Former President Trump had his roughest night of the midterm cycle so far Tuesday, when his chosen candidates in marquee primary races in Georgia — a state he fixated on after his 2020 loss there — fell far short against their opponents.
In multiple contests, incumbents who had resisted Trump's efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election held double-digit leads over candidates who built campaigns around the former president's false claims.
The biggest loss for Trump was in the state's gubernatorial GOP primary, in which Gov. Brian Kemp bested former Sen. David Perdue, in whom Trump had invested significantly, by more than 50 points.
Perdue centered much of his campaign around Trump's unfounded claims that voter fraud cost him victory in Georgia in 2020 and that Kemp could have reversed the election results. Kemp, meanwhile, did not directly take on the former president and instead focused on pushing a slate of conservative policies while in office, including stringent abortion restrictions, loosening gun laws and more, all while pointing out Perdue's loss in a 2021 Senate runoff.
Beyond his endorsement, Trump funneled more than $3 million to pro-Perdue groups through his leadership PAC, appeared at a rally for Perdue and held a fundraiser for him at Mar-a-Lago, recorded robocalls and more.
However, it ultimately became clear that it wasn't enough, with polls late in the race showing Kemp surpassing the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Perdue acknowledged late in the race that he might not win, but said "I guaran-damn-tee you we're not down 30 points."
Perdue ultimately lost by over 50 points, and Kemp easily cleared the runoff bar by getting almost 74 percent of the vote.
Lower on the ballot, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) fended off a spirited primary challenge by Rep. Jody Hice (R), who also had Trump's support.
Raffensperger famously rebuffed Trump's request for him to "find" the votes needed to reverse President Biden's victory in Georgia in 2020 and became a target of the former president's ire. While he won by a narrower margin, he still beat Hice by nearly 20 points and garnered over 52 percent of the vote, avoiding a runoff.
Trump critics basked in the losses, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) praising Kemp and Georgia voters.
"I am so proud of and happy for my friend—and just as importantly for the Georgia GOP and the people of Georgia. They were not going to kick out a great Governor or be willing participants in the DJT Vendetta Tour," Christie tweeted, using the former president's initials.
To be sure, Trump did have some wins Tuesday night, including in Georgia.
Herschel Walker, the former football star and Trump's chosen pick in the Senate GOP primary, skated to the Republican nomination. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's former White House press secretary, won the Arkansas gubernatorial GOP primary with ease.
Trump undoubtedly remains the GOP's de facto leader, and polls continually show that should he run for president again in 2024, he'd likely outrun his competition by hefty margins. But Tuesday night's results in Georgia showed that voters take more into account when entering the voting booth than who Trump prefers in any given race, particularly if his chosen candidates are running against incumbents with sterling conservative credentials.
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