Liberals could make major inroads into Georgia's Supreme Court on Tuesday
As you know, The Downballot sends out our flagship Morning Digest newsletter every weekday morning, and it’s always been free. But we also publish special features that take a ton of extra work, including our extensive previews of every primary. That includes the post below, which offers a rundown of every major contest on Tuesday’s ballot—some 30 in all. To unlock access to this entire post, as well as every other primary preview and special report we’ll publish in the future, we hope you’ll upgrade to a paid subscription today. We ask for just $7 a month or a steeply discounted $60 a year. Thank you, The Downballot team Liberals could make major inroads into Georgia's Supreme Court on TuesdayPlus, we preview nearly 30 primaries in five states ahead of a very busy primary night
Six states will host party primaries on Tuesday on a jam-packed election night, but two of the evening’s biggest contests aren’t even primaries at all. In those marquee races, liberal candidates are challenging Republican appointees to the Georgia Supreme Court, a conservative-dominated body that has rarely seen contested elections. Unlike the other matchups on the ballot, these are both general elections. In addition to Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania are also holding primaries in one of the biggest election nights between now and November. You can also find interactive congressional maps from Dave’s Redistricting App linked to each state’s name just above. Below, you’ll find our guide to the top races to watch from coast-to-coast. When it’s available, we’ll tell you about any reliable polling that exists for each contest, but if we don’t mention any numbers, it means no recent surveys have been made public. Polls start to close at 6 PM ET in the portion of Kentucky located in the Eastern Time Zone, which covers most of the state. And please join The Downballot on our private Discord server to discuss the election returns with fellow community members as they come in on Tuesday night! GeorgiaPolls close at 7 PM ET. Runoffs will take place on June 16 for all primaries in which no one takes a majority of the vote. GA Supreme Court (50-48 Trump) - nonpartisan general electionJustices Sarah Warren and Charlie Bethel, who were both appointed by then-Republican Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018, face high-profile opposition from the left in their quest for new six-year terms. Former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, who was her party’s nominee for attorney general in 2022, is challenging Warren, while personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin, a former president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, is going up against Bethel. Both races are statewide contests and, because no one else is running, there’s virtually no chance either will go to a runoff in November. None of the candidates is identified by party affiliation on the ballot—though Warren and Bethel are listed as incumbents—but the ideological lines are clear. Jordan and Rankin are campaigning as a team and running ads urging voters to back them both. They’re also getting assistance from the state Democratic Party as well as Planned Parenthood, which has aired commercials attacking Warren and Bethel as “politicians in robes” who upheld the state’s six-week abortion ban. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, likewise, is asking voters to reelect the two incumbents, and his allies are also running ads. History gives them reason to feel good about their chances: The last, and possibly only, time a sitting justice lost reelection was in 1922. If they wind up on the wrong side of this century-old pattern, though, it’s possible they could try to exploit a legal loophole that might allow them to retroactively cancel the election by resigning. Jordan has warned that Warren could quit before her term is over in time for Kemp to appoint her replacement, which could let a replacement justice serve until a new election takes place two years later. Warren declined to answer when Bolts asked her if she might try such a maneuver. Bethel, by contrast, told the site that he would serve out his term whether he wins or loses. Conservatives will remain firmly in charge of the nine-member court no matter what happens next. Six of the seven other justices were appointed by Republican governors, including Ben Land, who is running for reelection without opposition. The one exception is John Ellington, who was first elected in 2018 with support from figures in both parties and isn’t up again until 2030. Victories for either Jordan or Rankin, though, would still represent breakthroughs for liberals in what’s long been a Republican-dominated state, and they’d set up Democrats to expand on any gains in the coming years. GA-Sen (R) (50-48 Trump)Three notable Republicans are competing to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in a primary that will almost certainly go to a runoff. Rep. Mike Collins has led in every publicly available poll despite spending relatively little on ads, but he’s still well short of the majority he’d need to win outright. The battle for the second-place spot pits Rep. Buddy Carter, who has been self-funding much of his effort, against Derek Dooley, the son of late University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley. Kemp, whom GOP leaders unsuccessfully tried to recruit for this race, is ardently supporting Dooley, whom he’s said would be harder for Ossoff to beat because he has no congressional voting record to attack. Dooley’s critics, though, have pointed to his poor record coaching at the University of Tennessee over a decade ago, as well as his weak ties to Georgia, to argue that he’d be anything but a strong candidate. GA-Gov (R & D) (50-48 Trump)Both parties have busy primaries in the race to replace Kemp, who cannot seek a third term, but the Republican contest has turned into an especially expensive and nasty smackdown. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who played a prominent role in Donald Trump’s failed plan to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, is Trump’s endorsed candidate, and he spent all of last year as the undisputed GOP frontrunner. But everything suddenly changed in February when billionaire Rick Jackson entered the race and used his massive fortune to finance an ad blitz that brutalized Jones. Polls show both Jones and Jackson advancing to a runoff, with most surveys finding Jackson at least slightly ahead. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr, who both infuriated Trump by refusing to help him steal the state’s electoral votes six years ago, are hoping to defy the polls and land a spot in the second round. Both, though, have spent only a tiny fraction of what Jones—and especially Jackson—have deployed on TV. Because this slugfest has driven down available ad inventory—and driven up prices for what’s left—the Democratic primary has largely been fought off the airwaves... Continue reading this post for free in the Substack app |
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