Georgia's Trump-Pence endorsed Secretary of State Brian Kemp has won a run-off election against fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle for the chance to face voters in November to become the state's next governor.
Cagle, who was endorsed by outgoing Gov. Nathan Deal, was the favorite of the state's Republican establishment. He also heavily outspent Kemp, whose embrace of the president's brand of politics paid off.
With 100 percent of the votes counted, Kemp won by 69 percent to Cagle's 30 percent.
Kemp "ran an eyebrow-raising ad that said he could use his own pickup truck to 'round up criminal illegals,'" The Associated Press notes, adding that he "rode a national wave of voter contempt for the establishment in favor of bare-knuckled outsider politics."
The AP says Cagle began to lose ground in June, when a private recording between him and former Gov. Clay Tippens caught Cagle admitting that he helped pass a "bad public policy" bill for political gain. The recording was released by Tippens and exploited by the Kemp campaign.
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04.28.2025