James MagazineJames_July-August_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 74
run for the Senate. The former football coach reached the runoff but
lost by 11 points to Collins. By the
way, Jackson and Dooley document
that it is still possible for unknowns
to become competitive if they have
unlimited funds or the unlimited
support of a popular sponsor.
KLB’s stunning performance
owes much to the black female tsunami. The Secretary of State has not
released figures showing racial and
gender breakouts, but historically
black women have been the largest group of Democrats making up
between 36 percent and 41 percent,
and 41percent of the primary electorate from 2020 -2024. KLB enjoyed
strong black female support and
was joined in the winners’ circle by
four black women: Tanya Miller (attorney general), Katherine Juhan-Arnold (agriculture commissioner),
Lydia Powell (school superintendent) and Sheila Edwards (Public
Service Commission). Black women
competing for SOS, insurance com-
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missioner and labor commissioner
won pluralities that they converted
into majorities in the runoff.
Except for Fitz Johnson, who
mounted a comeback bid for PSC
Post 3, white men led every contested GOP primary. However, the
GOP general election ballot will also
include Hispanics John King (insurance commissioner) and Labor Commissioner Barbara Rivera Holmes
who had no primary opposition. The
GOP offers greater diversity than
the Democratic November ticket
which has two white men, U.S. Sen.
John Ossoff and state Sen. Josh
McLauren, who won the runoff for
lieutenant governor, while the rest
of the ticket is black women.
As usually happens, almost all
of the incumbents for the General
Assembly, Congress and statewide
offices won renomination. The most
interesting situation involved State
School Superintendent Richard
Woods who drew four opponents, a
large field that often signals incum-
bent vulnerability. Woods came
up 1,031 votes short of a majority,
but 20 percentage points ahead of
runner-up Candler County Superintendent Bubba Longgrear. Woods
narrowly won the runoff.
TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT RECORD
Trump made fewer endorsements and his candidates performed better than in 2022. Trump
backed Jones for governor, Jim
Kingston in Congressional District
1 and Houston Gaines in District 10
and then, just hours before the runoff, he gave his blessing to Mike Collins. The congressional candidates
and Collins won. In 2022, Trump
made ten endorsements. His only
winners were Jones and Herschel
Walker. Jones’ loss this year may
indicate that to overcome a Trump
endorsement requires an expenditure of more than $150 million.
Democrats challenged two
Supreme Court justices. Judicial
elections have been nonpartisan
