David Perdue gets clear shot at Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp with Vernon Jones primary exit

Vernon Jones exited the race for the Republican nomination for Georgia governor, leaving former Sen. David Perdue with an unobstructed opportunity to oust Gov. Brian Kemp.

The move excited Perdue supporters, who appeared to relish the chance for a one-on-one matchup with Kemp and expressed confidence their candidate would scoop up Jones’s presumably anti-incumbent supporters as the May 24 nominating contest nears. Perdue, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running primarily on the former president’s claims that the governor facilitated election fraud in 2020 and delivered Georgia’s electoral votes to President Joe Biden. He has trailed Kemp in recent public opinion polls.