Donald Trump hoped to avoid a stinging defeat in the Georgia governor’s race on Tuesday as Republican primary voters decided the fate of the former president’s hand-picked candidate to lead one of the most competitive political battlegrounds in the U.S.
In all, five states were voting, including Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota. But none had been more consumed than Georgia by Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
After incumbent GOP Gov. Brian Kemp refused to accept Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia, the former president sought retribution by personally recruiting former Republican Sen. David Perdue to mount a primary challenge. But Kemp emerged as a powerful fundraiser who tapped into the benefits of incumbency. In the final days of the campaign, he unveiled plans for a $5.5 billion, 8,100-job Hyundai Motor plant near Savannah.
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