Georgia’s primary runoff Tuesday will put the finishing touches on the roster for the November general election.
The biggest races to watch are on the Republican side, where voters will decide who will face Jon Ossoff in the U.S. Senate contest and Keisha Lance Bottoms in the race for governor. Other runoffs are on the ballot as well, from statewide offices to legislative and congressional seats.
Follow The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for unparalleled coverage of Georgia’s runoff election. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. around the state Tuesday.
The AJC is your source for results. Our team of experienced journalists will be with the leading candidates around the state and will help you make sense of what happened and what comes next.
Rain and thunderstorms are forecast around metro Atlanta and North Georgia today. That could be bad news for turnout in today's runoff.
Academic studies over the years have supported what seems fairly obvious — rain and other inclement weather tends to keep some voters at home. Interestingly, a 2024 study found that the rise of alternative methods of voting, like mail-in and advance in-person voting, has offset that dip in recent presidential elections.
One way to vote today and stay dry is to get out early. Forecasters expect the weather to grow worse this afternoon.
AJC reporters have been covering the midterms for months, traveling the state with the candidates and documenting every twist and turn of the unpredictable campaigns.
Senior political reporter Greg Bluestein lays out what to watch in today's runoff here.
See why he thinks the turnout in metro Atlanta could be pivotal in the U.S. Senate race and what the runoffs will mean for someone who isn't on the ballot — Gov. Brian Kemp.
Polls are open for primary runoff day in Georgia. Voters will cast ballots to determine the Democratic and Republican nominees in races that weren't decided in last month's primary contests.
If you are voting today, here are some ways to make sure it goes smoothly.
Check your registration
All voters registered in the state can participate in today's election. You can check your registration status and find your polling location at the Georgia Secretary of State's My Voter Page here.
Know who is on the ballot?
If you voted in a party primary last month, you have to vote in that party's primary runoff. If you skipped the primary or selected a nonpartisan ballot last month, you can vote in either party primary.
You can view sample ballots on your My Voter Page. And you can study up on the runoff races with the AJC's 2026 Georgia Voter Guide, which has been updated for today's contests.
You can find the voter guide here.
Keep up with results
Lastly, bookmark this page and come back throughout the day for updates on the campaigns, turnout and results as the AJC follows the action live.
ROME — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones sure is loving the sound of his new roster of high-profile backers.
Speaking to supporters in a cramped second-floor campaign office in Rome, Jones highlighted endorsements from both President Donald Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp.
“I literally have the most popular elected officials in the state of Georgia,” Jones said as he makes his closing argument ahead of Tuesday's runoff.
He argued their support was earned through years of working together, not political favors.
President Donald Trump has endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in Georgia's Republican race for governor. But on Monday, Donald Trump Jr. went out of his way to compliment Rick Jackson, Jones' rival for the nomination.
"Regardless of what happens in the Georgia Governor's race tomorrow, we should celebrate the patriots building up MAGA and an American First economy like (Rick Jackson) has," Trump Jr. wrote on X.
Trump Jr. quickly noted his post was not an endorsement. But AJC senior political reporter Greg Bluestein notes that Jackson traveled to Virginia on Saturday for a Donald Trump fundraiser. It was his second with Trump since entering the race.
Georgia's Democratic leaders on Monday laid out a two-pronged strategy for pushing back against Republican redistricting efforts during a special legislative session that begins Wednesday.
The first is amping up outside pressure against GOP members who feel squeamish about redrawing Georgia’s U.S. House and legislative maps for 2028. Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, said Democrats won't be playing nice during the session.
“We're going to bring pressure on these folks with what they're trying to do," Jones said during a news conference with Democratic legislators from other southern states at Paschal’s Restaurant in Atlanta.
The second is to create a public record that could be used in court showing the redistricting push is racially motivated and not purely partisan.
“We'll create our case and we'll go from there,” said Jones, an attorney and former prosecutor.
Gov. Brian Kemp called the special session a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority gutted a key section of the Voting Rights Act. The decision leaves few avenues for opponents seeking to challenge maps. Some critics of the GOP’s effort are hoping to lure the state’s biggest companies into the fight.
Standing next to Jones at Monday’s press conference was House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, who recently authored an op-ed calling for the state to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing partisan gerrymandering.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz campaigned with Rick Jackson on Monday, making a final pitch for the billionaire healthcare executive's campaign for governor.
“I’m here because he’s the strongest conservative who could win,” Cruz told hundreds of supporters in Alpharetta, casting Jackson as the candidate best positioned to carry Republican priorities forward.
Jackson, meanwhile, sought to claim the mantle of Gov. Brian Kemp despite Kemp’s endorsement of rival Burt Jones.
“Brian Kemp’s built an incredible foundation and I promise to build on it and take Georgia to the next level,” Jackson said. “I will create more jobs than has ever been created in Georgia’s history.”
Jackson grew emotional as he spoke about overhauling Georgia’s foster care system and expanding opportunities for struggling families, tying the issue to his own rise from humble beginnings.
“Help me help people have and achieve their American dream,” he said, briefly choking up as he described efforts to help “people who are struggling.”
In his new book, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock implores Americans to look beyond "the petty rhetoric of politics today" to what he sees as a more moral and just future.
"The Crooked Places Made Straight" hits bookstores and online retailers Tuesday as Georgia voters head to the polls to pick party nominations for November's midterms. Warnock is not on the ballot. The book expands on his sermons as senior pastor of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
AJC Washington bureau chief Tia Mitchell writes about the book and why Warnock thinks Old Testament prophet Isaiah's message is important for today's divisive politics. Read more here.
In backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the Republican runoff to succeed him, Gov. Brian Kemp said he wanted voters to chose the candidate whose years in elected office prove he knows how to get things done.
That is a very different message than the one Kemp has been saying for months as he campaigns alongside former football coach Derek Dooley in the U.S. Senate race. In that contest, he says Dooley's outsider status as someone who has never held public office before makes him the best person for the job.
Kemp said the difference is the offices they seek. He says Georgia is operating well after a string of Republican governors, so it makes sense to endorse Jones for continuity. But he believes Congress is broken and an outsider like Dooley is the best candidate to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
"What we've been able to do in my administration, working with the Republican leadership in the (state) House and in the Senate, giving $12 billion back to the taxpayer, then you think about Washington D.C. — we're running against their inaction," Kemp said. "We've got to send a different leader to Washington, D.C., which is why I've been supporting Derek Dooley this whole time."
Early Sunday morning, President Donald Trump endorsed U.S. Rep Mike Collins in the Senate race.
Dooley, a political newcomer, now goes into Tuesday’s runoff lacking a presidential endorsement, which could be imperative for a first-timer in Republican politics.
In his endorsement via Truth Social, Trump praised Collins while criticizing Dooley for having “lived outside of Georgia for most of his life” and not voting in 2020 or 2016. But AJC’s Patricia Murphy reports that Dooley’s real mistake was acknowledging that the president lost Georgia in 2020.
Read more in her column here.