What Went Down During The May 24 Primary Elections
A Trump Endorsee His Base Didn’t Love
Let’s turn back to the Republican primary in Georgia’s 10th District. As I mentioned earlier, Mike Collins (who has questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election) is in the lead, but with 25.2 percent of the vote and 65 percent of votes reporting, it will likely go to a run-off. He’ll be facing off against Vernon Jones, a lapsed Democrat who crossed the aisle after supporting Trump’s reelection bid. Originally, Jones was running for the GOP nomination for governor, but Trump had already thrown his support behind Perdue in that race.
If Jones agreed to switch to a congressional race instead, the former president promised him an endorsement, and Jones took him up on the offer. But unlike most Trump endorsees, who quickly get the backing of Trump’s base, many MAGA types were not too fond of Jones and questioned the endorsement. Aside from his sullied past as a former Democrat, I found far-right Republicans online were troubled by allegations of rape that had been made against Jones (which Jones denies, and charges for which were dropped). But because Trump can do no wrong, many justified the endorsement as Trump’s attempt to bring attention to Jones and “expose” him.
In MN-01, things have tightened a bit between Finstad and Munson but they’re still looking like the candidates to beat, with about 21 percent of the vote counted so far. Finstad has 33 percent, Munson has 28 percent, and state Rep. Nels Pierson is in a distant third place with 7 percent.
Latest count in Minnesota’s 1st District special GOP primary
Results of the Republican primary for the Aug. 9 special election in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, as of 10:31 p.m. Eastern
| Candidate | Votes | Vote % |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Finstad | 2,837 | 33.2% |
| Jeremy Munson | 2,410 | 28.2 |
| Nels Pierson | 593 | 6.9 |
| Kevin Kocina | 580 | 6.8 |
| Bob Carney | 553 | 6.5 |
| Jennifer Carnahan | 545 | 6.4 |
| Matt Benda | 393 | 4.6 |
| J.R. Ewing | 336 | 3.9 |
| Roger Ungemach | 224 | 2.6 |
| Ken Navitsky | 70 | 0.8 |
ABC News has projected the Democratic primary for the Arkansas governor’s race for Chris Jones. Jones is a Pine Bluff native who returned to Arkansas in 2018 after earning his bachelor’s degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta and dual master’s degrees and a doctorate at MIT and working in Boston and Maryland nonprofits. He launched his campaign for governor with a well-produced introductory video that traveled quickly across social media and gained national attention. If he were to win, he would be the state’s first Black governor.