Georgia candidates jockey as sprint begins to primaries for US Senate, governor

ATLANTA (AP) — A two-month sprint to the May 19 primary elections in Georgia’s governor and U.S. Senate races has begun as the final candidates qualified Friday for crucial posts in the closely contested swing state.

Republicans looking to oust incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff are touting their support for President Donald Trump and focusing more on slamming the Democratic incumbent than each other. Candidates to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp are jockeying for position in wide-open Republican and Democratic fields.

Qualifying in Georgia is a weeklong political festival at the state Capitol where candidates try out their best lines and try to project strength. Here is a look at what people had to say:

U.S. Senate

Ossoff is opposed by Republicans including U.S. Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter as well as former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.

Ossoff rallied with supporters Monday, arguing voters should reelect him because "they recognize this president has gone too far, that the chaos and the corruption and the cruelty are wrong for Georgia and wrong for the country.”

Ossoff said voters see “a need for checks and balances” against Trump, warning: “My opponents will be his puppets.”

Collins called Ossoff “California’s third senator.” Collins touted endorsements including Wednesday’s nod by The Club for Growth, a conservative advocacy group.

“We need to be spending every minute that we got making sure that this country is safe, making sure it’s productive, and making sure that it is affordable to people here,” Collins said.

Dooley said his years as a coach give him the ability to reach people who don’t normally cast GOP ballots.

“It’s important we have a candidate that can appeal to a lot of these crossover voters, people who don’t always vote in the midterms, who don’t always vote Republican,” he said.

Carter had one thing on his mind as he registered to qualify: “We’ve got to get rid of Jon Ossoff.”

“My plan is to win,” Carter said. “Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.”

Republicans for Governor

Republican Rick Jackson found himself shaking hands with schoolchildren Friday after he became the last major candidate for governor to qualify, with the health care baron saying that despite his heavy spending on ads that “there is no way to buy an election. You've got to earn it.”

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, endorsed by Trump, said he is unfazed by Jackson's splashy entrance into a field of eight Republicans.

“The newness is going to wear off, and they’re going to look to the person who’s been most consistent throughout the years,” Jones said. “And I have that.”

Despite a resolution last year by the Georgia Republican Party calling on party officials to refuse to qualify Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, he signed papers Wednesday without a hitch. The resolution shows the deep hostility many Republican activists have toward Raffensperger following his refusal to help Donald Trump overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.

Raffensperger is sidestepping those questions in his run for governor, saying “the most important thing right now is how do you kind of deal with this affordability crisis and you create good paying jobs.”

Attorney General Chris Carr, the fourth major Republican candidate, touts his record on recruiting jobs and fighting crime, saying that people “care about jobs, safety, education, affordability.”

“They don’t really want to talk about social issues the way the right and the left traditionally have,” Carr said, even as Jackson and Jones have jousted over the treatment of transgender children and adults

Democrats for Governor

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, regarded by many as the front-runner among the eight Democrats running for governor, told reporters Monday that her issues including affordability, free technical college and cutting state income taxes for teachers will appeal not just to Democrats, but to general election voters who haven't elected Democrats for the last 24 years.

“I’m speaking my truth on what I feel a leader and a governor in this state needs to offer to people, so I don’t have to worry about changing my message for a general election audience,” Bottoms said.

Republican-turned Democrat Geoff Duncan again touted his possible crossover appeal, saying he is "focused on the affordability crisis, the health care crisis, and unfortunately still the Donald Trump crisis."

Former state Sen. Jason Esteves touted his own platform, but also aimed some fire at Bottoms and Duncan. He noted that Bottoms chose not to run for a second term as mayor and that Duncan, after supporting Republican policies as lieutenant governor that he now disavows, also stepped out of the political arena.

“We can’t afford to have folks that will stay silent, nor can we have folks that are going to be absent or quit when the going gets tough,” Esteves said.

Former DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond teared up as he described his low-income upbringing as a Black man to his track record of political success today as evidence of the “American dream.”

“I’m here representing all of those Georgians who couldn’t afford to be here today, who are pulling two jobs, working overtime, can’t afford the pay their insurance,” he said.