An admitted participant in the pro-Trump incursions onto the U.S. Capitol complex of January 6, 2021, tried running in a Republican Congressional primary in southwest Georgia and was massively defeated in a runoff election on Tuesday, which pitted against each other the top two finishers from an earlier round in the race.
The defeated contender was a man named Chuck Hand, who admitted to misdemeanor criminal allegations related to the Capitol riot and went briefly to prison. (It was the widely used charge of illegally parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol.) In results made available by The New York Times, Hand had just 34.3 percent of the vote, while Chuck Johnson got 65.7 percent, though the overall number of votes cast appeared rather small, which might have been predictable considering the nature of the election. (Elections offset from the main schedule tend to have lower turnout.) Votes neared just 12,000.
Georgia’s Second Congressional District, where all of this was unfolding, has been represented in Congress by Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop for decades, suggesting Johnson himself might not be heading to Congress himself, either. The current configuration of the district apparently includes portions of Georgia cities including Columbus and Macon.
Georgia as a whole is likely to be a closely watched state in this year’s presidential election, considering the narrow win secured there by President Joe Biden in the 2020 race against Donald Trump, with the two already well on their way to an expected electoral rematch later this year. Trump’s recent felony criminal conviction in New York City, with a sentencing coming next month, has not significantly shaken his Republican support, and he’s still on track to be their nominee.
