ATLANTA — Two major figures in former President Donald Trump‘s Georgia election interference trial easily bested primary challengers Tuesday night.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee handily won their races, meaning they’re likely to remain in office beyond January in the heavily Democratic jurisdiction. The Associated Press called both races less than an hour after polls closed at 7 p.m. Eastern.
“The DA’s drinking Grey Goose, in case anybody’s wondering,” Willis said at the end of her victory speech. “We got a different kind of DA down here in the dirty, dirty South! But tonight, we’re going to party, we’re going to celebrate these victories, we’re going to go to that store out there, and we’re going to wake up tomorrow and fight harder.”
Willis was drawing nearly 90% of the vote in early returns against challenger Christian Wise Smith, while McAfee defeated Robert Patillo II with 83% of the early returns. Fulton is Georgia’s largest county by population and includes most of the city of Atlanta.
While both were expected to win, McAfee went all out campaigning by participating in three candidate forums, a parade, and seven church services, among other activities. Willis made her case to voters on election eve with an appearance on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show.
“I need Fulton County voters to get out and vote,” Willis told Maddow. “I need people around the country to support me big and small, to say that we are going to be a country that still believes in the rule of law.”
She was in a celebratory mood Tuesday night, saying she was “so humbled and so grateful to the citizens of Fulton County who made this possible.”
“They want a district attorney that believes everyone deserves to be safe, and everyone is entitled to some dignity,” she told an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. “And it’s a message that’s pissing folks off, but there is no one above the law in this country, nor is there anyone beneath it.”
Nathan Wade, the former prosecutor in the Trump case who was removed in the fallout of an extramarital affair with Willis, was also spotted at the results watch party.
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Willis will face Republican challenger Courtney Kramer in November, but the race is probably not going to be competitive. President Joe Biden won 73% of the Fulton County vote in 2020.
Willis and McAfee would have remained in office through the end of this year regardless, but succeeding in the primaries should free them up to focus more on the high-stakes, high-profile trial that has brought the world’s attention to Atlanta.
