What Went Down In The June 21 Elections In Alabama, Virginia And Georgia
Tonight was a mixed bag for former President Donald Trump’s endorsement record. Two of his preferred candidates lost their House races in Georgia, while his other two picks this evening prevailed: Rep. Ben Cline in Virginia’s 6th District easily cruised to renomination, and former Business Council of Alabama President Katie Britt won in the Alabama Senate primary runoff against Rep. Mo Brooks.
Overall, though, 94 percent of Trump’s endorsed candidates for Senate, House and governor have won their races — or put another way, 110 Trump-backed candidates out of 117 have won their primaries. But, as Zoha noted on the live blog, that win rate does drop among nonincumbents candidates. With this group, Trump is batting a 75 percent average since just 18 out of 24 nonincumbent candidates have prevailed.
Most notably, though, regardless of whether Trump’s candidates won or lost, Republicans who backed his fraudulent claims about the 2020 election have prevailed. According to our research, 52 percent of Republican nominees who have questioned the 2020 election or who say it was fraudulent have won their primaries so far, as Kaleigh noted earlier on the live blog.
At this point, there is just one key race where ABC News cannot report a winner at this time — Georgia’s 2nd District. In this district, it looks like Chris West is on track to defeat Jeremy Hunt, some national Republicans’ favored recruit. With about 70 percent of the expected vote in, West currently leads Hunt 52 percent to 48 percent. If West wins tonight, he will go on to face Democratic incumbent Rep. Sanford Bishop in November. And the general election will likely be one of Georgia’s most closely watched congressional races since redistricting made the district more competitive. As Nathaniel mentioned earlier on the live blog, though, West, who is white, might have a harder time making inroads with the district’s significantly Black voter base.
ABC News can now report that Wes Allen is projected to win the Republican runoff for Alabama secretary of state. He currently leads Jim Zeigler 66 percent to 34 percent. Allen becomes the fourth Republican secretary of state nominee who has at least flirted with the Big Lie, joining Kristina Karamo of Michigan, Audrey Trujillo of New Mexico and Jim Marchant of Nevada.
For elections that have been called so far this primary season (including the races that have been called so far tonight) 105 candidates who deny the 2020 election was legitimate and 42 candidates who have questioned the results have won the Republican nomination, out of 284 nominees total. This means that 52 percent of Republican nominees so far endorse the Big Lie in some way.
How Big Lie supporters are doing tonight
Senate, House, gubernatorial, attorney general and secretary of state candidates who have either denied or questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and their results in Republican primaries in Virginia and runoffs in Alabama and Georgia, as of 9:51 p.m. Eastern
| CANDIDATE | OFFICE | Big Lie Position | % REPORTING | VOTE SHARE | STATUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katie Britt | AL Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 36% | 63.9% | ✓ Won |
| Mo Brooks | AL Sen. | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 36 | 36.1 | ✗ Lost |
| Wes Allen | AL SoS | ❓Raised doubts | 33 | 65.3 | ✓ Won |
| Jim Zeigler | AL SoS | ❓Raised doubts | 33 | 34.7 | ✗ Lost |
| Dale Strong | AL-05 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 61 | 63.4 | ✓ Won |
| Casey Wardynski | AL-05 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 61 | 36.6 | ✗ Lost |
| Rich McCormick | GA-06 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 41 | 68.1 | ✓ Won |
| Jake Evans | GA-06 | ❓Raised doubts | 41 | 31.9 | ✗ Lost |
| Mark Gonsalves | GA-07 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 21 | 67.6 | Leading |
| Mike Collins | GA-10 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 57 | 74.6 | ✓ Won |
| Vernon J. Jones | GA-10 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 57 | 25.4 | ✗ Lost |
| Jen A. Kiggans | VA-02 | ❓Raised doubts | 99 | 55.6 | ✓ Won |
| Jarome Bell | VA-02 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 99 | 27.1 | ✗ Lost |
| L. Tommy Altman III | VA-02 | ❓Raised doubts | 99 | 14.3 | ✗ Lost |
| Andrew G. “Andy” Baan | VA-02 | ❓Raised doubts | 99 | 2.9 | ✗ Lost |
| Ted W. Engquist | VA-03 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 52 | 39.5 | ✗ Lost |
| Ben L. Cline* | VA-06 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 60 | 82.2 | ✓ Won |
| Bryce E. Reeves | VA-07 | ❓Raised doubts | 89 | 20.1 | ✗ Lost |
| David L. Ross | VA-07 | 🚫 Denied legitimacy | 89 | 6.1 | ✗ Lost |
| Gina R. Ciarcia | VA-07 | ❓Raised doubts | 89 | 4.2 | ✗ Lost |