(Reuters) - A candidate backed by U.S. President Donald Trump convincingly won a two-man Republican primary run-off for governor of Georgia on Tuesday in a race that became a proxy battle between the president and the state’s popular Republican governor, Nathan Deal. Slideshow ( 2 images ) Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, whose hard line campaign approach dovetailed with Trump’s, was projected to defeat Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, who had the endorsement of Deal, local media reported. Kemp earned the president’s backing last week, a surprise endorsement that analysts said gave him an edge in a race between the two conservatives. Kemp thanked Trump for his support in a speech accepting his victory. “We had the momentum in this race and those endorsements by the president and the vice president, they poured gasoline on the fire and fueled the Kemp surge to victory,” he told supporters. With about 90 percent of the votes reported, Kemp was backed by 69 percent of the Republican voters against Cagle’s 31 percent. Kemp will face Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is vying to become the first black woman to serve as a U.S. state governor in what is expected to be one of the most hotly contested races in November’s midterm elections. Trump carried Georgia by 5 percentage points in 2016. Cagle, 52, bested Kemp, 55, by 13 points in the first round of the Republican primary in May, though none of the candidates at the time won more than 50 percent of the vote, setting up a run-off election. Cagle’s support diminished, however, after secret recordings surfaced where he acknowledged supporting a bill he called “bad public policy” to undercut a rival in the race and said the primary appeared to be a contest to see who could be “craziest.” That last comment likely referred to Kemp’s political advertisements. In one, he sat in room full of guns with a shotgun on his lap while saying jokingly that a teenage boy with him should support the right to carry arms if he wanted to date his daughter and, in a second spot, promised to “round up” illegal immigrants in his pick-up truck. Deal, who cannot run again due to term limits, endorsed Cagle last week. Kemp tweeted on July 18 that would “unapologetically stand” with Trump. Both candidates embraced Trump and have similar policy positions, including support for gun rights and tough anti-illegal immigration measures.<doc-sep>Cagle began to dip in the polls after that recording was aired; Hill would go on to endorse Kemp as the candidate who “won’t sell public policy to the highest bidder.” And Tippins wasn’t done, wounding Cagle again with audio of the front-runner saying that Kemp was running to be the “craziest” candidate in the race.<doc-sep>It is shaping up to be the ultimate identity-politics contest: A brash, shotgun-wielding, white male conservative who bills himself as “politically incorrect” will compete in Georgia’s gubernatorial race with a liberal Ivy League Democrat who hopes to be the nation’s first black female governor. After celebrating his landslide win Tuesday night in Georgia’s Republican primary for governor, Brian Kemp was quick to pivot to the November general election, painting his Democratic rival, Stacey Abrams, as a radical funded by coastal elites. “So here’s the question: Do you really want a governor who’s bought and paid for by liberal billionaires and out-of-state socialists?” he told the crowd at his victory party. “Do you want a governor that’s going to answer to Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton? Do you want a governor who thinks that government is the answer to every challenge that we face? “Of course you don’t,” he said with a chuckle. “I figured that out.… This is the state of Georgia: We are a red state.” Advertisement Indeed, Republicans have long ruled this Southern state, and almost two decades have passed since a Democrat was elected governor. But Democrats are pouring millions of dollars into the November race in the hope that a rapidly growing and diversifying population, along with dissatisfaction with President Trump, could make it a swing state. Trump won Georgia by 5% in 2016, but political observers note that his divisive and erratic governing style has energized the Democratic base and turned off many independents and moderate conservatives in Atlanta’s sprawling suburbs — setting the stage for a gubernatorial race that could be more competitive than usual and more focused on national issues. “It’s going to be a little bit like a laboratory,” said Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta, noting that neither of the candidates is a moderate, and therefore they will have to find a way to energize supporters without turning off swing voters. “It’s going to be a battle of the bases.” Abrams, 44, a Yale Law School graduate and former Democratic leader of Georgia’s House of Representatives, won 76% of Democratic votes. But her history of liberal positions such as supporting the Affordable Care Act and purging the state of all Civil War monuments could alienate independents. Kemp, 54, Georgia’s secretary of state, secured 69% of the Republican vote. But his brash, Trump-like style could hurt his ability to attract swing voters. Early on, Kemp won national attention for his brazen campaign ads. One showed him flaunting a double-barrel shotgun at a young man interested in dating his daughter. In another, he bragged that he drove a big pickup just in case he needed to “round up criminal illegals” and “take them home myself.” He was once considered a long shot against Casey Cagle, the lieutenant governor who spent years trying to shore up support for his campaign. Cagle doubled Kemp in fundraising and beat him by 13% in May’s Republican primary. But as the two faced off in the runoff, Cagle’s campaign gradually lost momentum after opponents released a secretly recorded conversation in which he admitted he had supported what he considered a “poor public policy” measure to block a different rival’s fundraising efforts. He also griped about the Republican primary runoff, saying it had boiled down to “who had the biggest gun, who had the biggest truck, and who could be the craziest.” Advertisement As Cagle’s margin of victory appeared to crumble, President Trump stepped into the race last week and announced his “full and total” endorsement of Kemp. Trump went on Twitter on Wednesday to congratulate Kemp on his “big numbers” and offer him a few pointers: “Now go win against the open border, crime loving opponent that the Democrats have given you. She is weak on Vets, the Military and the 2nd amendment. Win!” Abrams, who was born in Mississippi but moved to Atlanta when she was in high school, is a tax attorney who was elected to Georgia’s House of Representatives in 2006 and became minority leader in 2010. During the course of her gubernatorial campaign, she has taken a different tack from previous Democratic candidates, focusing on minorities and young voters who often don’t show up at the polls. To counter Republican criticism that she is a radical, Democrats tout her history of compromise as a state representative. In 2011, Abrams worked with Republicans to raise the GPA requirement for the state’s HOPE scholarship program — a deal her campaign said aimed to protect the scholarship from massive cuts. Advertisement “Even with this stark dichotomy between Kemp and Abrams in their styles and in their politics, people forget that Stacey has a giant amount of substance and a long record of working across the aisle, of getting things done,” said Jason Carter, a lawyer, former gubernatorial candidate and grandson of President Carter, a former Georgia governor. This is not the first time Democrats have pinned their hopes on Georgia voters delivering a stinging rebuke to Trump. Last year, the party invested tens of millions of dollars in the much-hyped campaign to back political newcomer Jon Ossoff against Republican Karen Handel in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. It was the most expensive House race in history, but Ossoff wound up losing with 48% of the vote. In this race, Democrats again face a long haul in defeating Georgia’s Republican campaign operation. “Kemp should have the advantage, but nothing is for sure,” Swint said. “If we have a blue tidal wave that sweeps in Democrats around the country, that could sweep Stacey Abrams into office, too.” Advertisement Jarvie is a special correspondent.<doc-sep>
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (center) arrives for an election night party on July 24 in Athens, Georgia. | John Amis/AP Photo Kemp wins Georgia GOP gubernatorial primary Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp won the Republican nomination for governor of his state Tuesday night, following a late endorsement by President Donald Trump. Kemp defeated Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in the primary runoff, two months after Cagle finished ahead of Kemp in the initial primary. But neither man got the requisite majority to win the nomination, prompting the head-to-head contest. Kemp had 68 percent of the vote to Cagle’s 32 percent when The Associated Press called the primary with just over one-third of precincts reporting. Though Cagle finished first in the initial primary, he endured a rough two-month slog against Kemp, including a steady release of secret audio recordings in which Cagle discussed shepherding policies through the state legislature for political gain and said Republican primary voters wanted to support the “craziest” candidate. Gov. Nathan Deal weighed in on Cagle’s behalf, but his endorsement was eclipsed by Trump, who backed Kemp on Twitter last week, surprising supporters of both candidates who had not expected the president to get involved. Now, Kemp faces a general election sprint against Democrat Stacey Abrams, who locked up her party’s nomination in May. The contest will put before Georgia voters one of the sharpest contrasts of any major campaign in the country this fall. Kemp has campaigned as a resolute supporter of Trump and his policies and attitudes, saying in campaign ads that he has a big pickup truck “just in case I need to round up criminal illegals.” Kemp also showcased his support for gun rights in ads, in which he handled a shotgun while sitting next to a prospective date for one of his daughters. And Kemp has pledged to “cap government spending” and “take a chainsaw to regulations” as governor. Abrams, a former state House minority leader, would be the nation’s first black female governor if elected. She has campaigned on spending more on education and other services, and on expanding voting rights — an issue that has already brought her and Kemp into conflict. Abrams has said her path to victory relies on bringing Georgia residents who don’t typically vote to the ballot box this November, and her nonprofit has worked to register large numbers of voters in the past. But Kemp is a proponent of voter ID laws criticized by Abrams, and in 2014, his office criticized Abrams’ voter-registration group for allegedly improperly submitting thousands of new voter forms. The Republican Governors Association began a TV ad campaign attacking Abrams as “radical” earlier Tuesday, before the GOP primary was decided. The well-funded group, which is run by veteran Georgia political operative Paul Bennecke, has purchased TV time in Georgia for the next two weeks, according to Advertising Analytics. Meanwhile, the Democratic Governors Association on Monday gave $250,000 to the Georgia Democratic Party to boost Abrams. Priorities USA, the Democratic outside group, has also contributed to the state party in support of Abrams. A recent WXIA-TV/Survey USA poll testing a matchup between Kemp and Abrams, conducted in mid-July before Kemp won the nomination, found a close race, with Kemp getting 46 percent to Abrams’ 44 percent.