Trump's false claims about the 2020 election are casting a shadow over Georgia's GOP runoffs

Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones speaks at the Georgia Association of Manufacturers Gubernatorial Forum in Atlanta, Ga on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

For Donald Trump, it seems the 2020 presidential election is never over. That’s especially true in Georgia.

The Republican president’s years of false claims that his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was due to widespread fraud have shadowed many elections since in the presidential battleground. The issue is almost certain to play a role in a four-week runoff campaign as GOP voters choose nominees for governor, secretary of state and the U.S. Senate.

Among the contenders: one of Trump’s alternate electors in his attempt to overturn Biden’s win in the state, a Trump acolyte who won his first congressional race while saying Trump won in 2020 and a secretary of state hopeful who echoes Trump’s conspiracy theories as he vies to become Georgia’s top elections official.