WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican from southwest Georgia who served a short federal prison sentence for his actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is among those running Tuesday for a chance to serve in Congress when the state holds primaries. in a handful of U.S. House and state legislative races.
The contests will determine who will challenge two members of the U.S. House of Representatives from opposite ends of Georgia’s political spectrum: 16-term Democratic Republican Sanford Bishop and two-term Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Republican race in Bishop’s 2nd Congressional District is the latest example of someone convicted of a crime on Jan. 6 trying to return to the Capitol as a member of Congress.
The Republican primary opponent will be either Chuck Hand, a building inspector who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for illegally demonstrating at the Capitol on Jan. 6, or Wayne Johnson, a former U.S. Department of Education official in the administration. Trump. Johnson finished in first place in the May 21 Republican primary with about 45% of the vote, short of the majority of votes needed to avoid Tuesday’s runoff. Hand received 32% of the votes.
The third-place candidate, Michael Nixon, received about 19% of the vote and held a press conference in late May voicing his support for Johnson while issuing a scathing rebuke to Hand. In response, Hand walked off stage in the middle of a June 9 televised debate with Johnson, whom he accused of orchestrating Nixon’s attacks. The 2nd District is one of the state’s Democratic enclaves. Voters there supported Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the last two presidential elections with about 54% and 55% of the vote, respectively. Sanford won his 2022 re-election bid with 55% of the vote.
In the 3rd Congressional District, former Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan and former White House political director Brian Jack are running to replace retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson. Jack has the support of his former boss Donald Trump and was the top vote-getter during the May 21 primaries with about 47% of the vote. Dugan received approximately 25% of the vote, with the remaining votes split among three candidates. The winner will face Democrat Maura Keller, an Army veteran. Ferguson won the seat in 2022 with about 69% of the vote.
The Democrats vying to challenge Greene in the 14th Congressional District are Clarence Blalock, a former city of Smyrna employee and candidate for Atlanta City Council in 2021, and Shawn Harris, a retired Army brigadier general and rancher. Blalock defeated Harris in the primary by just 128 votes out of more than 18,000 cast. Greene won reelection in 2022 with about 66% of the vote.
Candidates in four Senate districts and four state House districts also face a runoff. The only candidate on Tuesday’s ballot is Republican state Rep. Steven Sainz in House District 180. Sainz received 49.7% of the primary vote, falling just short of avoiding a runoff. His opponent is Glenn Cook, a Navy veteran and pilot.
All 56 seats in the Senate and 180 seats in the State House are up for election in November. Republicans have a comfortable majority in both chambers.
Georgia’s runoff elections used to be held nine weeks after the primaries, but a sweeping election law that took effect in 2021 shortened the period to four weeks.
Here’s what to expect on Tuesday:
PRIMARY DRAINAGE DAY
The primary elections in the state of Georgia will be held on Tuesday. Polls close at 7:00 PM ET.
WHAT’S ON THE BALLOT
The Associated Press will release voting results and announce the winners in 11 runoffs: three contested primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives and four for the Senate and House of Representatives.
WHO CAN VOTE
Registered voters may participate in their precinct’s partisan runoff election if: they voted in the same-party primary on May 21, they voted only in the nonpartisan primary, or they did not vote in the primary. In other words, Republican primaries cannot vote in a Democratic runoff, or vice versa.
DECISION NOTES
Run-offs generally have lower turnout than the first elections that led to them. This could slow down the race-calling process for a competitive contest, especially in smaller state legislative districts. In these cases, determining the outcome could rely on a small handful of ballots that have yet to be tabulated.
Primary and runoff turnout for the party out of power in safe Democratic or Republican districts also tends to be low, which could mean that determining the winners in the primaries in the 2nd and 14th Congressional Districts also depends on relatively few votes could come down.
In the Republican runoff of the 3rd Congressional District, Jack came close to winning the nomination in the May 21 primaries, and his support of Trump should be an asset in winning over some district residents who don’t like either him or Dugan voted. Trump won this area with 66% of the vote in 2016 and 64% in 2020.
During the May 21 primary, Jack held 14 of the district’s 15 counties, including nine with an outright majority. To win the runoff, Dugan would have to perform much better than the 52% he received in his native Carroll to offset Jack’s advantage elsewhere in the district.
The AP does not make forecasts and will only declare a winner if it has been established that there is no scenario with which the underlying candidates can close the gap. If no race is called, the AP will continue to report on any newsworthy developments, such as concessions to candidates or declarations of victory. The AP will make it clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
There is no provision for an automatic recount in Georgia, but a losing candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than or equal to 0.5% of the total votes. The AP can declare a winner in a race eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
What do attendance and presales look like?
As of June 7, there were just over 8 million registered voters in Georgia. Voters in Georgia do not register by party.
About 1.3 million voters participated in the May 21 primary, or about 16% of all registered voters. About 44% of votes were cast before the primaries.
As of Thursday, a total of 3,012 pre-Election Day ballots had been cast in the 2nd Congressional District Republican primary, 8,375 in the 3rd Congressional District Republican primary and 2,213 in the 14th Congressional District Democratic primary. There were a total of 4,658 pre-Election Day ballots cast in the three Democratic State Senate runoffs and 331 in the Republican Senate runoff in District 7. In the State House runoff, there were 553 pre-Election Day ballots cast released in the two elections. Democratic runoffs, most in House District 145, and 1,779 in the two Republican runoffs, mostly in House District 180.
How long does vote counting usually take?
During the May 21 primary, the AP first reported results at 7:02 p.m. ET, or two minutes after polls closed. Election night tabulation ended at 3:13 a.m. ET with approximately 99% of the total votes counted.
ARE WE THERE YET?
As of Tuesday, there are 140 days until the November general election.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
