Kemp defeats Cagle to earn spot in Nov. 6 General Election

By Shawn Jarrard

It’s official – Republican Brian Kemp will face Democrat Stacey Abrams in the Nov. 6 General Election race for the office of Georgia governor.

Kemp, who is currently serving as Georgia’s secretary of state, earned his spot on the November ballot by defeating Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in the July 24 Republican Primary Election Runoff.

Statewide, Kemp earned 406,638 votes (69.45 percent) to Cagle’s 178,877 (30.55 percent), as a total of 585,515 Georgians attended the polls to cast votes in the runoff contest to select the Republican nominee for governor.

Locally, Kemp’s margin of victory virtually mirrored statewide results, as Union County supported him 69.88 percent (2,257 votes) to Cagle’s 30.12 percent (973 votes).

The other July 24 runoff races concluded as follows:

Geoff Duncan narrowly edged out David Shafer to clinch the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

Statewide, Duncan received 279,226 votes to Shafer’s 277,496 to win the election with 50.16 percent of the vote to Shafer’s 49.84 percent.

Here in Union County, Duncan took the contest with 1,731 votes and 56.07 percent of the vote to Shafer’s 1,356 votes and 43.93 percent of the vote.

Duncan will face Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor Sarah Riggs Amico in November.

Also on July 24, Georgia Republicans voted to nominate Brad Raffensperger as their candidate in the secretary of state race.

Raffensperger defeated Republican Primary opponent David Belle Isle 61.76 percent to 38.24 percent in the statewide contest, earning 329,667 votes to Belle Isle’s 204,159 votes.

Locally, Raffensperger received 1,994 Union County votes (67.8 percent) to Belle Isle’s 947 votes (32.2 percent).

Come November, Raffensperger will face off against Democratic challenger Josh Barrow, who won his party’s nomination in the May primary.

On the Democratic side, the only race to go to a runoff was the nomination for state school superintendent.

In the July 24 runoff, Otha E. Thornton Jr. secured the Democratic nomination over rival Sid Chapman, earning 86,691 votes (59.1 percent) statewide to Chapman’s 59,998 votes (40.9 percent).

In Union County, Chapman received the majority of support in the race, garnering 70 votes (68.63 percent) to Thornton’s 32 votes (31.37 percent).

Thornton will face Republican Incumbent Richard Woods in the November election for state school superintendent.