Five of six Georgia Republican primary candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump have lost election contests in 2022.
The latest Trump-supported Georgia candidates to fall in nomination battles are Vernon Jones in the 10th Congressional District (CD 10) and Jake Evans in the 6th District (CD 6).
Neither of their races was close; both were called not long after the polls closed.
The Trump-endorsed candidates were running in two of the four runoffs decided by Republicans on June 21.
In Virginia, voters selected a slate of challengers for incumbents in all of the state’s 11 congressional districts.
Jones, who calls himself “the black Donald Trump,” had been a lifelong Democrat and a former state representative who switched parties. He endorsed Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, and then resigned his state House seat to run for governor.
At Trump’s urging, Jones left the GOP gubernatorial primary to allow former U.S. Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) to run against Gov. Brian Kemp and instead run for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), who was Trump’s choice to challenge Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in Georgia’s May 24 primary.
Trucking Company Owner
Kemp handily defeated Purdue in the GOP gubernatorial race, Raffensperger topped Hice, and trucking company owner Mike Collins defeated Jones by more than 20 percent of the vote in the CD 10 runoff.
Collins, who was endorsed by Kemp, is the son of the late former Rep. Mac Collins (R-Ga.). Even without Trump’s endorsement, he led in polling and fundraising and remained the favorite in the district.
Trump released a recorded message to CD 10 voters claiming Collins has flooded the airwaves with “unfair” and “vicious political ads that aren’t true.”
Trump said Jones has “proven time and time again he’s with the MAGA movement” and that “he’s the kind of guy that Georgia needs and Georgia, I think, will get.”
During the campaign, Collins called himself “unapologetically pro-Trump, an America First agenda candidate, conservative to the core.”
By John Haughey
