The presidential candidate of the Republican Party, Donald Trump has won the key battleground state of Georgia.
Naijaonpoint understands that US media projected this early Wednesday, flipping a state that voted Democratic in 2020 and dealing a major blow to his rival Kamala Harris.
CNN and NBC News made the call in the Republican former president’s favour.
NBC News reports that tt’s a major win for Republicans who had sought to restore the state’s longtime status as a Republican stronghold following Joe Biden’s victory there in 2020 — as well as runoff wins by Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the months afterward.
And it marks a turnaround since Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in Georgia four years ago — when he urged Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,782 votes necessary for him to win the state — became the foundation of a criminal racketeering indictment filed against him in Fulton County last year. That case is still ongoing.
Trump’s Georgia win over Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t clinch a path back to the White House, but it does put him in position for a return if he can flip several other swing states Biden won four years ago. Biden was the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992. Trump carried it in 2016.
Trump’s campaign sought to beat back Democratic gains in metro Atlanta while also maximizing turnout in smaller, rural areas. It was buoyed by an energized and loyal base of Republican county chairs and elected officials, who put on a steady drumbeat of campaign events long before Trump ramped up his activity in the state.
Trump visited Georgia six times this year, holding rallies in Rome, Savannah and Atlanta.