BREAKING: SOS Raffensperger wins GOP nomination, avoids runoff in stunner

Embattled incumbent stuns Trump-backed Hice

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger pulled off a stunning upset in the GOP primary on Tuesday night, clinching an outright victory over a Trump-backed primary challenger.

Raffensperger defeats U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, a far-right Congressman from Northeast Georgia who was personally recruited by the former President to challenge the incumbent.

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Trump launched an effort to overturn Joe Biden’s narrow Georgia victory. In January 2021, he personally called the Secretary of State and frantically urged him to “find” enough votes to erase Biden’s margin of victory. The call is now the subject of a criminal investigation.

Hice’s loss is a huge setback for Trump, who was seeking to reshape Republican politics in Georgia following his 2020 defeat. Several of his endorsed candidates in Georgia were defeated on Tuesday night.

Raffensperger now awaits the winner of the Democratic primary, which seems poised to go to a runoff. No Democratic candidate was polling above the 50% runoff threshold as of Tuesday night.