Miller, Strickland Lead Primary Projections

Georgia’s May 19 primary settled the attorney general race but left several of the state’s biggest November matchups unfinished. Democrat Tanya Miller and Republican Brian Strickland won their primaries outright, according to AP-tracked results, while crowded contests for governor, U.S. Senate, lieutenant governor and secretary of state moved toward June runoffs. AP results showed Miller leading the Democratic attorney general primary by 69.1 percentage points on May 20, and a separate live results page showed her taking about 84.5% of the vote. Strickland won the Republican side with about 71.6%, avoiding a runoff in one of the few statewide races decided on the first round. The primary also clarified the shape of the governor’s race. (apnews.com) Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic nomination, while Republicans Burt Jones and Rick Jackson advanced to a June 16 runoff after neither crossed the majority threshold required to win outright. In the Republican U.S. Senate primary, Mike Collins led and advanced to a runoff, with Derek Dooley running second in WABE’s May 19 count. (apnews.com) ### Who are Miller and Strickland, and what did they win? Tanya Miller won the Democratic primary for Georgia attorney general on May 19, defeating former state lawmaker Robert Trammell. Brian Strickland won the Republican primary the same night, beating state Sen. Bill Cowsert. Their victories set the November general-election matchup for one of Georgia’s top legal offices. (wabe.org) AP’s attorney general results page called the Republican race for Strickland at 5:06 p.m. on May 19. Miller’s margin was wider, with live tallies showing her far ahead as counties completed reporting. ### Why did this race finish while others did not? Georgia requires a candidate to win a majority to avoid a runoff in party primaries. Miller and Strickland each cleared that bar, while several better-known statewide contests did not. (apnews.com) WABE’s statewide results page showed the Republican governor’s race headed to a runoff between Jones and Jackson, with Jones at 38.3% and Jackson at 32.6% as of May 19 evening. (apnews.com) The same page showed the Republican Senate primary still unresolved, with Collins at 41.1% and Dooley at 29.2%, short of the threshold needed to clinch the nomination. ### What else on the statewide ballot is still unsettled? (apnews.com) June 16 runoffs are also set in the lieutenant governor and secretary of state races. WABE reported that state Sen. Josh McLaurin and former state Sen. Nabilah Parkes advanced in the Democratic lieutenant governor primary, while state Sens. John Kennedy and Greg Dolezal moved on in the Republican contest. (wabe.org) Secretary of state also remains open on both sides. Ballotpedia and WJCL reported that Democrats Penny Brown Reynolds and Dana Barrett advanced to a runoff, while Republicans Tim Fleming and Vernon Jones moved to their own June 16 contest. ### How does the governor’s race look after primary night? Keisha Lance Bottoms emerged as the Democratic nominee after winning 56.3% of the vote in WABE’s May 19 results. (wabe.org) The Republican side stayed split, with Jones and Jackson eliminating Brad Raffensperger, Chris Carr and other candidates from the first round. Patch reported before the primary that the open-seat governor’s race had drawn a large field because Gov. (ballotpedia.org) Brian Kemp is term-limited and cannot run again. That vacancy helped make the governor’s contest one of the state’s most crowded and expensive races. ### What happens next, and when will Georgia know the full field? June 16 is the next key date in Georgia’s 2026 cycle. (wabe.org) That runoff will decide the unresolved Republican nominations for governor and U.S. Senate and settle both parties’ contests for lieutenant governor and secretary of state. November 3, 2026, is the general election date for Georgia’s statewide offices, including attorney general, governor and U.S. (patch.com) Senate. By then, Miller and Strickland will already have their places on the ballot, while the remaining statewide nominees will come from the June runoffs. (ballotpedia.org)