Trump-backed candidates who tried to carry out his revenge against post-2020 apostates has got anti-Trump commentators debating whether the “big lie” really does hold enough sway in the party to guarantee a win for a candidate who espouses it:

[25 May 2022 14:15 · Andrew Naughtie]

Herschel Walker’s victory party reacted to Biden’s gun speech

As Herschel Walker clinched the GOP’s senate nomination in Georgia with Donald Trump’s backers, his supporters gathered for a victory party where they watched Joe Biden’s speech on gun safety after the news broke of the massacre at a Texas elementary school.

Here’s a report on how the crowd reacted...

[25 May 2022 14:45 · Andrew Naughtie]

Perspective: just how badly David Perdue lost

It’s not possible to know for sure whether Donald Trump and David Perdue genuinely expected to defenestrate Brian Kemp in Georgia – but as Shane Goldmacher points out, their statements in the campaign’s closing weeks ended up setting them up for a worse humiliation than they may have anticipated.

[25 May 2022 15:15 · Andrew Naughtie]

Fact check: Herschel Walker’s misleading claims about...his misleading claims

One of the many things that has establishment Republicans concerned about Herschel Walker is his record of misleading claims about his background, in particular his education.

Now, he has taken to claiming that he never made the false claims in the first place. CNN has revisited the story and produced this fact check detailing where Mr Walker has misled the public.

[25 May 2022 15:45 · Andrew Naughtie]

Catch up: Raffensperger triumphs over Trump’s fury

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is one of Donald Trump’s least favourite Republicans thanks to his refusal to help overturn the 2020 election, and his full-on denial of the lie that it was stolen from the former president.

That earned him what was expected to be a stiff primary challenge from a Trump-backed candidate – but in the end, Mr Raffensperger not only won, but cleared the 50 per cent threshold to avoid a runoff.

Eric Garcia has more:

[25 May 2022 16:15 · Andrew Naughtie]

AOC calls Congress an “incumbent protection racket” as Cuellar claims victory

The Democratic House leadership’s decision to back Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar over a progressive challenger infuriated the caucus’s left-leaning members – not least because of his opposition to abortion, but also because he is far more open to the pro-gun lobby than the mainstream of his party.

Mr Cuellar is claiming victory in his runoff race against opponent Jessica Cisneros, but the race officially remains too close to call, with the two candidates separated by an incredibly tight margin. For now, the left are drilling down on the leadership’s support for Mr Cuellar, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leading the charge:

Read more below from Eric Garcia.

[25 May 2022 16:46 · Andrew Naughtie]

Trump memory-holes his failed endorsements

Not everything went wrong for Donald Trump, but by failing to knock out Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger while also seeing Mo Brooks make it through to a runoff, he lost some of his biggest bets of the primary season.

And yet, he is as ever rewriting history already, congratulating “all” while boasting about how many of his endorsees have won.

[25 May 2022 17:15 · Andrew Naughtie]

Vanquished right-wing candidates try and move on

Josh Mandel, who for a time looked like the likely GOP nominee for Ohio’s open senate seat before JD Vance humiliatingly stole his thunder, appears to be trying to clear the record, locking his Twitter account and deleting scores of incendiary tweets from the hardcore right-wing campaign he ran to curry favour with the GOP’s Trumpist base.

Meanwhile, Madison Cawthorn, who suffered a mortifying defeat last week after a flurry of sordid scandals and now faces a House Ethics Committee investigation, appears to be licking his wounds in Rome.

[25 May 2022 18:00 · Andrew Naughtie]

Oz-McCormick fight drags on as last votes trickle in

More than a week after polling day, Dr Mehmet Oz is still leading Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary – but only just, with the gap between them now less than 1,000 votes wide.

The Republican Party has stepped in to try and keep undated mail-in ballots from being included in the count. If the party manages to limit the number of votes that can be counted, it would probably favour the Trump-endorsed Dr Oz.