Our Georgia neighbors had some important voting Tuesday, but final decisions must await Aug. 10 runoffs and November general elections for governor and United States representative.
With able Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue completing his second term and thus not eligible to run for re-election, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel and former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal led the voting for the Republican gubernatorial nomination – with neither receiving the majority necessary for nomination.
She led with 34 percent of the primary votes, while he won 23 percent in a field of seven Republicans. So the two candidate will face each other in an Aug. 10 runoff.
The winner of the Handel vs. Deal GOP runoff then must face the Democrat primary winner, former Gov. Roy Barnes, in November. He won his party’s nomination with 66 percent of the votes in a field of seven candidates.
With Rep. Deal having left his safe U.S. House seat in Georgia’s 9th Congressional District (neighboring Tennessee) to run for governor, Rep. Tom Graves succeeded him. In a primary election Tuesday, six Republicans sought the GOP nomination. Rep. Graves led the field – but got just 49 percent of the votes. So he faces a GOP runoff Aug. 10 against former state Sen. Lee Hawkins, who ran second, with 27 percent of the votes. The runoff winner will face no Democrat challenger in the November general election.
Some very important contests are ahead.