Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota elections

By Maureen Chowdhury, Aditi Sangal, Melissa Macaya, JiMin Lee, Mike Hayes and Meg Wagner, CNN

Updated 3:01 PM ET, Wed May 25, 2022
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7:48 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

CNN Projection: Stacey Abrams will win Georgia's Democratic primary for governor

Stacey Abrams talks to the media during Georgia's primary election on Tuesday, May 24 in Atlanta.
Stacey Abrams talks to the media during Georgia's primary election on Tuesday, May 24 in Atlanta. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

Stacey Abrams will win Georgia's Democratic gubernatorial primary, CNN projects.

Abrams was uncontested in the primary and will become the Democratic nominee for governor in the Peach State for the second time, though her status has changed since her name was last on the ballot in 2018.

An underdog with little following outside of Georgia four years ago, the former state House minority leader is now one of the most popular Democrats in the country. Abrams is now a political star and some in the party want her to run for president. She is also seen as a key figure in helping turn the state blue for Joe Biden in 2020 and electing Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock, who is on the ballot again this year, and Jon Ossoff in subsequent runoffs.

7:10 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Stacey Abrams expresses support for families of Texas school shooting victims

From CNN's Eva McKend

Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia Stacey Abrams has expressed her support for the families of those killed in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

“To the families of Uvalde, we weep with you in your grief and ask for God’s solace for your unfathomable pain. May your angels be lifted up to spite the darkness that took them. And may the light of reason and compassion save the lives of others in their namesake. #Uvalde,” Abrams wrote in a tweet

Abrams, who is running unopposed in the Tuesday Democratic primary, has made gun safety a key pillar of her campaign. She’s routinely called out Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for signing a bill into law allowing most residents to carry a concealed gun without a license.

Kemp signed the bill earlier this year. Supporters of the law refer to it as "constitutional carry.”

7:28 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Polls are closing across Georgia

From CNN's Rachel Janfaza, Ethan Cohen and Melissa Holzberg DePalo

A person works the voting machines earlier in the day during Georgia's primary election on May 24 in Atlanta.
A person works the voting machines earlier in the day during Georgia's primary election on May 24 in Atlanta. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

It's 7 p.m. ET and polls are now closing in Georgia. Some polls are also closing in parts of Alabama.

Key races we are tracking: Incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp faces a primary challenge from former US Sen. David Perdue. Former President Donald Trump, angry at Kemp's role in certifying the 2020 election in the Peach State, is supporting Perdue, but recent polling has shown Kemp with a big lead.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who also earned Trump's ire for defending the 2020 election results, faces several challengers, including Trump-backed US Rep. Jody Hice.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, a former football star, are expected to win their primaries Tuesday to face off in a key Senate contest this fall.

Read more about today's primaries here.

6:29 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Polls are closing soon in Georgia. Here's an hour-by-hour guide to tonight's primaries.

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

A person votes in the Georgia's primary election on Tuesday, May 24, in Atlanta.
A person votes in the Georgia's primary election on Tuesday, May 24, in Atlanta. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

In Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Texas, primary and runoff elections will be decided today.  

But with so many races, it's hard to know what to focus on. Which is where I come in! Below is a handy-dandy viewer's guide to tonight's voting. (All times eastern.)

7 p.m.: Polls close in Georgia. Former NFL player Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock are heavy favorites in the Senate primaries. Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to beat former Sen. David Perdue easily in the GOP gubernatorial primary. The winner there will face Stacey Abrams, who is running unopposed in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, in the general election. The real race to watch is for the GOP nod for secretary of state, where incumbent Brad Raffensperger faces a serious challenge from Rep. Jody Hice. A June runoff for the state's top election official is likely. (Candidates in Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas need to win more than 50% of the vote Tuesday to avoid a runoff.) 

8 p.m.: Final polls close in Alabama and Texas’ 28th DistrictEveryone in the Yellowhammer State assumed Rep. Mo Brooks' Senate candidacy was done for when former President Donald Trump rescinded his endorsement in March. But as GOP primary opponents Katie Boyd Britt and Mike Durant have bashed one another, Brooks has shown signs of life. It would be an AMAZING story if he wound up winning the Republican Senate nomination. (And would Trump still try to take credit for it?)

In Texas, moderate Rep. Henry Cuellar is desperately trying to hang on against progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros in a Democratic primary runoff election. Cisneros has been endorsed by Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as well as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

8:30 p.m.: Polls close in Arkansas. There isn't much to watch in the state, other than to see how many votes former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gets in her run for the GOP governor's nomination. She will likely win in a romp -- and should win the general election this fall almost as easily.

9 p.m.: Final polls close in Texas and Minnesota. Keep an eye on the Republican primary runoff for attorney general, where incumbent Ken Paxton is a strong favorite over George P. Bush, who is the son of Jeb Bush. And in Minnesota, voters will choose nominees for the special election to replace the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn in a Republican-leaning district. 

The Point: The Georgia governor's race is the biggest election of the night. But the Georgia secretary of state contest may be the most important one.

Subscribe to CNN's The Point newsletter here.

5:33 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Kemp shifts attention to Abrams in Georgia governor's race as he keeps strong lead over Perdue 

From CNN's Michael Warren

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at a rally in Watkinsville, Georgia, on Saturday.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at a rally in Watkinsville, Georgia, on Saturday. (Jeff Amy/AP)

Brian Kemp isn't exactly declaring an early victory ahead of Tuesday's Republican primary as he bids for a second term as Georgia governor. He's even downplaying recent polls showing him with a commanding lead over his opponent, former US Sen. David Perdue.

"Don't believe the polling," Kemp told a crowd Saturday near his hometown of Athens.

But behind the mask of caution, Kemp and his team are brimming with confidence. The latest Fox News poll found that 60% of likely GOP primary voters preferred Kemp compared with 28% for Perdue. On the stump, the governor has stopped even mentioning Perdue, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Instead, he has shifted his focus to the presumptive Democratic nominee, Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost to Kemp in 2018 and is unopposed in her primary Tuesday.

"Be excited about the momentum, but use that to encourage you even more to leave no doubt on Tuesday. And then on Wednesday, we will all unite on the mission to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor or our next president," Kemp said in a short speech that name-checked Abrams half a dozen times.

The question, Republican operatives around the state say, is not whether Kemp can best Perdue on Tuesday but by how much. If Kemp can win an outright majority, he'll avoid being forced into a runoff next month. And defeating Perdue decisively on Tuesday would also provide a moral victory for Kemp, who earned Trump's contempt for resisting the former President's pressure to overturn the 2020 election results.

Erick Erickson, a Georgia-based conservative talk radio host, said he thinks Kemp is headed for a big win over Perdue — a result that would indicate the limits of Trump's obsession with 2020 among Republican voters.

"The margin of victory is shaping up to be so big (for Kemp) that we will, at least, be spared more claims of a stolen election and blessed with an early night," Erickson said.

Trump's vendetta against Kemp has led the former President to stretch the limits of plausibility with GOP voters. Trump has called Kemp the "worst governor in America" and a "disaster." At a rally last fall in Georgia, he even suggested — to the bewilderment of Republicans in the crowd and around the state — that he would prefer Abrams to Kemp in the governor's mansion.

Carol Williams, a realtor in Athens who supports Kemp, dismissed Trump's insults.

"Those comments are about himself, actually, not about the governor," Williams told CNN on Saturday. "I think that the former President has no skin in the game in Georgia. He does not understand what's best for our state."

Keep reading here.

5:33 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Sarah Huckabee Sanders glides toward GOP nomination for Arkansas governor

From CNN's Maeve Reston

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has leaned into the more controversial chapters of her time in the Trump White House during her Arkansas gubernatorial campaign, is on a glide path toward securing the Republican nomination on Tuesday long after clearing the field of two other heavyweights. 

The 39-year-old former White House press secretary is expected to easily dispatch GOP opponent Doc Washburn, a former talk radio host who said he was fired last year for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

A return to the governor's mansion would be a homecoming for Sanders after she spent her teenage years in that residence as the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee — a pastor who led the state for more than 10 years. She'd be favored to win in November in a state that former President Donald Trump carried by nearly 28 points in 2020.

"The only thing that could stop Sarah Sanders from being governor of Arkansas is a Martian invasion," Arkansas Republican strategist Bill Vickery said as he listed the elements that have turned Sanders' campaign into a fundraising juggernaut over the past year-and-a-half. 

Sanders left the White House in 2019 as a controversial figure on the national stage after two-and-a-half years serving as one of Trump's most trusted and unwavering defenders. During the campaign, she's pointed to that tenure as testament to her unwillingness to back down, presenting herself as a firewall against the "radical left" while heaping scorn on the national media.

With her deep political connections in Arkansas, her experience as a seasoned political operative and the national following that she built as press secretary and later as a Fox contributor, she quickly established herself as the candidate to beat after entering the race in January of 2021.

But at the core of her connection to voters, Vickery said, is the fact that she has been in the public eye since her pre-teen years, starting with her father's 1992 US Senate run, followed by his stint as lieutenant governor, then his tenure as governor. 

"She sort of grew up in front of everyone in Arkansas. Then as the spokesman for President Trump," Vickery said, "the vast majority of Arkansas voters, who are Republican, saw what they felt like was a significant mistreatment of her from the national press corps, and pop culture figures — they saw her withstand that."

Sarah Huckabee Sanders during the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Nov. 6, 2021.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders during the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Nov. 6, 2021. (Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

At the time of her exit from the White House, when Trump was lionizing her as a "warrior" and nudging her toward a run for governor, her critics were calling her a liar, arguing that her credibility and her legacy had been irrevocably tarnished. 

Sanders came under fire personally when then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report was released. It revealed that as deputy press secretary, she had provided baseless information to reporters when she claimed in May of 2017, after the President had terminated FBI Director James Comey, that "countless" FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey. Sanders acknowledged to investigators that her comments were "not founded on anything," the Mueller report said. 

But back home, many Arkansans viewed her treatment in Washington as rough.

"The stories of the personal attacks, the being thrown out of restaurants," Vickery said, alluding to a 2018 incident when Sanders said the owner of the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, asked her to leave because she worked for Trump. "There's a bit of an element of the people of Arkansas taking that personally — because of the favorite daughter status. A big part of her public persona here is the fortitude, the grit and the determination that she showed in pushing back," he added.

Sanders' critics in Washington would offer a different account of her years navigating the nadir of White House-press relations. To mockery, Sanders at one point used her time at the podium to read a laudatory letter from 9-year-old child nicknamed "Pickle" to the President. She was often criticized for being evasive, for valuing loyalty to Trump above all else and for eventually phasing out the daily White House briefing.

Though she entered the White House with warm relationships with many reporters, the tensions quickly escalated. In a notable example of how strained the relationship had become, Sanders defended Trump's declaration that the press was an "enemy of the people" during a 2018 exchange with CNN's Jim Acosta. By January of 2019, Trump tweeted that the reason Sanders did not go to the podium "much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately," adding, "I told her not to bother."  

5:43 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Here are the House primaries to watch today

From CNN's Rachel Janfaza and Andrew Menezes

(Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
(Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

It's Election Day in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas and Minnesota (well, at least in the latter's 1st Congressional District).

The Republican primaries for governor and Senate in Georgia have captured national attention, with former President Donald Trump flexing his endorsement muscle for former US Sen. David Perdue, who is challenging incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, and for former football star Herschel Walker, who is the front-runner for the GOP Senate nomination.

The Republican primary for the open Senate seat in Alabama is likely heading to a June runoff, with none of the leading candidates expected to secure a majority of the primary vote today. In March, Trump rescinded his endorsement of US Rep. Mo Brooks in that race. The state's Republican governor, Kay Ivey, is favored to win her primary in her bid for a second full term, potentially without a runoff. 

Arkansas GOP Sen. John Boozman, who has Trump's backing as he seeks a third term, will be hoping to avoid a runoff in today's primary that features three challengers. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as press secretary in the Trump White House, is favored to win the Republican primary for Arkansas governor, an office her father, Mike Huckabee, held from 1996 to 2007. 

There are also key US House primaries taking place today, especially in Georgia and Texas, where the top two vote-getters from the Lone Star State's March 1 primaries face off in runoffs. There are also competitive primaries for seats seen as safe for either party, where the winners will be overwhelming favorites in November. And in Minnesota, voters in the 1st Congressional District will pick their nominees in the special election for the seat of the late Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn. 

House elections are taking place under new congressional lines that were redrawn in redistricting following the 2020 census. Republicans drew the new maps in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. The special election in Minnesota — which is for the term that ends in January 2023 — is taking place under the existing boundaries.

Here's a look at the House races we're watching today:

Georgia's 2nd District

Longtime Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop is running for a 16th term representing this southwestern Georgia district that became slightly less Democratic in redistricting but still would have backed Joe Biden by 10 points. Republicans are targeting the seat this cycle, and their fundraising leader in the primary is Army veteran Jeremy Hunt, a West Point graduate who was recently recognized as an "on the radar" candidate by the National Republican Congressional Committee. Hunt is among several Black Republicans running for Congress this year in competitive seats. 

Georgia's 6th District

Two-term Democratic incumbent Lucy McBath opted to run in the neighboring 7th District after redistricting transformed her suburban Atlanta seat from one that backed Biden by 11 points to one that Trump would have won by 15 points. The winner of the nine-way Republican primary will be the favorite for the general election, but it remains to be seen if a candidate will be able to win without a runoff. Emergency room doctor and Marine veteran Rich McCormick, who narrowly lost a bid for the 7th District in 2020, and Trump-endorsed attorney Jake Evans, the former chairman of Georgia's State Ethics Commission, are seen as the front-runners on the GOP side. Other Republicans running include former state Rep. Meagan Hanson and self-described "Maga Mom" Mallory Staples. 

Georgia's 7th District

Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux was the only Democrat to flip a competitive US House seat in 2020. Biden carried her suburban Atlanta district under its current lines by 6 points, but he would have won the new version of the seat by by 26 points. McBath's decision to run for the redrawn seat sets up an incumbent-versus-incumbent primary with Bourdeaux. McBath, who has a national profile as an advocate for gun violence prevention, raised $4.4 million through May 4, compared with $3.2 million for Bourdeaux. The presence of state Rep. Donna McLeod in the primary could mean this race heads to a runoff. 

Georgia's 10th District

With GOP Rep. Jody Hice running for Georgia secretary of state, several Republicans are looking to succeed him in this district east of Atlanta that stretches to the South Carolina border. The primary will offer a test of Trump's endorsement power — former Democratic state Rep. Vernon Jones, who switched parties in 2021, ended his bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in February and switched to the 10th District race with Trump's backing. But Jones has lagged in fundraising, bringing in $337,000 through May 4. Businessman Mike Collins, the son of the late Georgia GOP Rep. Mac Collins, is the fundraising leader, raising $1.1 million through May 4, including a $531,000 personal loan. This is Collins' second bid for the seat after losing in a primary runoff to Hice in 2014. Other Republicans seeking the party nod include former state Revenue Commissioner David Curry and businessman Marc McMain, both of whom have partly self-funded their campaigns, and former US Rep. Paul Broun, who held this seat before Hice. The winner of the GOP primary would be favored for November in a seat Trump would have carried by 23 points in 2020.

Read more here.

5:52 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Pence: A vote for Kemp will send a "deafening message all across America" that GOP is "party of the future"

From CNN's Mike Warren and Jeff Zeleny

Former Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, right, greet the crowd during a Get Out the Vote Rally, on Monday, May 23.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, right, greet the crowd during a Get Out the Vote Rally, on Monday, May 23. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

A day before Georgia’s primary election, former Vice President Mike Pence had a forward-looking message of support for renominating Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

“When you say yes to Governor Brian Kemp tomorrow, you will send a deafening message all across America that the Republican Party is the party of the future,” Pence said Monday as he spoke to a crowd in an airport hangar north of Atlanta.

Pence’s appearance was an implicit rebuke of his former running-mate Donald Trump, who has endorsed Kemp’s primary opponent, David Perdue. Pence did not make a direct mention of Trump nor respond to the relentless attacks the former President has leveled against Kemp. But his mere appearance at the election eve rally spoke volumes.

“When Brian Kemp called me and asked me to come out here and be with all of you, I said yes in a heartbeat,” Pence said.

Pence’s trip to Georgia is the latest of several appearances in the midterm cycle on behalf of Republican candidates. Marc Short, a top Pence aide, told CNN the former vice president would travel on Tuesday to appear North Carolina Senate nominee Ted Budd, who won his Republican primary last week the help of an endorsement from Trump.

In Kennesaw, neither Pence nor Kemp mentioned Perdue directly, choosing instead to aim their rhetorical fire at the presumptive Democratic nominee, Stacey Abrams. Kemp narrowly defeated Abrams in his first bid for governor in 2018.

“I’m here because Brian Kemp is the only candidate in tomorrow’s primary who has already defeated Stacey Abrams, whether she knows it or not,” Pence said. “And I’m here because Stacey Abrams can never be governor of the great state of Georgia.”

Multiple times during the rally, the audience broke out in a chant of “four more years,” with Pence leading one such chant near the end of his speech.

People attend a rally for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp ahead of the state's primary election in Kennesaw, Georgia, on May 23.
People attend a rally for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp ahead of the state's primary election in Kennesaw, Georgia, on May 23. (Alyssa Pointer/Reuters)

Before Pence came on stage, Kemp delivered brief remarks, touting his conservative accomplishments in his first term and going after Abrams for recent comments she made during a local Democratic party event in which she referred to Georgia as the “worst state in the country to live.��

“I don’t know about y’all, but I’m glad we’re the number-one state in the country for business,” Kemp said. “And Marty and the girls and I know that we are the best state in the country to live, work and raise our families in.”

Kemp has been leading in recent public polls, but Tuesday’s election will proceed to a runoff if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.

4:42 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Early voting has surged in Georgia's primary, but activists say the numbers aren't showing the larger picture

From CNN's Kelly Mena

People vote early at the Tim. D. Lee Senior Center in East Cobb County in Georgia on May 2.
People vote early at the Tim. D. Lee Senior Center in East Cobb County in Georgia on May 2. (Robin Rayne/Zuma Press)

Early voting has surged in the Georgia primary, with a record-number ballots cast ahead of Tuesday's contests.

While Republicans have claimed victory after more than a year of Democrats and others saying the vote was being restricted under new laws in the Peach State, voting activists say the surge is not showing the larger picture of the obstacles voters are enduring to get their vote counted this year.

As of May 21, nearly 800,000 were cast, according to GOP Secreaty of State Brad Raffensperger, during the three-week early voting period. He said it was a record and touted SB 202, the voting law from 2021, as the reason for the success.

"The incredible turnout we have seen demonstrates once and for all that Georgia's Election Integrity Act struck a good balance between the guardrails of access and security," Raffensperger said in a statement announcing the turnout numbers.

What the law did: SB 202 added new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowered state officials to take over local elections boards, limited the use of ballot drop boxes and made it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food or water.

Activists say it's their work that has brought about the so-called success. Several voting rights organizations across the state like Black Voter Matter and LWV have been educating voters on the new rules. The work has included setting up hotlines to starting grassroots educational networks to holding voter turnout events on weekends.

"The high early vote turnout shows that this message has been heard by voters," Susannah Scott, president of the Georgia Chapter of League of Women Voters, told CNN on Monday.

Cliff Albright, executive director of Black Voters Matter, noted that the turnout rate is not indicative of Black voters who have been discouraged by the new rules. Activists had warned that the new laws would hurt Black voter turnout who make up roughly a third of the state's population.

In 2020, a record 1.3 million Georgians voted absentee. Absentee voting rules have since changed. While anyone in Georgia can vote by mail without needing an excuse, voters now must provide their Georgia driver's license number or state ID along with other identifying information like birth date when applying for a mail-in-ballot application. Those lacking the required ID forms can use other paperwork like a utility bill or bank statement.

What remains to be seen is how many voters opted to vote by mail this time around, and whether the surge in early voting will balance that out. Election officials in Georgia won't start counting mail-in ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day and voters have until three days after to fix any problems with their ballot so it can be counted.

"Now, the bigger question is this: How many people decided not to shift from vote-by-mail to early voting. ... We're so frustrated, discouraged that they didn't do either one," Albright told CNN.

Some voting rights groups say that the early voting numbers show that voters are taking the safer route to casting a ballot.

Read the full story here.