Wednesday 25 May 2022 01:46 AM Trump LOSES his bid to unseat Brian Kemp in Georgia: Ex-president's bet on ... trends now
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp scored a victory over a Donald Trump-endorsed primary challenger on Tuesday night and will go on to fight for his re-election against Democrat Stacey Abrams in November.
Kemp’s race against former Senator David Perdue was widely seen as a long-shot test of the former president’s endorsement strength.
After surging ahead by roughly 50 points in early returns, the incumbent kept his wide lead over Perdue for more than an hour after polls closed.
The New York Times declared Kemp the winner with roughly a quarter of the vote reported, getting 73.2 percent of the vote compared to Perdue's 22.3.
Trump had reportedly persuaded Perdue to run after the former business executive lost his Senate seat to Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The ex-president helped Kemp to the Governor's Mansion in 2018 when he backed the then-Georgia Secretary of State for the role.
Since then, however, Kemp's refusal to overturn his state's 2020 electoral count - which helped President Joe Biden clinch the White House - has made him among Trump's most frequent targets.
Kemp's campaign told DailyMail.com: 'Governor Kemp and his family are honored by the strong support they have seen from Georgians across the state these last few months. Our team is leaving everything on the field in this primary, and we look forward to uniting Republicans to stop Stacey Abrams in the fall.'
Trump's fury inspired him to throw his weight behind Perdue, who lost his Senate re-election bid in a January 2021 runoff to current Democrat incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff.
After winning a commanding lead early in the returns, Governor Brian Kemp (left) managed to fend off a primary challenge from former Senator David Perdue (right), who was backed by Trump
But experts did not think Perdue's campaign effort could hold a candle to Kemp's current popularity.
Georgia Republican strategist Jay Wallace said of the
