Donald Trump and Joe Biden both sailed to victory in primary elections in Northwest Georgia and across the state during Tuesday elections in which both men won enough votes to clinch their party's nomination.
Trump won about 90% of the vote in Northwest Georgia in the Republican primary, and Biden won by about the same margin.
Trump's strongest showing in the region was in Murray County, where he won 95% of the vote, and his weakest was in Catoosa County, where he won 86% of the vote.
Biden's strongest showing was also in Murray County, where he won 93% of the vote. His weakest showing was in Dade and Whitfield counties, where he won 90% of the vote.
Republicans
State Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, attended a rally for Trump in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday that he said was a demonstration of Trump's momentum in the region and nationwide.
"It was great; the place was absolutely slam packed," Moore said by phone, saying there were 4,500 ticket holders at the rally and a few thousand outside who weren't able to enter.
Moore said there's "exponentially" more support for Trump in Georgia than in either previous primary. High inflation and a crisis at the Southern border are fueling Trump's momentum, Moore said.
"People want safety, they want a good economy," he said. "Right now, the current administration is failing us on that, and due to his failure, we're seeing a lot more suburban moms that may not have voted for Donald Trump voting for Donald Trump."
Trump has now competed in three Georgia presidential primaries, and his best showing in terms of total votes was in the contested 2016 race, in which he gathered nearly 503,000 of the ballots casts, or about 39%. On Tuesday, he won nearly 496,000 votes on a ballot with 10 other candidates who had already conceded defeat.
Trump was uncontested in 2020 and collected about 86,000 votes — 100% of those cast.
Though Trump dominated this year's primary, Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor, claimed 13% of the vote. In Northwest Georgia, her strongest showing was in Catoosa County, where she received 11% of the vote. She received the least support in Murray County, at 4%.
At the polls
The Chattanooga Times Free Press spoke with multiple voters in Walker and Catoosa counties as they left their respective precincts. Most backed Trump, and most comments referenced immigration and the economy.
On Tuesday, in the seven counties of Northwest Georgia — Dade, Catoosa, Walker, Whitfield, Murray, Gordon and Chattooga — Trump won about 28,800 votes, while in 2016 Trump won nearly 24,900.
(READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene wins re-election in Republican-dominated Northwest Georgia)
"I'm going to go for Donald Trump," Stanley Pinion said after voting at Chattanooga Valley Church of the Nazarene in Flintstone, his precinct. "Our border is so insecure, we see more and more crime going on. And if you look at gas pumps, $3.09 for gas — that's pretty steep."
Biden is pushing a bill to strengthen border security and speed asylum processing, negotiated by some of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate. But at the behest of Trump, who wanted to retain a campaign issue against Biden, the bill is being held back by "Make America Great Again" Republicans.
Democrats
Dan Lovingood, chair of the Whitfield Democrats, said he's been in that role for less than a year. In a phone call, the Dalton resident shared his insight on the presidential primary and the upcoming election.
"Trump does not have his entire base behind him," he said, pointing out that many Republican voters won't vote for Trump if he's the nominee.
Lovingood said he's glad Biden is finally doing a good job getting the word out about the accomplishments of his presidency, including a bipartisan infrastructure law, inflation reduction law and legislation that brings semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States and invests in high-tech research.
Biden's work helped bring a $171 million solar panel manufacturer, the Western Hemisphere's largest, to Whitfield County, too, he said. Announced in 2022, Qcells also promised 470 new jobs, bringing its workforce in the county to more than 1,000, according to a statement from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
(READ MORE: Walker, Greene trailed Kemp even in deep red Northwest Georgia)
The county party is fundraising for a voter turnout campaign this fall focused on a simple message aimed at the youth vote and turning out moderate Republicans.
"It's a binary choice between dictatorship and democracy, that's the real deal here," he said. "And many Republicans see that."
In Tuesday's Georgia primary, Biden won about 289,000 votes.
Choices dropped out
Rebekah Allen spoke about her support of Trump after voting at the Rossville Civic Center.
She said she likes that Trump is pro-life and was glad regulating abortion was kicked back to the states by a Supreme Court decision in 2022.
"I did like Vivek and Ron DeSantis, but they dropped out," she said, referring to her original preference of Republican candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and the Florida governor over Trump. "I don't like how old he is. He's pretty much the same age as Biden."
A younger candidate would have a better understanding of what younger Americans are facing today, she said. She said she was torn between Ramaswamy and DeSantis earlier in the race but preferred Ramaswamy because he had a good business sense.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.