JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Primary results are in for the six states that voted on Tuesday, and it's clear that President Trump had plenty of wins. In Georgia, here are the Republican candidates for governor talking about the president last night. First Rick Jackson...
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RICK JACKSON: I'll be President Trump's favorite governor.
SUMMERS: ...And Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones.
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BURT JONES: He didn't just endorse me once, not twice, not three times, even - fourth time, I was so honored to have that.
SUMMERS: Those two Republicans will head to a runoff in June, and in November, one of them will face former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
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KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS: They certainly do not see Donald Trump as someone to stand up to. They want to be like him.
SUMMERS: WABE politics reporter Rahul Bali is with us now to tell us more. Hi.
RAHUL BALI, BYLINE: Hey.
SUMMERS: Hey. So the Georgia race for governor could be close. But first, both Republican candidates, Jones and Jackson, that we heard from there at the top, are headed for a runoff in June, and both of them have a lot to say about Trump. Tell us about them.
BALI: So Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones has been a longtime supporter of the president, and as you just heard, Trump has supported him in recent years, including for this race. And then there's Rick Jackson. He's a political newcomer. He's come roaring into Georgia politics in the past three months with his rags-to-riches personal story. He's a billionaire healthcare executive who's spent more than $80 million attacking Jones but also calling himself Trump-like.
SUMMERS: And Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, won the Democratic primary. So she will be on the November ballot. What do we know about her chances?
BALI: Look, Georgia hasn't elected a Democratic governor since 1998. But in the past week, I've been reminded by both Republican and Democratic leaders that the base of Georgia's Democratic Party is Black women. Add in the fact that more Democratic ballots were pulled in this primary than Republican ballots, even when Republicans had open primaries for governor and U.S. Senate, it has some Republicans concerned. Republicans are pointing out things like Trump's name is not on the ballot, but I would point out that, you know, I met young voters at a JD Vance event here in Georgia, and they were either opposed or unsure about the Iran conflict. And of course, there's the economic fallout from the conflict.
SUMMERS: And I know that there's also a big Senate race in your state. Incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff is running. Will he face a tough challenger in November?
BALI: Most likely. Look, the Republican race to challenge Ossoff, that's right - and that's also going to a four-week runoff. And that features Congressman Mike Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley. Mike Collins has very much been focused on the Trump and MAGA base and - but he's also claiming that he can bring in other voters. Dooley - he has the backing of Georgia's current governor, Brian Kemp, and he's very much focused on being able to attract independent, non-Trump Republicans.
And also speaking to the Trump base, both are arguing that they are the best candidate to challenge Ossoff. And remind people, Ossoff is the only Democratic incumbent U.S. senator on the ballot in a state won by Trump in 2024. The bottom line, Georgia, in my opinion, is a Republican state, but in the right conditions, right scenarios, Democrats can win. That's why they hold the two U.S. Senate seats, and that's why Joe Biden won here in 2020.
SUMMERS: WABE politics reporter Rahul Bali, thank you.
BALI: No problem. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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