Trump-backed candidates win Senate races, lose Georgia governor runoff

Trump’s grip on Republican primaries held in the Senate races, but it cracked in Georgia’s governor runoff, where health care executive Rick Jackson defeated Lt. Gov. Burt Jones despite Donald Trump’s backing. AP called the race at 6:45 p.m. on June 16, 2026, after Jackson built a campaign that poured more than $100 million into the contest.

The split result sharpened the contrast inside the GOP’s 2026 map. Trump-backed candidates prevailed in Senate contests in Georgia and Alabama, yet Georgia Republicans stopped short of following his preferred governor nominee. That matters because the party is heading toward November with a nominee to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia and a fight to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

Jackson’s win also underscored how much the Georgia governor race was a test of Trump’s endorsement against raw spending and state-level politics. Burt Jones entered the runoff as the Trump-backed candidate and as Georgia’s lieutenant governor, but that support was not enough to carry him past a better-funded opponent. The result suggested that even in a deeply polarized Republican electorate, Trump’s approval can be powerful without being automatic.

Georgia has already provided a warning about the limits of presidential pressure. Kemp survived Trump’s effort to oust him in the 2022 Republican primary, and the 2026 governor runoff repeated that lesson in a different form. Trump’s endorsement still commands loyalty in many Republican contests, but Georgia again showed that local reputations, campaign resources and voter calculations can interrupt the party’s national script.

The broader primary calendar pointed the same way. Alabama held its state primary on May 19, 2026, alongside Georgia and several other states, as Republicans across the South picked nominees for Senate, governor and congressional races that will define the fall. In that setting, Trump’s endorsement remained a potent asset, but Georgia’s governor runoff made clear that it no longer guarantees control over every marquee race.