Georgia Today: High-profile runoffs; Keisha Lance Bottoms wins; two incumbents reelected

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, after yesterday's primaries, it looks like we're headed into runoffs for several high-profile races. Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms wins the Democratic nomination for governor, and voters chose to keep two incumbents on the Georgia Supreme Court. 

Charlie Bethel: I'm gratified that the voters of Georgia reaffirmed their commitment to an impartial judiciary and I look forward to continuing to serve. 

Peter Biello: Today is Wednesday, May 20th. I'm Peter Bielo, and this is Georgia Today. 

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Neither frontrunner in Georgia's high-dollar campaign for the Republican nomination for governor secured enough votes yesterday to avoid a runoff. GPB's Sofi Gratas reports we're in for another month of campaigning between Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and healthcare executive Rick Jackson. 

Sofi Gratas: South of Atlanta, Jones told supporters he'll lean heavily on President Trump's endorsement heading into the runoff and on them during his continuing campaign. 

Burt Jones: You're the reason why we're going to win, and I don't care how much money is in it. 

Sofi Gratas: Meanwhile, Jackson promised to continue running as a "outsider."

Rick Jackson: I don't owe the lobbyists anything. I don't need the establishment's permission. I cannot be bought and I will not back down. 

Sofi Gratas: However, if elected, Jackson said he would work closely with Trump on priority issues, including immigration and public safety. For GPB News, I'm Sofi Gratas in Atlanta.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Jackson or Jones will face off against the Democratic nominee, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who won her primary in a crowded field handily. GPB's Amanda Andrews has more from her election night watch party. 

Amanda Andrews: Bottoms won outright with over 50% of the vote and will not face a runoff ahead of the November election. Her platform is focused on healthcare, affordable housing, and protecting voting rights in Georgia. During her victory speech, Bottoms said she will fight for votes in every corner of the state. 

Keisha Lance Bottoms: I am going to spend every day through November talking about my plans to make sure every Georgian has an opportunity to succeed. It means stopping Donald Trump every time his policies hurt Georgia and also taking action here to make life better for people across this state. 

Amanda Andrews: Bottoms will face off against the winner of the Republican nomination, which will be decided in a runoff election between current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson. For GPB News, I'm Amanda Andrews. 

Story 3: 

Peter Biello: Turning now to the closely watched U.S. Senate race, two Republicans will continue duking it out as their campaigns continue to another round. GPB's Sara Kallis reports the remaining candidates are taking aim at Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff and each other. 

Sarah Kallis: U.S. Rep. Mike Collins was the first to qualify for the runoff. He emphasized his record in Congress and support for President Donald Trump. 

Mike Collins: You don't beat Jon Ossoff with no record. You win by having a record of results. 

Sarah Kallis: Former football coach Derek Dooley also qualified. He marketed himself as a political outsider. 

Derek Dooley: Beating Jon Ossoff is not going to be done by another DC politician. 

Sarah Kallis: The runoff will be held June 16th. Trump hasn't endorsed a candidate yet, but Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has supported Dooley. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kalis in Jackson. 

Story 4: 

Peter Biello: The Republican primary for U.S. Senate created two open seats in the U.S. House. Seeking to succeed Collins in a Republican-leaning district east of Atlanta, State Rep. Houston Gaines is the top Republican. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter also campaigned to take on Ossoff in the US Senate race, but his votes fell short of securing a place in the runoff. Carter's seat in a Republican-leaning southeast Georgia district now could go to Jim Kingston, son of longtime Savannah Congressman Jack Kingston. Jim Kingston narrowly avoided a runoff in a crowded field. In other open U.S. House races, Democrat Jasmine Clark won her party's nomination to succeed U. S. Rep. David Scott, who died in April while he was seeking another term. Clark is now the odds-on favorite to represent a heavily Democratic metro Atlanta district. 

Story 5: 

Peter Biello: Georgia voters also cast their ballots for state constitutional, state legislative, and local office holders. And like many of the higher profile races that we've been reporting on, many of those races will go to runoffs as well. But judicial races in Georgia have their general elections with the primaries in May. That means two usual Georgia Supreme Court races are now decided. GPB's Orlando Montoya reports two justices on the state's highest court successfully push back strong challengers to win reelection. 

Orlando Montoya: Judicial races are technically nonpartisan and rarely competitive. The last time voters ousted a Georgia Supreme Court justice was in 1922, but high-profile Democrats believed Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin could buck history in their campaigns against Republican-backed incumbents. While Tuesday's results were closer than most judicial races, in the end, voters stuck with incumbents Charlie Bethel and Sarah Warren. Bethel said the result won't change how he serves on the court. 

Charlie Bethel: I'm gratified that the voters of Georgia reaffirmed their commitment to an impartial judiciary and I look forward to continuing to serve. 

Orlando Montoya: Warren said, the result sends a message. 

Sarah Warren: We withstood partisan attacks from the outside. We withstood the negativity and misleading ads from the outside. But I think the people of Georgia have now spoken and said that that is not the kind of campaign they want to see because they want judges on the bench, not politicians. 

Orlando Montoya: The challengers did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning, but Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey congratulated the challengers for what he called, "historic courageous campaigns." A third Georgia Supreme Court race was decided before Tuesday. The incumbent, Justice Ben Land, faced no opposition for a six-year term on the bench. For GPB News, I'm Orlando Montoya. 

Story 6: 

Peter Biello: For more on last night's election results, let's get some analysis from Zachary Peskowitz. He's professor of political science at Emory University. Welcome to the program. 

Zachary Peskowitz: Thank you for having me. 

Peter Biello: So let's start with those gubernatorial primaries. What do you make of the big win for Keisha Lance Bottoms in the Democratic primary? 

Zachary Peskowitz: Yeah, so this is certainly an impressive performance by Bottoms to avoid the runoff.  It's a pretty crowded field, with some pretty experienced competitors and to be able to get more than 50% of the vote in the first round is difficult and impressive showing and she gets to avoid, you know, the extended campaign and cost of running for another month. 

Peter Biello: What do you think put her over the top?

Zachary Peskowitz: Name recognition experience as mayor of Atlanta was a big part of it, but it is still very impressive to avoid a runoff with such a crowded field of experienced candidates who have served in the general assembly, been county executives and the like. 

Peter Biello: And for Republicans, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson, both who have been aggressively advertising their campaigns, will face each other next month in the runoff. What do you make of that race? 

Zachary Peskowitz: This is gonna be a very interesting race to watch. So I think a lot of money has already been spent with these candidates trying to get to the runoff. And I think we're gonna see a lot of money, a lot of advertising over the next month. It's gonna be quite expensive. They're gonna use some resources that they won't be able to use in the general election as a result. Based on the results yesterday, they're expected to be very competitive and close. Gonna come down to the wire most likely. 

Peter Biello: President Trump has intervened in some GOP races across the country when he likes a particular candidate. To what extent do you think the president will get involved in this? 

Zachary Peskowitz: Yeah, so Donald Trump has endorsed Burt Jones. I think that's a real selling point of the Jones campaign. If you go to Burt Jones' website, you see a big banner at the top of the website that says endorsed by President Donald J. Trump. That's a big differentiator compared to Rick Jackson. So I expect we're gonna hear a lot of that. I don't know how active President Trump plans to be in the campaign or whether he'll make a campaign appearance or the like. But certainly if that were to happen, that could have a big effect. You know, in these runoffs turn out as often quite low. You know we just had an election and there's less attention to these runoff. So tens of thousands of votes either way could really make the difference in determining who the Republican nominee in November is. 

Peter Biello: What about the GOP Senate race? Mike Collins and Derek Dooley will face each other in a runoff. 

Zachary Peskowitz: Yes, so this was another race where we had quite a few serious candidates, and not too surprising that it advanced to a runoff. Dooley was pretty close to Buddy Carter, so he eeked out the win there and gets to advance to the next round. Dooley is Brian Kemp's preferred candidate, so I expect we'll see a lot of engagement from Gov. Kemp, suspects of a lot campaign events and rallies and the like. 

Peter Biello: What does Derek Dooley's performance here say about Gov. Brian Kemp's influence, given that he was, as you say, Kemp preferred candidate? Kemp has, of course, never been in lockstep with President Trump, whereas Mike Collins, who did get a higher percentage of the vote than Dooley, has been more closely aligned with the president. 

Zachary Peskowitz: I think this is quite an interesting dynamic to look at. So Dooley obviously has no prior political experience. This is called uncharted territory for him. But Brian Kemp picked him, thought he would be a compelling statewide candidate in the general election against Jon Ossoff, who is now confirmed as the Democratic nominee. I think that Kemp was able to take a politically inexperienced candidate and get him to the runoff, I think that's certainly an accomplishment and I think points to Kemp's popularity in the state. We'll see if what happens in this runoff and whether he's able to be competitive and win against a more experienced candidate in Mike Collins. 

Peter Biello: Was there anything else about last night's primary race that surprised you or that you found interesting? 

Zachary Peskowitz: An interesting result from last night was the Georgia State Supreme Court results, although these are nonpartisan elections for the Georgia state Supreme Court, but a lot of national Democrats endorsed two of the challengers and those challengers did not win. So I think that's certainly interesting and to see that although Democrats turned out at very high rates, they were not able to win those nonpartisans state Supreme court elections. 

Peter Biello: What can you tell us about turnout and what that turnout says about how Georgians feel right now? 

Zachary Peskowitz: For this primary, we had over 2 million votes cast, which is pretty good for a primary and a midterm election cycle. And I think there was a lot of excitement about these competitive statewide races in particular. As we move to the runoff, a few things change. So it's obviously a quicker turnaround. We have the run off in four weeks. The early voting window is also shorter. So there are gonna be fewer opportunities for citizens to do early in-person voting. You know, I'd expect that turnout's gonna decrease quite a bit relative to the first round of the primary.

Peter Biello: Zachary Peskowitz, professor of political science at Emory University, thank you so much for speaking with me. 

Zachary Peskowitz: Thank you for having me. 

Story 7: 

Peter Biello: One of the state's largest philanthropic organizations will be looking for a new leader. The president of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation announced her retirement yesterday. Fay Twersky joined the Atlanta-based foundation in 2021. Since 1995, it has granted more than $1.5 billion to charities primarily in Georgia. 

Story 8:

Peter Biello: The Georgia Ports Authority is reporting a 14% drop in cargo traffic for the month of April compared to the same month in 2025. Port officials yesterday attributed the decline to record volumes in 2025 when customers were front-loading cargo ahead of expected tariffs. The agency forecasts 54% growth over 10 years with $5 billion in planned investments. 

Story 9:

Peter Biello: Atlanta parks have climbed to 18th in a ranking by the National Trust for Public Lands. The organization's park score index released today rates cities on the acreage, investment, amenities, access, and equity of their parks. Atlanta was 49th five years ago when park and recreation spending was about half its current level. The trust says parks return $3 in economic benefits for every dollar invested. 

Outro:

Peter Biello: And that is it for this edition of Georgia Today. Thank you so much for tuning in. Remember, you can find more headlines at gpb.org/news. Subscribing to this podcast is a good idea. We'll be back in your feed tomorrow afternoon. And your feedback and story ideas are welcome. And the best way to get them to us is by email. The address is georgiatoday@gpb.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thank you again for listening. We will see you tomorrow. 

---

For more on these stories and more, go to GPB.org/news.