May 24 Primary Elections

May 24, 2022, brought another round of primary elections–this time in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas. What can be learned from the May 24 results? Here, Election Central takes a closer look. 

Georgia 

Republican Brian Kemp is the current governor of Georgia. He was challenged for the party nomination by former senator David Perdue. Former president Donald Trump supported Perdue, because Kemp refused to support Trump’s rejection of the 2020 presidential election results. Trump vocally supported Perdue, and he also contributed $500,000 to Perdue’s campaign. Nevertheless, Kemp beat Perdue easily. Kemp won over 73 percent of the cast votes, and Perdue only won 21 percent. Attorney General Christopher Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger were not endorsed by Trump and received his criticism. But these two incumbents also easily beat their opponents. Carr won 73 percent of the Republican primary votes, and Raffensperger defeated Jody Hice 52 percent to 33 percent. 

In November, Kemp will face off against Democrat Stacey Abrams for the governor’s seat. These two candidates have already challenged each other once before. In the state 2018 governor race, Abrams very nearly beat Kemp, who was then Georgia’s Secretary of State. 

Alabama 

In Alabama, the Republican Senate primary race is advancing to a runoff because no candidate received more than fifty percent of the vote. Another election will be held between the two candidates who received the most votes. Katie Britt will run against Representative Mo Brooks. Brooks was originally endorsed by Trump. But when he started doing poorly in the polls, Trump pulled back on his endorsement. Trump accused Brooks of being too “woke” for suggesting that Republicans stop focusing on Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2020. The runoff will take place on June 21, 2022. 

Arkansas 

Trump’s former White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, won her primary. Trump did publicly endorse her. Sanders is the daughter of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. If she wins in the general election in November, she and Mike Huckabee will be the first time in U.S. history that a father and a daughter were both elected as a state governor. 

Texas 

On May 24^th, there were several runoff elections held following the original March 3^rd primary. In one Democratic Party runoff for Texas’ 28^th congressional district, incumbent Henry Cuellar very narrowly defeated Jessica Cisneros by a vote count of 50.2 percent to 49.8 percent. Cuellar is a moderate Democrat who has a public stance against abortion rights and has support from the National Rifle Association. Cisneros is an immigration lawyer who held more progressive Democratic Party views. 

Dig Deeper The next round of primary elections is on June 7, 2022. Which seven states have primaries that day? What are some of the key races to focus on?