Democrats celebrate historic firsts in gubernatorial primaries

Atlanta attorney Stacey Abrams easily won Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday, becoming the first African-American woman from a major party to win a nomination for a state’s governor. But Abrams, who campaigned on an unabashedly liberal platform, will face a tough fight in the conservative state against the eventual Republican nominee. None of the five GOP hopefuls in Georgia won more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday, sending the top two vote-getters, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, into what will likely be an expensive and contentious runoff on July 24. Texas Democrats also nominated a woman as their gubernatorial candidate, making former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez the first openly lesbian Latina to win such a prominent nomination in the state. Valdez faces an uphill battle in November against popular Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott. Although wins by more liberal candidates fit the narrative of a Democratic Party drifting more to the left, party leaders are celebrating a more moderate candidate’s victory in one Texas congressional district. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee backed attorney and former Planned Parenthood board member Lizzie Pannill Fletcher over ultra-liberal Laura Moser, believing Fletcher has a better chance at taking the Houston-area seat from incumbent Republican Rep. John Culberson, who has held it since 2001. Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in the district in 2016, suggesting the seat is vulnerable. In a victory for moderate Republicans, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson defeated conservative challenger Jan Morgan, who tried to paint the incumbent as not conservative enough on tax cuts and healthcare. And in Kentucky, a high school math teacher defeated the majority leader of the Kentucky House of Representatives in the GOP primary. Travis Brenda won over incumbent state Rep. Jonathan Shell in part by highlighting Shell’s role in championing changes to the teacher retirement system that prompted protests at the state Capitol.