ATLANTA — Football great Herschel Walker, backed by former President Donald Trump, has won Georgia’s GOP Senate primary.

Walker beat five other Republicans, including Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black and former Trump administration official and Navy veteran Latham Saddler.

Walker is a political newcomer but has nearly unmatched name recognition in Georgia since his days as a college football running back. He led the University of Georgia football team to a national title in the 1980 season and won the Heisman Trophy in 1982.

Trump, a close friend of Walker, supported her run despite questions about Walker’s business dealings and history of violence against women. Walker has been open about his long struggle with mental illness and acknowledged his violent impulses.

He won the primary despite skipping debates with his Republican opponents and making a few blunders.

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Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas and Minnesota hold primary elections on Tuesday.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

– Trump’s attempt to reshape the GOP faces the biggest hurdles in Georgia

– Midterms 2022: What to watch in Georgia, Texas, elsewhere

– Georgian Secretary of State Raffensperger faces Trump ally

— Marjorie Taylor Greene’s divisive politics put to the test in GOP primary

— Stacey Abrams, unopposed, still a target in Republican primary

— Former Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders bids for Arkansas governorship

Follow all AP stories on the midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

ATLANTA — U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock has won Georgia’s Democratic primary as he seeks to retain his Senate seat in the upcoming midterm elections.

Warnock beat beauty industry professional Tamara Johnson-Shealey.

The senator and junior pastor is seeking a full six-year term in the Senate after winning a special election in 2021 for former Republican Senator Johnny Isakson’s final two years in office. Republicans believe Warnock is vulnerable and are targeting his seat in their efforts to regain a Senate majority.

Warnock is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. On Capitol Hill, he attacked Republican push for tougher voting rules as “Jim Crow in new clothes.”

In Georgia, he emphasized his work bringing home funds for health care, national security research and other projects. He also pointed to his efforts to try to cap the cost of insulin and temporarily suspend the federal gasoline tax.

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ATLANTA — Stacey Abrams won the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia after narrowly losing the 2018 race to current Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

Abrams became a Democratic Party star after her first gubernatorial election and ran unopposed in this year’s primary. She became a leading advocate for voting rights and is credited with laying the groundwork for organizing Joe Biden to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia in 28 years.

Abrams will likely face Kemp or former U.S. Senator David Perdue in a November contest that is shaping up to be one of the most expensive and closely watched in the country.

The centerpiece of Abrams’ platform is a call to expand Medicaid to all adults. But she also stresses her support for abortion rights and her opposition to state laws abolishing the requirement for a license to carry a concealed handgun in public.

Abrams has shown his ability to raise millions, but Republicans have raised the specter of his gubernatorial nomination in an attempt to unify a party fractured by former President Donald Trump’s attempts to unseat Kemp.

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ATLANTA — Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, says she expects the personal attacks to continue as she heads into the November general election.

Abrams was asked at a Tuesday press conference in Atlanta about a comment the day before by her Republican rival David Perdue, who said Abrams had “humiliated her own race” with remarks she had made. She referred the conversation to Perdue’s opponent, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is leading the polls and fundraising.

“I had an inelegant statement of a statement that I will continue to make – that Brian Kemp is a failed governor who doesn’t care about the people of Georgia,” Abrams said.

On the eve of Tuesday’s primary, Perdue snapped a photo of Abrams’ remarks Saturday at a Democratic dinner. She said, “I’m tired of hearing about being the best state in the country to do business when we’re the worst state in the country to live in,” and went on to explain that when Georgia has a dismal ranking for access to mental health and maternal mortality, “then you’re not the first place to live.”

“She’s humiliating her own race about it,” Perdue said Monday in an interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks and former Trump adviser Peter Navarro.

Abrams said she expects Republicans to continue to attack her personally.

“I’ve listened to Republicans attack me for the past six months, but they’ve done nothing to address the challenges Georgia faces,” Abrams said.

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AUSTIN, Texas — Tuesday’s primary runoff in Texas will test how much clout the Bush family name still has in America’s biggest red state in the race for attorney general.

But George P. Bush, who is challenging embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Republican nomination, says Tuesday’s vote is not about the family dynasty.

Speaking in Austin after casting his ballot, Bush said the election was “about doing the right thing and supporting the right people for the right jobs.”

Paxton is under ongoing FBI investigation on corruption charges, and he is still awaiting trial for securities fraud after being indicted in 2015.

Bush, who now serves as Texas Lands Commissioner, called Paxton “a crook … who continually abuses his office.”

Bush forced a runoff against Paxton in a crowded four-party primary election in March. But he still trailed Paxton by 20 points in the March election, underscoring Paxton’s continued political durability in Texas.