Georgia Primaries Head Toward June 16 Runoffs as 30% of Voters Stay Undecided

5 articles · Updated · POLITICO · May 18

Georgia’s top primaries enter Tuesday with no clear favorite in several marquee races, raising the odds that candidates will be pushed into June 16 runoffs if nobody tops 50%.
30% of likely Republican voters were undecided in an April AJC poll of the governor’s race, while more than a quarter were undecided in an earlier Senate poll that showed Mike Collins at 33%, Derek Dooley at 23% and Buddy Carter at 14%.
The volatility extends across both parties: Keisha Lance Bottoms is expected to lead the Democratic governor’s primary but may miss 50%, and Republicans Rick Jackson and Burt Jones have traded places in public polling.
Campaigns are preparing for multiple scenarios at once, with strategists unsure not only who will finish first but also which rival would advance, adding cost and fatigue in a state already worn down by repeated high-stakes elections.
Georgia’s uncertainty reflects a battleground electorate that has recently split tickets and produced decisive runoffs, including Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff’s Senate wins in the 2020 cycle.

As voter fatigue grows, are runoff elections still the best method for democratic choice?

Will backing independent candidates become a mainstream strategy in highly partisan states?

How is widespread redistricting fundamentally altering the path to winning a political office?