Tuesday’s wave of primary elections underscored the continued influence of President Donald Trump within the Republican Party, as several candidates backed by the former president secured victories in major races across the South.
The results also helped shape a series of general election matchups that could test whether Democrats are able to capitalize on Trump’s low approval ratings in traditionally Republican-leaning states.
In Alabama, retiring Sen. Tommy Tuberville won the Republican nomination for governor, setting up a high-profile general election contest against former Sen. Doug Jones, who emerged from Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Tuberville defeated Jones in Alabama’s 2020 Senate race, and while the Cook Political Report currently rates the governor’s race as solidly Republican, Jones remains one of the few Democrats to achieve statewide success in Alabama in recent years.
During his primary victory speech, Jones focused heavily on economic issues, pledging to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid coverage.
Tuberville, meanwhile, said he would spend the coming months campaigning against what he described as “socialism and communism.”
In the state’s Senate race, Trump-backed Rep. Barry Moore (Ala.) appeared positioned to succeed Tuberville, finishing well ahead of former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall by double-digit margins in Tuesday’s primary.
The race for second place had not yet been officially called, but Moore is expected to face either Hudson or Marshall in a runoff election, with the eventual Republican nominee viewed as the favorite heading into November.
In Kentucky, the spotlight was fixed on the 4th Congressional District, where Trump-backed challenger and former decorated Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein defeated Rep. Thomas Massie in what became the most expensive House primary race in American history.
Massie, who had publicly broken with Trump over issues including the Epstein files controversy and the Iran conflict, used his concession speech to criticize both the president and several of Trump’s political allies.
“I got to watch Fox also for the first time in 18 months,” Massie told supporters, “and there was the president talking about, by the way, while gas is almost $5 and diesel’s almost $6, they’re talking about this big ballroom they’re going to build, and … it looks like the Roman Empire, architecture from the Roman Empire. I see a few analogies there.”
It should be noted, however, that Massie opposed making Trump’s first-term tax cuts that have benefitted some 85 percent of Americans, as well as the president’s enhanced border security measures.
The Hill added:
Trump-backed Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) won the GOP battle to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). On the Democratic side, former state representative Charles Booker beat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot, reversing the outcome from 2020.
Georgia voters also made their party’s picks for Senate and the governor’s mansion on Tuesday, with Trump backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones against billionaire Rick Jackson in the Republican primary for governor. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp (Ga.) is term limited.
Neither candidate secured enough votes to avoid a June 16 GOP runoff, but Jones topped Jackson by 6 points — and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffersperger (R), who defied Trump after the 2020 election, was knocked out.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary for governor in Georgia after leading most public polling despite facing a crowded field of candidates. She will advance to the general election to face either Jones or Jackson in November.
The Cook Political Report currently rates Georgia’s gubernatorial contest as a toss-up.
Meanwhile, incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for reelection.
On the Republican side, voters selected former football coach Derek Dooley — who was backed by Gov. Brian Kemp — along with Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) to advance to a June 16 runoff after neither candidate secured more than 50% of the vote in the primary.
