House Agriculture chairman David Scott easily won nomination for his 11th term in Congress from a suburban Atlanta district, defeating three challengers during Georgia’s primary elections on Tuesday. In Arkansas, Sen. John Boozman, the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, ran away with the GOP nomination for Senate.
A Blue Dog Democrat, Scott, 76, is the first Black chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Opponents Vincent Fort, a former state senator, Mark Baker, a city councilman, and educator Shastity Driscoll said it was time for new blood; Fort and Baker said the district warranted a more progressive representative. Scott took nearly two-thirds of the vote, however. The district is considered a safe Democratic seat.
Rep. Sanford Bishop, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing USDA and FDA spending, won nomination for his 16th term representing southwestern Georgia in what may be the only toss-up House race in the state.
Republican voters selected former football star Herschel Walker, endorsed by former president Trump, to face Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Warnock’s victory in a runoff election in 2021 helped Democrats take control of the Senate. He is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Boozman, seeking his third team in the Senate, out-distanced pro-Trump candidate Jake Bequette, a former football player, to extinguish speculation that he might be forced into a runoff by a more conservative candidate. With most of the votes counted, Boozman, endorsed by Trump, held 58 percent of the vote and Bequette, 21 percent. Boozman is considered a safe bet in November.