Over $100 million has been deployed by a single healthcare tycoon in Georgia to counter a populist-backed candidate, revealing the immense financial power challenging the will of the people in Tuesday's primaries across five states.
Healthcare tycoon Rick Jackson, who faces Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a runoff for governor in Georgia, has provided most of the $100 million-plus that his campaign has spent.
This spending aims to persuade Republican primary voters to overlook President Donald Trump’s advice, which was reiterated last week in a social media post praising Jones’ “Courage and Wisdom.”
Trump’s endorsement is being tested in primaries in Alabama, California, the District of Columbia, Georgia, and Oklahoma, with the central question being whether it can outweigh heavy spending and local dynamics.
In Georgia’s May 19 primary, Jones finished first with 38% of the vote, while Jackson secured 33%, leaving the runoff to be decided by voters who did not back either candidate.
Elite Financial Power
In Oklahoma, Trump weighed in two weeks ago, throwing his support to former state Sen. Mike Mazzei in a crowded Republican primary for governor, a race that will proceed to a runoff if no candidate achieves a majority.
Trump’s choice for governor of Iowa, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, lost earlier this month in the state’s primary to Zach Lahn.
In Alabama, Trump is backing U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, a three-term congressman who has pledged to be “a warrior for President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda” if elected.
Moore faces former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, who is presenting himself as a Washington outsider and attempting to harness the anti-establishment fervor that propelled Trump to power.
Alabama, a Republican stronghold, will likely see the primary winner prevail in November over either Democratic runoff candidate, business owner Dakarai Larriett or lawyer Everett Wess.
Electoral Integrity Under Siege
Concerns over election integrity persist, with the Georgia race for secretary of state featuring two Republican runoff candidates who echo claims of fraud to varying degrees.
Six years ago, Brad Raffensperger, the current secretary of state, resisted Trump’s claims of election fraud and his request to “find 11,780 votes” to overtake Democrat Joe Biden.
Now, in the first open election for the seat since Raffensperger’s defiance, Vernon Jones, who switched parties to align with Trump, has stated his belief in “irregularities” and “violations” and stands “with those who believe there was election fraud.”
Three of four key points on Jones’ campaign platform address election management, including stronger voter identification rules and requiring in-person voting with limited exceptions.
Jones’ runoff opponent, state Rep. Tim Fleming, has acknowledged “irregularities” in 2020 but claims he is “not running on conspiracy theories,” yet four of his seven platform points focus on election management, with one stating the state should “make it impossible for the Left to cheat in our elections.”
Skepticism of elections also flared recently in California after Trump made a claim that Democrats were cheating to defeat Republican candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor.
Soon after Trump’s claim, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, led by Trump appointee Bill Essayli, announced it was opening fraud investigations related to the elections.
Local Autonomy Challenged
In the District of Columbia mayor’s race, one leading Democratic contender, Janeese Lewis George, describes herself as a democratic socialist.
Days before the mayoral primary, Trump indicated he might take over the city if George wins, stating, “we won’t put up with it,” a threat George called “an attack on democracy itself.”
The overwhelmingly Democratic city’s relationship to the president is a focal point, as Trump has exercised broad power over Washington, D.C., including an open-ended deployment of National Guard troops and culling of the federal workforce.
George’s platform, which heavily focuses on affordability, includes a pledge to “protect Home Rule” with “leaders that stand up and fight back, not shrink in the face of injustice.”
George and another Democrat, Kenyan McDuffie, are among seven candidates in the first election to use D.C.’s new ranked-choice voting system, which election officials warn could delay results by days.
In California, a special primary election was prompted by Eric Swalwell’s resignation from the U.S. House in April, following allegations of sexual assault, which he denied.
Democratic candidates Aisha Wahab, a state senator, and Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director, are favored in the blue district, with Wahab targeting “corporate profiteering” and advocating for an expansion of social safety nets.