蜜桃影视

Former Georgia lawmaker Stacey Abrams cruised to a lopsided victory in the state鈥檚 Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday, becoming the first black woman ever to be nominated for governor by a major party.

Abrams won nearly 76 percent of the vote and will face the winner of a July 24 runoff between two current state GOP officeholders. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who led candidates in both parties in polls and fundraising throughout the race, failed to win a majority against a crowded primary field, attracting 39 percent of Republican voters.

In a year when Democratic office seekers in conservative districts have tried to distance themselves from the party鈥檚 liberal leadership, Abrams campaigned as an unapologetic progressive, aiming to mobilize non-participating and unregistered voters, particularly in black and Hispanic communities.

Her 鈥渘ew Democratic majority,鈥� , won the support of the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, as well as celebrities ranging from Meryl Streep to Cardi B and organizations like Planned Parenthood and Emily鈥檚 List. Profiles of Abrams appeared in every national news outlet, both legacy and online, sometimes several times.

鈥淗aving interviewed Stacey Abrams back in the day,鈥� , the popular left-leaning MSNBC news personality Tuesday night, 鈥淚 found her to be one of the most charismatic politicians of her generation.鈥�

Abrams easily defeated her more moderate Democratic rival, Stacey Evans. If Cagle emerges from the GOP runoff in July, the two will compete to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who pursued several education-reform-minded initiatives during his two terms.

Deal helped pass a 2012 constitutional amendment allowing the state to authorize charter schools, which Abrams voted against. She also objected to Deal鈥檚 signature 2016 proposal: a so-called Opportunity School District for chronically low-performing schools. The schools, which enrolled 68,000 students at that time, Deal said, would be run by the state. Voters rejected the plan by a 60鈥�40 voter margin. The Georgia Federation of Teachers still felt that Abrams, as House minority leader, didn鈥檛 do enough to get her caucus to defeat the Opportunity School District before it could get to voters and endorsed Evans.

Abrams supported 2011 legislation, advanced by Deal, that raised academic eligibility requirements for the state鈥檚 HOPE college scholarships. Evans had argued that poorer students are being hurt, . Abrams said she . Abrams has promoted early education, improved social-emotional learning, and increased school funding. She believes quality day care needs to be part of the solution and opposes private school vouchers.

Cagle, the leading Republican, supports voucher expansion and charter schools, along with prep programs that prepare students for study at one of Georgia鈥檚 22 technical colleges.

Cagle wrote a 160-page book, Education Unleashed, blurbed by former U.S. secretary of education William Bennett, that functions as a campaign manifesto. He decries 鈥渢he compliance mentality of our state鈥檚 educational bureaucracy鈥� and calls for empowering local districts, even allowing them to design their own assessments.

Back in January, Georgia voters as the state鈥檚 most important issue. Whether that will hold true through the general election remains to be seen, as does whether Abrams鈥檚 electoral strategy will work beyond Democratic voters. Donald Trump won Georgia modestly 鈥� by 5 points 鈥� but his approval ratings have climbed. And Georgians haven鈥檛 elected a Democrat to statewide office in two decades.

As with Democrat Doug Jones in his successful U.S. Senate race in Alabama 鈥� which comes up often in interviews with Abrams supporters 鈥� she will need a large turnout, particularly in Atlanta and the state鈥檚 relatively few other urban areas.

Preliminary reports indicated voter turnout was low Tuesday.

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