Georgia’s voters will head to the polls on Tuesday for closely watched primaries that could set up major races in November, the Associated Press reported as polling approached its close. The contests include party nominations for governor and for a U.S. Senate seat now held by first-term Democrat Jon Ossoff. The outcome matters not only for state leadership after Gov. Brian Kemp’s term ends, but also for the political balance in a U.S. Senate chamber that is closely divided, AP said.
On the gubernatorial side, AP said the Republican nomination field is crowded, with eight candidates seeking to succeed Kemp. That slate includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, health care executive Rick Jackson, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, among others. AP reported that Jones has President Donald Trump’s endorsement, while Jackson has sought to test the value of that backing by spending more than $83 million from personal funds.
The Democratic gubernatorial field is also competitive, AP reported, and includes former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, and former state labor commissioner and former DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond. AP said that if no candidate wins a majority of the primary vote, the top two vote-getters will move on to a June 16 runoff.
AP also laid out the contours of the U.S. Senate contest, where five Republicans are running to take on Ossoff, who is unopposed for renomination. The GOP field includes U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, as well as former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, who has Kemp’s endorsement, AP said. AP reported that Carter has outraised and outspent the rest of the GOP field, but Carter, Collins and Dooley began the month with campaign war chests of about $1.7 million each.
The AP preview placed the governor and Senate contests within a broader set of Tuesday ballots across Georgia. In addition to governor and the U.S. Senate, AP said voters will select nominees for U.S. House, the state Legislature and a long list of statewide offices, including lieutenant governor, secretary of state and state attorney general. AP also said there are nonpartisan judicial races, including two competitive contests for the state Supreme Court.
In Georgia, registration does not depend on party, AP said: any registered voter may participate in either primary. AP reported that as of Thursday there were about 8.1 million registered voters in Georgia, and that in 2022 about 1.2 million votes were cast in the Republican primaries for governor and U.S. Senate, while about 730,000 votes were cast in the Democratic primaries.
AP said that voting patterns already underway suggested large early participation, with about 51% of the 2022 Democratic primary vote and about 41% of the 2022 Republican primary vote cast before primary day. As of Thursday, AP reported about 696,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, including about 381,000 in the Democratic primary and about 305,000 in the Republican primary.
For timing, AP said polls close at 7 p.m. ET and that counties release results from mail and early in-person at the start of the night. AP added that in the 2022 primary it first reported results at 7:13 p.m. ET, and that the last vote update came at 3:29 a.m. ET with about 99% of total votes counted.
The Associated Press said it does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it can determine there is no scenario in which a trailing candidate could close the gap. AP also said there is no automatic recount provision in Georgia, but a losing candidate may request a recount if the margin is less than or equal to 0.5% of the total vote.
Finally, AP framed the timeline ahead: as of Tuesday there would be 28 days until the June 16 runoff and 168 days until the 2026 midterm elections, with the governor and Senate primary results shaping the next phase of campaigning.