Last week's primary on May 19 ended without clear results in several races, including the one for Georgia's secretary of state, during which both the Republican and Democratic races ended without a singular candidate gaining at least 50% of the vote.
The top two vote-getters from each party will head to runoffs scheduled for June 16 to determine who will be on the ballot for the November midterms.
The Democrats
Penny Brown Reynolds, a former state judge in Fulton County, came out on top for the Democrats with 42% of the vote, just 8% shy of an outright win.
The second top vote-getter, who Reynolds will face in the runoff, was Dana Barrett, a Fulton County commissioner. Barrett received 35% of the vote, with two other candidates accounting for 12% and 10% of the remaining votes.
Fulton County, the home of both Democratic candidates hoping to secure Georgia's elections, has been at the center of President Donald Trump's claims of election fraud, which he alleges cost him the 2020 presidential election.
President Trump lost to former President Joe Biden in Georgia by over 11,000 votes, with the state a critical grab for the winning party.
Several judges have concluded that President Trump's allegations of election fraud costing him the election are unfounded. However, in January, the FBI seized ballots and 2020 election documents from a Fulton County warehouse as Trump continues to push his claims.
Many democrats spoke out against the action, including Barrett, who has criticized Trump's election fraud investigations since he started them.
Reynolds shared similar sentiments following the subpoena of the documents.
"Georgia voters made their voices clear years ago. The results were certified, recounted, audited, and upheld," she wrote in a Jan. 28 Instagram post. "Undermining public trust by relitigating the past only weakens our democracy."
View this post on Instagram
The Republicans
The Republican primary was slightly more crowded with five candidates.
State Representative Tim Fleming took the top spot with 39% of the vote. Fleming has taken on the position, like many Republicans, of introducing hand-marked paper ballots in the wake of a 2024 law outlawing QR code use on official ballots, which a special session this summer is set to address.
Former state Representative Vernon Jones is a much more fervent supporter of Trump's election fraud claims.
"If my establishment opponent wins, the 2020 election fraud will forever be swept under the rug," Jones wrote in a May 26 X post. "But when I win, I’m pulling the sheet back and exposing the fraud."
We are about to set it off in Georgia’s runoff race for Georgia’s Secretary of State on Election Day, June 16th.
If my establishment opponent wins, the 2020 election fraud will forever be swept under the rug.
But when I win, I’m pulling the sheet back and exposing the fraud.… pic.twitter.com/fVCMLpW1UR
— Vernon Jones War Room (@VernonWarRoom) May 27, 2026
Jones received the second most votes in the primary, over 27%, and will face Rep. Fleming in the runoff.
