Jake Evans is headed towards a run-off election with Rich McCormick in Georgia’s sixth congressional district Republican primary, according to an Associated Press projection.
Evans is the former chairman of Georgia’s State Ethics Commission and the son of Randy Evans, an attorney and former President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Luxembourg.
BREAKING: Republican Jake Evans advances to primary runoff election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. #APRaceCall at 12:05 a.m. EDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) May 25, 2022
Although McCormick led Evans by roughly 20 points, he fell short of the fifty percent threshold necessary to avoid a run-off election. McCormick’s candidacy is his second attempt at securing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after losing a race in Georgia’s seventh congressional district in 2020.
Evans received a late campaign boost in the form of a “Complete and Total Endorsement” from Trump less than three weeks out from Tuesday’s primary election.
Trump said:
He was born and raised in Georgia, has a wonderful family, and will do a fantastic job as your new Congressman from the 6th District. His father, Randy, is a highly respected legal warrior, and would admit that Jake is even more so. Because of this, and many other outstanding qualities, I am honored to give Jake Evans my Complete and Total Endorsement!
In the 6th Congressional District primary, Donald Trump has endorsed @JakeEvansGA. We’ve been waiting to see when & how he would get involved in the district the GOP drew for themselves, and now we know. #gapol pic.twitter.com/TcsIgfpQBh
— Patricia Murphy (@MurphyAJC) May 6, 2022
Evans recently spoke to Breitbart News about how Trump’s endorsement “catapulted” his campaign forward and pushed it “on a strong trajectory.”
“Well, we are surging and have continued to be surging, really, for the past month, though President Trump’s endorsement catapulted us forward. And he has really pushed us on a strong trajectory we feel great about,” Evans told Breitbart News.
Evans is likely counting on this momentum to propel him over McCormick, a Marine Corps veteran, in Georgia’s run-off election next month.
Although Evans has the support of Trump and Georgia’s own former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA), McCormick is supported by the conservative Club for Growth PAC. Evans’ race is not the first time a Club for Growth candidate has been pitted against a Trump-endorsed candidate.
In Ohio’s GOP Senate primary, Club for Growth failed to endorse the eventual GOP Nominee, J.D. Vance, despite Trump’s strong endorsement of Vance.
The run-off election between Evans and McCormick will take place on June 21.