Georgia’s Republican races for governor and US Senate head to June runoffs

The Republican primary campaign for Georgia governor will go to a June runoff, with the lieutenant governor Burt Jones facing off against healthcare billionaire Rick Jackson – and locking out Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state and longtime political enemy of Donald Trump who was on track to finish a distant third. The Republican race to challenge the US senator Jon Ossoff remains similarly unresolved, while former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary for governor outright. Meanwhile, two Georgia supreme court justices won re-election, fending off Democratic-backed challengers former state senator Jen Jordan and personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin. Judicial elections in Georgia are nonpartisan and decided on primary election ballots. The Georgia supreme court has no Democrat serving on it, because primary elections typically have had lopsided Republican turnout. The court is currently considering the constitutionality of a six-week “heartbeat” abortion ban, which added subtext to the race. The race has been heavily advertised and promoted online in ways that have historically been unusual for a judicial race in Georgia. The judicial contest has at times overshadowed the race to replace the outgoing Republican governor, Brian Kemp. Polling over the last month suggested that a runoff in the well-contested Democratic field was widely expected, with Bottoms, who was endorsed by Joe Biden, finishing in first place. …