Since former President Donald J. Trump lost in the state of Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, he has sought revenge against Republican incumbents he accused of not helping him reverse the results.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump lost again in Georgia, with his approved candidates losing in their Republican primaries for governor, secretary of state and attorney general.
But those weren’t the only races voters decided on Tuesday. Here’s a rundown of the winners and losers of some of the top Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas contests:
Georgia’s secretary of state won his primary, despite Trump’s best efforts.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger defeated Representative Jody Hice, the Trump-backed candidate who had embraced Mr Trump’s lie about widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election.
Mr Trump took aim at Mr Raffensperger after resisting the former president’s call to “find” additional votes following his 2020 loss to the state. Trump’s involvement in the primary fight has made a normally overlooked contest this year one of the country’s most prominent races.
Mr. Raffensperger, who has presented himself to voters as a champion of “election integrity,” will face the Democratic primary this fall. That primary is going to a drain. Bee Nguyen, a member of the Georgia General Assembly, took the top vote but failed to reach the 50 percent threshold, and will face Dee Dawkins-Haigler, a former state representative, or Michael Owens, a cybersecurity expert and former marine.
Georgia’s governor who stood up to Trump easily defeated a Trump-backed challenger.
Gov. Brian Kemp defeated David Perdue, the former president’s handpicked nominee, to win the Republican nomination for governor of Georgia. Mr. Kemp will face Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee, whom he narrowly defeated four years ago.
Mr Kemp infuriated Mr Trump by not supporting his efforts to reverse the state’s 2020 election results. Then, Mr. Trump recruited an array of candidates across the state to challenge lawmakers like Mr. Kemp.
It may be Trump’s biggest loss to date in his war against Republicans who don’t support his election lie. While mr. Perdue the lies of mr. Trump embraced, Mr. Kemp didn’t, and he used the power of his office to focus on things like guns and the economy to appeal to conservative voters.
Chris Carr, the state attorney general, also defeated his Trump-backed challenger, John Gordon, to win the Republican nomination for that office. Mr Gordon had also embraced Mr Trump’s election lie and made that a key part of his appeal to voters.
Herschel Walker will take on Senator Raphael Warnock in November.
Herschel Walker, the former soccer star and a Trump-backed Senate candidate, defeated a crowded field of challengers. Walker’s celebrity, fundraising ability, and the support of the former president helped distance himself from his lesser-known challengers.
It also helped him brush aside questions about false statements he had made about his business background and allegations that he had abused his former partner. Mr Walker will now meet Senator Raphael Warnock, who was elected for the seat in a high-profile contest last year and raised record sums en route to the general election.
Mr. Warnock’s win last year helped Democrats take control of that chamber, and Republicans are eager to regain the seat.
In Georgia, one House Democrat defeated another House Democrat in a Republican-orchestrated primary.
Representative Lucy McBath defeated Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux to win the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s seventh congressional district.
It was a primary struggle set in motion by a Republican-controlled reclassification process. After Republican lawmakers removed some of the Democratic voters from Ms. McBath’s district, she decided to move to the adjacent district, where Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux was also seeking re-election.
Mrs. McBath is a black woman from the Atlanta suburbs who has been embraced by several liberal organizations and some progressives such as Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts. Ms. Bourdeaux, a white moderate, is adept at addressing people in historic center-right territory.
Marjorie Taylor Greene won her Georgia House primaries.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a first-time Republican known for her far-right convictions, defeated a crowded field of challengers to win the Republican nomination in her district. Ms Greene was stripped of two committee duties last year for condoning violence against Democrats and spreading dangerous and bigoted misinformation.
Some Republicans in her district wondered if voters would revolt, as they did last week by ousting Madison Cawthorn, another first-term far-right house member who had been engulfed by scandals of a different kind. They did not.
In Texas, a scandal-ridden attorney general defeats a challenger named Bush.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated George P. Bush to win the Republican nomination for that office.
Mr Paxton has embraced Mr Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and relied on Mr Trump’s approval to protect him from a host of scandals. He has been charged with criminal securities fraud and several of his best assistants claimed he was abusing his office by helping a wealthy donor. Mr Paxton has also faced allegations of abuse of power and bribery.
Bush sought to align with Mr. Trump and distance himself from Bush’s political dynasty, which had largely united in opposition to Mr. Trump. His defeat may indicate that the formerly powerful Bush family name has become a political liability in the state.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the Republican nomination for governor of Arkansas.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary under Mr. Trump and the daughter of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, easily won the Republican nomination for governor in the state. Ms Sanders defeated Doc Washburn, a local conservative talk radio host who was fired after choosing not to comply with his station’s Covid-19 vaccine requirement.
Mo Brooks reached a runoff in the Alabama Senate after Trump withdrew his approval.
Mr. Trump turned against Rep. Mo Brooks when he slipped in the polls earlier this year, but Mr. Brooks regained enough traction with voters to qualify for the second round with the best vote catcher in the race,
Katie Britt, a former top aide to outgoing Senator Richard Shelby, whom they hope to replace.
Ms Britt, Mr Brooks and a third leading candidate, Mike Durant, a military contractor, declined to vote, so voter impressions were shaped to an unusual extent by advertisements, many funded by super-PACs and outside groups
In Texas, a Democratic House runoff election was too close to mention.
The race between Representative Henry Cuellar, an anti-abortion rights Democrat, and his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney, seemed too close on Wednesday to call from 1 a.m. Eastern Time (results updated here in real time).
The winner will face Republican nominee Cassy Garcia, who served as Senator Ted Cruz’s top aide, in November.
Immigration and abortion rights took center stage in the Democratic second round. Ms. Cisneros positioned herself as an abortion rights advocate and criticized the incumbent as the last anti-abortion Democrat in Congress. Mr Cuellar ran advertisements calling Ms Cisneros’ stance on border security extreme and potentially harmful to the residents of this border district.
