Tuesday's primaries good night for preferred GOP candidates, Trump candidates win in several states

The Tuesday primaries in four states went well for favored GOP candidates, including two big wins for Trump-backed candidates in Georgia, despite the former president's preferred candidate in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary losing. 

In Georgia, Herschel Walker blew away the field of challengers in the GOP Senate primary and will now face incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Walker and another candidate also backed by Trump in Georgia, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, won in GOP primaries. Greene held off five challengers, advancing to the general election to try to win a second term.

However, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp easily held off Trump-backed former Sen. David Perdue in the state's GOP gubernatorial primary. He now faces Democrat nominee Stacy Abrams, who ran uncontested, in a rematch of their closely-contested 2018 race.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger held off a challenge from his Donald Trump-backed opponent, Rep. Jody Hice, in the state's Republican primary, according to NBC News.

With 98% of precincts reporting, Raffensperger had 51.9% of the vote, while Hice had 33.8%.

In Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the GOP primary for governor, an office once held by father Mike Huckabee. 

The win is poised to usher in a new Republican family dynasty, as another appears to come to a close: Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush lost his primary bid to unseat Trump-backed Attorney General Ken Paxton, likely marking the end of the Bush family's four-generation political dynasty.

Also in Arkansas, Trump-backed Sen. John Boozman advanced to the general election after winning the state's GOP primary.

The highly anticipated races and their evening results were overshadowed by a mass shooting earlier in the day at a Texas elementary school in which 19 students and two adults were killed.

Election desk coverage on the cable TV news networks was largely canceled for coverage of the shooting, the deadliest at a U.S. grade school since the one in Sandy Hook, Conn., nearly a decade ago.

In Alabama, GOP Rep. Mo Brooks and Katie Britt are headed for a June runoff for the Senate seat of Britt's retiring former boss, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby.

Britt, who served as Shelby's chief of staff, had about 45.2% of the vote, compared to 28.6% for Brooks. However, Britt  failing to get to 50% of the vote has resulted in a state-required runoff.

Brooks survives at least until next month, after being unendorsed by Trump in March, then surging in the polls to surpass businessman and Army veteran Mike Durant, who was running in second place in many polls until the closing weeks.

Also in Texas, the closely watched bid by Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar to win a seventh term was too close to call late Tuesday night, with him and progressive attorney Jessica Cisneros deadlocked in the state's 28th Congressional District.

The 66-year-old incumbent has the backing of House Democratic leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The race marks Cisneros' second run against Cuellar, the only remaining anti-abortion Democrat in the House.

Ciseros lost to Cuellar in 2020 by four points. She has endorsements from progressive superstars, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as New York Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman.