US primaries in Oklahoma, Georgia, others: Key takeaways from the results

Burt Jones, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, has lost in Georgia’s gubernatorial run-off to billionaire Rick Jackson, but candidates backed by the US president secured Senate nominations in Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma in the primary elections on Tuesday.

Voters also decided the party candidates for the congressional race in California and a mayoral primary in Washington, DC, as the United States gears up for November’s midterm elections, seen by some as a referendum on Trump’s second term.

Here’s who won and lost the primaries – and how Trump-endorsed candidates fared.

Georgia attracted a lot of media attention over the fight between Jones and Jackson. Though Trump-backed Jones lost in the governor’s race, voters in the state elected the US president’s pick for the Senate primary.

Mike Collins, who was endorsed by Trump just a few days before the ballots were cast, won the Republican Senate run-off in Georgia.

Collins is now set to face Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in what has been touted as one of the most competitive midterm campaigns in the country. Collins defeated Republican Governor Brian Kemp-endorsed Derek Dooley, a former college football coach.

In the run-off for governor, Jones lost despite a yearlong endorsement from Trump. The president reiterated his support last week, praising Jones’s “Courage and Wisdom” in a social media post.

Jackson had spent at least $100m out of his pocket, as compared with nearly $30m spent by Jones in total, during the campaign.