Georgia Republicans handed former President Donald Trump a notable setback on Tuesday when they selected businessman Rick Jackson over the Trump-endorsed Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones in the Republican primary for governor.
U.S. media called the race when Jackson led by 5 percentage points. The outcome adds to a pattern this cycle in which some of Trump’s endorsements have not prevailed; earlier this month, Trump-backed U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra lost narrowly in an Iowa gubernatorial primary to businessman and farmer Zach Lahn.
Trump’s mixed picture in Georgia
While Jones lost the gubernatorial primary, a different Trump-backed contender fared better in the state’s U.S. Senate primary. U.S. Representative Mike Collins, who Trump endorsed last week and labeled "MAGA Mike" on Truth Social, beat former football coach Derek Dooley by double digits in the Republican Senate contest.
Collins will face Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November. The balance of power in the Senate is a central issue this cycle, and Georgia is one of the states that Trump won but where Democrats are defending seats. The article notes Georgia and Michigan are the only states Donald Trump won that Democrats are defending in November’s midterm elections. For Democrats to take control of the Senate they would need to net four seats.
Fundraising figures highlight a steep financial gulf facing Collins in the general election. According to campaign finance totals cited here, Ossoff has raised $60 million for his campaign and entered May with $33 million on hand, while Collins finished May with $1.2 million. The Republican Senate Leadership Fund has pledged $44 million to try to flip the seat. Collins wrote on X: "Now it’s time to get to work, defeat Jon Ossoff and take this seat back for the people of this state." The scale of Ossoff’s war chest compared with Collins’ resources – as presented in the returns cited here – signals a significant fundraising challenge for the Republican nominee.
Jackson’s campaign and November outlook
Rick Jackson is a healthcare executive who launched his campaign in February and spent more than $100 million of his own money. He positioned himself as a conservative outsider and emphasized his personal narrative of rising from poverty and foster care to become a billionaire after leaving college. In the lead-up to the runoff, U.S. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida publicly endorsed Jackson.
Jackson will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta who also served as an adviser to former President Joe Biden. Although Jackson’s ability to self-fund his campaign is clear, analysts cited in the reporting caution that he may encounter a difficult path to victory in November. Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, is quoted as saying: "This is not going to be a particularly good year to be a Republican in this state," and that "Democrats could win the governorship."
Trump’s influence in other Southern contests
Outside of Georgia, Trump’s backing continued to matter in the Deep South. In Alabama’s runoff, U.S. Representative Barry Moore, who was endorsed by Trump, defeated former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson. With 82% of precincts reporting at the time cited here, Moore led by 16 percentage points and is strongly favored to win the Senate seat in November. The reporting notes that Trump won Alabama by more than 30 percentage points in 2024.
Ranked-choice voting and a democratic socialist lead in D.C.
In Washington, D.C., Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, described as a democratic socialist, has a sizable lead in the race for the Democratic nomination for mayor, though media outlets had not projected a winner. This primary marked the District’s first use of a ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to pick up to five candidates; election officials warned that results in key races could take days to finalize because of the new counting process.
If Lewis George secures the nomination, the reporting indicates she is expected to become mayor in a heavily Democratic jurisdiction and would join New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani as another democratic socialist leading a major U.S. city. The story also notes that Nithya Raman has advanced to a November runoff in Los Angeles against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
The article recounts a recent comment from former President Trump that he "wouldn’t like it" if Lewis George were elected mayor and that he threatened to "take back Washington and run it on the federal basis" if she wins.
Additionally, D.C. Councilmember Robert White was elected as a non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, replacing Eleanor Holmes Norton, who had held the seat since 1990 and is 89 years old.
Oklahoma minimum wage measure defeated
Oklahoma voters rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the state’s $7.25 minimum wage to $15 by 2029. The "no" vote prevailed with 55% of ballots cast. The measure faced unified opposition from Republican Governor Kevin Stitt and more than 100 Republican state legislators, who warned that passage could cause "severe" economic consequences, including job losses and higher prices—arguments cited in the article as part of the campaign against the increase.
Not all Oklahoma Republicans opposed the measure. Republican Labor Commissioner Leslie Osborn publicly supported the wage increase, telling a local news outlet that everyday costs have risen while the minimum wage has not changed since 2009. Osborn is quoted saying: "You absolutely cannot pay the gas to get to a job, have an apartment and live extremely frugally. You’re going to have to rely on government programs," and adding: "As a Republican, we should want people ... to stand on their own two feet."
Tuesday’s primaries and runoffs produced a mixture of outcomes for candidates endorsed by former President Trump, underscored the importance of campaign financing in high-stakes Senate races, introduced new procedural variables in jurisdictions adopting ranked-choice voting, and left policy debates such as minimum wage increases unresolved at the ballot box.