AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
And now to another Southern state with nationally significant politics - Georgia. Tuesday's primary elections there will determine which Republican will face incumbent Jon Ossoff in a competitive U.S. Senate matchup. There's also an open governor's race, and Democrats hope to ride a turnout and enthusiasm advantage to flip two state Supreme Court seats this week. NPR political reporter Stephen Fowler is based in Atlanta and joins us now. Welcome.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: So let's start with the U.S. Senate race. Jon Ossoff is the most vulnerable incumbent Democrat on the ballot this fall. How's the Republican race shaping up?
FOWLER: There are three main candidates. You've got Georgia Congressman Mike Collins and Buddy Carter and Derek Dooley, son of the famous University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley. Collins leads in fundraising and polling, but Dooley has the financial and campaign backing of Governor Brian Kemp. It's notable that President Trump hasn't weighed in here yet, but it's likely because this race will head to a runoff.
RASCOE: Georgia has Democratic senators but a Republican governor. What do we need to know about the race to replace Brian Kemp?
FOWLER: It's wide open. It's expensive. For Republicans, you had Trump back Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who has seemed to have things locked up against the sitting attorney general, Chris Carr, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger until a few months ago. That's when billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson jumped into the race. He spent more than a hundred million dollars of his own money into this race, which is also likely headed to a runoff. And on the Democratic side, you've got people like former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Republican turned Democrat Geoff Duncan, state Senator Jason Esteves and several other candidates who are staking out different lanes for voters. And again, that race is also likely headed to a runoff.
RASCOE: So with so many races likely going to a runoff, is there anything that will be decided this week?
FOWLER: You've got a pair of nonpartisan state Supreme Court seats. Democrats are running as a ticket here and really pushing the importance of those positions, especially in the wake of that Supreme Court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act. And because Governor Kemp announced this week that Georgia lawmakers will head back to the state Capitol and redraw the political maps for 2028, a day after next month's runoffs. This is done in anticipation of a possible Democratic governor in the state after November.
RASCOE: We've heard about several Southern states upending their primary calendars to redraw maps to favor Republicans. Why is Georgia an outlier here?
FOWLER: For starters, when that Supreme Court decision came out, you already had a ton of people in Georgia that had cast their ballots, and the election was well underway. And if you look at the current House map in Georgia, it's pretty efficient for Republicans, meaning if there was a blue-wave type environment, there still really isn't a competitive race on the ballot this November. And speaking of a blue wave, Ayesha, when early voting ended Friday in Georgia, Democrats noted a rising wave of enthusiasm, and they have a 15% advantage over Republicans in people that have voted so far.
RASCOE: And it's not just Georgia. You've been reporting that Democratic enthusiasm in primaries so far this year is up. What do you make of that?
FOWLER: You've got red states, blue states and purple ones like Georgia, where there are more people backing Democrats and fewer people backing Republicans compared to the last midterms. And this matches polling that NPR and other places that have done that finds there's a lot of people that don't like the national Democratic Party brand, but they will show up to vote for Democrats in large numbers because they're also not happy with the Republican Party and President Trump's second-term agenda.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Stephen Fowler in Atlanta. Thank you so much.
FOWLER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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