faly, it was really finding gold. one of my grandfathers, didn't even know his birthdate. i figured out the exact year he was born. the census records fill in gaps, it helped me push the door open. good morning. i'm chris jansing on the ground in atlanta, georgia. right behind me you can see the state capitol building. this is one of five states with primaries today, but this, georgia, the most closely watched. there's a lot of energy around here. the race here, the anticipation is palpable. voters are out in big numbers and, as "the new york times" puts it so well, georgia has got everything, disputed election, rapid demographic change, celebrity democrats, restricted new voting law, an open criminal investigation into donald

trump's meddling in the 2020 election, a deep rural urban divide and unending drama between the trump wing of the republican party and the local gop establishment. it's on those last few points where tonight's results will give us some important answers potentially to these questions. what is the power of a trump endorsement these day, and does the big lie have staying power here? the republican schism over those two points are at play in the republican gubernatorial primary right now. current georgia governor brian kemp fighting to keep his seat, keeping it from trump-endorsed former senator david purdue. both of them were on the campaign trail last night. purdue has the backing of the former president. and kemp last night on stage with former vice president mike pence who fell out of trump's favor himself after, of course, january 6th. now, whoever wins that race will face off against democrat stacey

abrams in november. she held an event in the last 30 minutes and said this about the race. >> i have listened to republicans for the last six months attack me, but they've done nothing to attack the challenges facing georgia. the answer from republicans, from our former senator to our current governor is to fight me instead of fighting the problems that are facing georgia. it's not just what's happening in today's governor's race that is so critical. could a republican, former football player beat a democratic incumbent to win a senate seat for republicans as they fight to win back control of congress. will brad raffensperger survive his primary against a trump loyalist? how is redistricting reshuffling the congressional map for democrats. ahead i'll talk about the state of play in georgia with the chair of the state's democratic party. an awful lot to get to on this

primary day. i want to start with two reporters here with me deeply engrained in georgia politics right now. patricia murphy, an atlanta journal constitution political reporter. she was at last night's kemp/pence event. and matt brown who has been zeroing in on the purdue candidacy, watching his event last night. great to see both of you. matt, let me start with the way your newspaper put it this morning. trump has signaled that he believes the key to a potential run for president is 2024, is showing he can still shape the gop. how do you read today's primary, particularly as a test of trump's endorsement power? >> absolutely. what we're seeing in the governor's race so far is basically trump put all his energy into what has been dubbed by a lot of republican governors around the country as a bit of a vin debt that tour against

current governor brian kemp who has, because of his refusal to overturn the election results of 020, he basically made it so trump was incredibly frustrated with him and put all of his effort into former senator david purdue's campaign to ours him. that hasn't gone as he would have expected. it looks like kemp is probably going to be able to avoid a runoff which will be a huge referendum on trump's power in the state. >> we all know donald trump has a lot of people he wants to see lose because they did not take part in the big lie. i want to play a short sound bite. it's really interesting from david purdue. >> are you going to accept the results of this election? >> it depends on the there's fraud or not. i'm going to support the winner because my number one objective is to make sure stacey abrams is never the governor of georgia. >> i hear a little doubt there.

"if." what do you think the primary will tell us about how georgia voters, particularly republican voters, the base can be very, very faithful, how they feel about the big lie? >> it tells us it's a piece of information from republican voters. we know 75% of georgia republicans still don't believe that the last election was fair. >> three out of four georgia republicans think -- >> absolutely. they believe it. they believe something went wrong or everything went wrong. since then, the republican-led georgia legislature passed a massive overhaul. that has satisfied many, but not all. it's a piece of information for republican voters but not the most important piece right now for most republican voters. that's why brian kemp is so strong going into this primary. there are still republicans in georgia who absolutely believe

the election was stolen. donald trump told them that. david purdue is telling them that. those are going to be the voters that 35%, 40% who do go for david purdue. but brian kemp is showing you don't have to buy into that, you don't have to push that big lie in order to be successful as a republican governor and a very conservative republican state. it's a battleground state, but it's a conservative base. he's finding a way to sort of threat that needle. you don't have to buy into that to keep your job. i think that's going to be a big message for republicans around the country. >> you two know this state much better than i do. i have to say as an outside observer fascinated by georgia politics, what's happened to purdue -- what are the polls? the latest fox news poll shows him down 32 points. the real clear politics average, down by 22 points.

he wasn't on the air for weeks and weeks and weeks. we can dissect what happened there. i guess you were listening in to the telerally that purdue had. trump called in. what's your takeaway in the closing hours of this campaign for purdue? >> my takeaway from that rally, from beginning to end, purdue's campaign has been absolutely defined by the big lie. he's gone in and said that's the linchpin against kemp. republican voters, every time i go out to the polls to interview them, have told me they believe there was massive election or broad conspiracy theory against trump in this state. that animus and anger has not been directed into this campaign for purdue's candidacy against kemp. a lot of republican voters said they're much more afraid of stacey abrams in the fall and say they'll go along with kemp as opposed to switching

candidates ahead of what's going to be a consequential general election. >> nbc's blayne alexander is in atlanta and just spoke with stacey abrams. talk about the mood and what did stacey abrams tell you? >> reporter: we asked her about a number of things. i asked her about the fact that after tonight she's officially going to become the democratic nominee for governor in the state of georgia and what that means for her campaign, is she going to shift into a new gear? she said, yes, we are going to be entering a new phase. here is a little bit more on what she told me. we'll talk on the other side. >> the campaign i'm running is about one georgia, traveling the state, talking to georgians and understanding there's incredible pain in this state, that families are struggling and they're worried. there's also extraordinary promise in the state, that more can be done. we can do the work of serving every single georgian, but only if we have new leadership that actually cares about georgia.

>> reporter: so there you have it, chris. that's the message she says she's pushing all along. we're seeing both abrams and kemp looking past today and looking ahead. it could be a preview of november, with the two of them already attacking each other. one thing we haven't heard them mention is david purdue. even though he and mike pence repeatedly name checked abrams in the closing rally last night. we're seeing the criticism you've been seeing stacey abrams receive over a portion of a speech she made where she said georgia is the worst place in the nation to live, she says she was talking about mortality. as for enthusiasm on the ground, we know we've seen record-breaking turnout before the polls open today. more early voters than georgia has seen in state history. on both sides it's showing that

voters believe this truly is a consequential election, chris. >> thanks so much for that, blayne. that's an exact example of how you never know one comment, some would argue taken out of context, can suddenly become something that ends up in a tv ad. we've already seen the response to that. let me play for you a little bit from what the response was to those remarks. take a listen. >> did y'all see what stacey said this weekend? georgia is the worst place in the country to live. she ain't from here. let her go back where she came from. >> when we saw in '18 what she did, what she said, a blue wave with documented an undocumented workers. when she told black farmers you don't need to be on the farm, black workers in hospitality -- she is demeaning her own race when it comes to that. >> more people have considered those remarks to be racist. i want to get both of your takes

on whether you think either of those things which, again, may end up in tv ads, whether it's what stacey abrams said about living in this statement or comments that were just made that for many people has racial overtones, will that matter to many voters or is it going to be about the economy? is it going to be about other issues? >> i think that comment from stacey abrams will matter to a very small set of persuadable voters in georgia who are still evaluaing and will be re-evaluating brian kemp and stacey abrams. this is a rematch from 2018 and that's a race she loss. in the meantime, georgia has grown. there have been more voters added to the rolls. it's grown a lot more diverse. it's a better playing ground for her campaign. i think georgia voters right now are looking for something that is optimistic and yet realistic. some optimism, some sunny

outlook because it's been a rough two years. >> or three or four. >> having that sound bite to say georgia is the worst place to live in is huge. the people in the room knew what she said. that's the kind of sentence on its own that she can't go back there again. i think she knows that. she understands that, her campaign understands that. it will be used against her and it already has been. >> when you talk about a growing diverse population, matt, in what is a triggering line that we've heard for a very long time which is go back to where you came from, could that be a motivating factor to get folks up to the polls? what do you think about these controversies and will they still matter when it comes to november? >> republicans have been for years targeting stacey abrams with this narrative that she's funded by outside-of-state forces, hollywood, attacking the diverse coalition that stacey

abrams and georgia democrats are attempting to champion here. this is a very, very closely divided polarized state. anything that can convince that small group of voters in the middle is going to matter. david perdue, if he makes it through the primary, has had a history of these types of dog whistles. back in 2020 when he decided not to pronounce kamala harris' name right. he has a long history of this stuff that has unfortunately continued to come out on the trail. >> some people say it doesn't matter because perdue is not going to win, but what are the chances he could force a runoff? >> welcome to georgia. anything can happen. i've stopped predicting results here in this state. anything can happen. if he does get through a runoff, he's going to have to go back to the drawing board. he has not expanded his message successfully behind the big lie, nothing to answer brian kemp's record. he has signed a huge

across-the-board tax cut. he did tax refunds. there is currently, if you go to the gas station right now, there is no gas tax, no state gas tax because brian kemp took that off until just a few days after the primary. brian kemp has been able to as governor, in this building behind us, push forward a broadly popular economic message along with a very conservative six-week abortion ban, open carry, constitutional carry, permitless carry. he's been able to use the levers of power in this building back here and david perdue has not answered by this. >> this is why i love to have the local best political reporters because you're so plugged in. we want to talk about the senate race, patricia murphy, matt brown, stick around with us. a closer look at republican georgia senate primary, former nfl star herschel walker running away with the gop nomination. if the polls are height, what

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humans and dinosaurs can coexist. i could use your expertise. we're on the verge of extinction. let's all try to stay positive. we are back live in georgia. tonight herschel walker, the former nfl running back, a man who newt gingrich has called the future of the republican party, is the overwhelming favorite to win the georgia republican senate primary and almost certain to face incumbent senator raphael warnock. walker has not participated in a single debate. he believes abortion should be illegal, no exceptions. he's got incredible name recognition and got the endorsement of donald trump.

nbc's ellison barber is at a polling place here in atlanta. i understand, ellison, walker is due there any second to cast his ballot. what can you tell us? >> reporter: i was going to say, i'm going to be keeping an eye on the road as we talk because we're expecting him to arrive any minute to cast his ballot. you mentioned the primary here. this is a crowded primary, but for quite a while now in the polls, herschel walker has had a substantial lead n. the latest poll we had he was 58 points ahead of his closest competitor. from the polls this is barring any sort of big development, this is really his race to lose, if you will, and we expect him to have the republican nomination after we get through election day here. on the democratic side you have incumbent senator raphael warnock. he had one proi mayor who never really registered, about 6% in polls and is not really a viable candidate, if you will. i'm looking back over here

because i think we might have a bit of movement. we're going to try and see maybe if we can briefly talk to herschel walker as he heads in. senator raphael warnock voted early, about two weeks ago. this is a state where early voting broke records. more than 850,000 georgians voted early here, that's up 212% compared to 2020. there you see the candidate with his wife julie walking this way. a lot of people voted early including warnock. herschel walker voting for the first time today. how are you feeling, mr. walker? >> how are you doing? i'm all right. >> reporter: we're going to let him get to voting and ask him questions.

as you mentioned, he has not participated in a single primary debate in this state. that's something others have been critical of, that warnock is an experienced politician and debater. that being said -- you had senator mitch mcconnell saying he's not sure if he would support and endorse him later in the fall. he has gotten behind him. he was encouraged to run by -- long-time friend of president trump and was at one of his final primary rallies in athens, georgia, talking about a lot of issues we hear donald trump talk about, a lot of different cultural issues, if you will.

he spoke to critical race theory and that he believes the left focuses too much on the color of a person's skin. he talked about being someone who is not in favor of abortion. he supports an all-out abortion ban in this state. it's been a big issue in this state. i'm going to keep talking a little. chris, you let me know if you have to let me go. oftentimes it can be tricky to see candidates as they're voting up close. this is obviously an important moment, any time you see people exercising their right to vote, even more notable when it's a candidate. we're hoping we can talk to him more about how he plans to -- assuming he does get the nomination, what he thinks of the gubernatorial race. that has in a lot of ways become a proxy war, if you will, between former president donald trump and vice president mike pence supporting different candidates. trump's support meant a lot to

herschel walker. we want to hopefully ask him if he plans to work with kemp if he is the nominee. i'll send it back to you, chris. we'll try to get him for a question after. >> ellison, we're going to keep the picture up. if you have a chance to talk to him, we'll go to that. i want to come back to my guests who are here, patricia murphy with the atlanta journal constitution, and matt brown. there never really was, as ellison said, any competition for herschel walker. he was sort of the heir apparent to the republican nomination. is that because he's so well known? he's the hero here? is it because of donald trump? what was it? nobody else came out to compete with him? what's your analysis that herschel walker, as he did on the football team, has run over the competition? >> definitely. herschel walker is a known

georgia boy here, georgia legend, former football legend as well. the name recognition, the star power, the celebrity, which are the things that attracted donald trump to him in the first place. every time i've gone to herschel's events or to polling places, they have said i don't really know her shell the politician, but i do know her shell the football star and i have very fond memories of that era. i want to go back to that. that's basically what herschel is offering when he's on the stump. it's not policy. it's a lot of discussion about a golden age, make america great again, but herschel walker style this time. >> we are in an era, without a doubt, patricia, where people just want to have something positive as we were just talking about before. it's been two or three or four or more years where so much has happened. we're at war. we're in the middle of a pandemic. there's a divide in washington

arguably unlike anything we've seen? he didn't participate in any debates. there were some questions about his relationships with women that continue to dog him. you can name any number of things about comments he made, and yet none of it seemed to matter. >> none of it mattered. you can't really overstate the level of affection for herschel walker. it's hard to explain for people outside georgia. when you drive around state, you'll see an american flag, trump flag and a university of georgia flag. herschel walker is at the apex of that vortex. herschel walker is also the most famous georgia football player to ever come out of this state. football is saturday religion around here. he has a quality about him, especially for conservatives, that you cannot pay for. they trust him. they feel like they know him, feel like they watched him grow up. he spent the last 30 years as a

motivational speak. so when he gets out of the stump, national news outlets hear a lot about his gaffs. conservatives hear him saying i think we should all get along. i want to bring us together. i believe this state can do anything we want it to do because we're all here and we're pouring this state. people love that message. he ran against a navy s.e.a.l., s.e.a.l. team 6. that didn't matter. nobody cared. he ran against an agriculture commissioner who has been elected statewide three times. that was not important. a small businessman, a black man who went to the academy and played football there. nobody cared. herschel walker is be loved by about half of this state. he has a lot of work to do with the rest of this state. raphael warnock is waiting out there with policy, with his own set of gifts. about a block in that direction is ebenezer baptist church where

he's still the senior pastor. he's embodying the legend when he walks around the streets. talk about this clash of the titans. for the first time ever, two black men running statewide in georgia as the nominees if herschel walker gets through this race. it will be a race of -- it has so many levels of interest, so many layers of interest. most voters really don't know her shell walker's policies, don't really know his politics. there will be a moment when they see an ad and they'll say, wow, i didn't know that about herschel walker, i didn't know that's what happened to him in texas. >> it's going to be incumbent on warnock to challenge that, to talk about the policy and see what he can make work. you're right about two incredibly gifted orators who will be out there on the stump. when you talk about so many levels, there's a control of congress that the republicans

would love to take away from the democrats, matt. this is going to be a critical state that republicans feel that they can flip. talk about the implications. this race is huge. >> absolutely. this is one of the most closely-watched senate races in the country, no question about it, in a state that was the closest in the 2020 election. republicans really feel, in their candidate and charisma around walker, they'll be able to flip entire control of the upper chamber which has massive implications for president joe biden's agenda going forward, judges, the future of more democratic policy through budget reconciliation. all of that hinges on a handful of states, georgia being one of them. >> let me ask you about one of the -- if you want to call it a policy issue, abortion. his abortion stance at odds with what polls tell us voters in

georgia believe about the right of women to choose whether or not they want to continue a pregnancy. 68% of georgia voters in a poll your newspaper did oppose overturning roe v. wade. in the general, when you look at that small number of middle suburb voters, many of them women, can that make a difference? >> yes. that is hugely, hugely important. that is a dynamic not anticipated in the senate race until that leaked memo came out. depending on what the opinion says, and we still don't know. if it's on the table that roe v. wade will be overturned and it's on the table that the u.s. senate is going to make those decisions and the governor is going to sign a bill to totally ban abortion, that's a total game-changer in this state. georgia las a conservative republican base, but it is also full of obviously very progressive democrats, but this big middle of people who moved here for corporate jobs, people who moved here to be educated,

people who moved here for all sorts of reasons, are not from this state and not as conservative as the gop base, especially women in that northern arc of atlanta suburbs. lucy mcbath flipped that district. they used to be republican strongholds, but an issue like abortion that is a live issue for many women for the first time in their lives, in their adult lives, and that's what this vote is above, that's a game-changer for sure. >> given all these levels -- matt, i'll ask you first, but if we have time, i'll go back to you, patricia. all the levels of the implications of this race, i don't think money is going to be a problem, is it? they'll vote to raise record amounts of money. you are not going to be able to turn on your tv and walk away for 30 seconds and not see a political ad? >> absolutely not. we've already had an onslaught of adds from both warnock and obviously the republicans. with warnock, he's been one of the highest fund-raisers in the

senate. he's not going to be wanting for money for people both inside georgia and outside organizations, democratic groups that will be adding money to this state. at the same time you'll also see in herschel's celebrity in the state and unlike the governor's state, there's no tension between trump and walker on this. he is trump endorsed which means the entire republican apparatus is going to be very interested in fully funding him and making sure that everyone from mitch mcconnell to donald trump will be supporting him. >> herschel walker is taking his time. there are a lot of things he needs to vote for. his wife finished a while ago. obviously, if he makes any news coming out and speaking to ellison, we'll go back to it. matthew brown, patricia murphy, you guys have a long night ahead of you. thank you for spending a good bit of your morning with us. we appreciate it. we've got a lot more to talk about. new voeder id roles, fewer drop boxes, even bringing voters food and water, some of the new

restrictions georgia has in place this year. early voting numbers are way up. i'll talk to congressman williams about what's happening. a tough democratic primary between two sitting members of congress. you just heard a reference to it. you're watching special primary day coverage live from georgia only on msnbc. e from georgia only on msnbc. now through may 31st shop wayfair's memorial day sale and score big on outdoorsy furniture and decor up to 50% off. spend less on everything outdoorsy at wayfair. ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪ being connected. it's vital for every student. so for superintendent of public instruction, tony thurmond, it's a top priority. closing the digital divide, expanding internet access for low-income students and in rural areas. it's why thurmond helped deliver

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lie, today's georgia primary will be democrats' first major test of running in the state since it passed last year's restrictive election law. that 2020 law signed by governor brian kemp does everything to require id to vote by mail, to banning bringing snacks to people waiting if line to vote. for more, i want to bring in congresswoman niekma williams, . great to see both of you. congresswoman, as you see early voting and hearing what's going on at the polls right now, are you feeling, seeing any of the impact from these new voting laws? >> one of the things that we noticed is there was a surge in early voting, but a lot of people that we're hearing from voted early because they didn't want to risk the chance of what might happen on election day. so it's yet to be seen if those early voting surges were a replacement for election day. what we know is that we

determine early on that, while we shouldn't have to organize our way out of voter suppression, we'll do everything possible to get people the information they needed so that everyone could cast their ballots. so i am hopeful for what that means for people today, but if one person is turned away from the polls that wanted to vote, that's a problem. >> we have ellison barber with herschel walker who just voted. let me send it back to you. >> i'm going walk outside with herschel walk --

>> okay. we thought we were going to have an interview there. doesn't seem to have materialized. so let's go back -- we were following that race. let's go back to the voting laws. that 2021 law we said was signed obviously by brian kemp also changed -- you mentioned the way people decided to vote. are you going to vote absentee? are you going to vote early? for some people it's a different kind of calculation. >> yes, the legislature did impact absentee voting in a way that made it more difficult. early voting was made a little easier by that voting law, at least in terms -- in a lot of the rural counties. it restricted a little bit in the urban counties. ab sen see voting became problematic because you couldn't

apply for a ballot as easy as you did two years ago, and you didn't have absentee ballots sent to you unsolicited which was the case two years ago, also. >> i'm sure you guys have people fanned out everywhere across atlanta and elsewhere in the state. what are we hearing already this morning about what's going on at the polling places? such heavy early voting. are we seeing less voting on election day, what are you hearing? >> from what i've seen, it looks pretty normal. >> no big surge. >> no big surges. >> what does that tell you? >> it's exactly what we feared, people that voted early, it wasn't an increase, but people changed their election day voting because they didn't know what they would face when they showed up at the polls. it's the heat of the day in georgia. people making decisions about how to make their ballot which is unfortunate. we should be making it easier

for people to vote all across the vote, not restricting people's rights. it's 2022. people deserve to be heard at the ballot box. we played by the rules and then we changed the rules. we're going to continue to organize and make sure people's voices are heard. >> herschel walker is taking questions from ellison right now. let's listen in. >> when they stay together on the republican side, they seem to be fighting all the time. that's not what i'm about. i'm about helping the people. you can't help them if you're separated. >> obviously donald trump is someone you admire and greatly respect. i understand you'll get behind with whoever wins in the republican party. you look at the goob torl race, the secretary of state race, the presence of donald trump has loomed large there. do you think you'll be able to work with brian kemp? >> there's no doubt. we'll work with anyone on the republican side. president trump is going to want the same thing to happen to this state and to this country. he wants to see what's best for both of them. i think there's bad grapes on

both sides. i respect president trump a great deal and always will. he's a good, good friend. he got behind me because he knew i'm going to get the job done. at the same time he doesn't run what i do and my decision. i know for this state of georgia, for what's going on, from doing my business sessions, people need this economy to get better. they want people on the streets to have safety. that's the problem we have. we keep fighting rather than worrying about the people we're supposed to represent. >> do you want donald trump to come down and campaign? >> you know, if he want to come down, i told him he and his family can come down. president trump has always been a friend. that's what people want me to keep saying. president trump has been more than just a friend. i've known him since 1982. i want him to come down. i want all republicans -- when i win this, i want all republicans to come down and campaign for me. we've got to bring this party together.

everyone knows that. there's no sense in us fighting about it. right now what's going on in the state of georgia, what's going on in this country, we can't live like this. let's be honest. the inflation the way it is. let's be honest. that's what we've got to do. the only way we'll get it done is quit fighting among ourselves. >> so, look, herschel walker is making it clear right there that he wants to be the candidate who is going to bring people together, right, something that worked for joe biden and frankly donald trump before him in a very different way, that he was representing people who weren't represented, but he talked about the economy. when push comes to shove and you look at all these races, you look at the governor's race, you look at the senate race, you didn't look at some of the other congressional races, is that what it's going to come down to. as the democratic chair, is your

best advice to your candidates, it's the economy, stupid, thanks james carville. >> we're all feeling the impact of the economy. i'm looking for a senate candidate who will take his case to the georgia voters. we haven't seen that from herschel walker. >> it doesn't seem to have hurt him at all. >> we're just getting started. we're not in the general election yet. i know my senator, raphael warnock, is going to continue to make the case for georgia and how he's delivered in the past year and a half he's been serving in the u.s. senate. >> we'll know later tonight whether or not there's a surge. stacey abrams built a machine. i know after the last election i went down to alabama. i went down to mississippi, places where other black women are trying to use her as a model for how they want to -- and they're willing to wait years and years and years -- move

their state in a democratic direction. is this going to be a test today? is it going to be a test in november of the staying power of what stacey abrams built? >> i think we've already seen that stacey was about giving people a voice in the political process that have felt unheard and unseen for far too long. that's what we're seeing across the country, other southern states like alabama and mississippi. how do we give the power back to the people. that's what all her campaigns have been about. now she's running to represent one georgia. we need someone who is willing to represent all of us. >> -- show us the staying power of the machine she built that frankly turned out a lot of people who had not voted in the past? >> i think absolutely. this didn't happen overnight. it was cycle by cycle by cycle. we built upon this. we didn't just get to where we were in 2020 overnight. it wassing the organizing cycle by cycle.

>> every action has an equal and opposite reaction. the republicans are using stacey abrams' against her. >> they're using it. i don't know about the effective part. >> there's one particular georgia race showing just how brutal the ones in a decade redistricting process can be. democrats lucy mcbath and carolyn beaudreaux are pitted against each other to represent the georgia 7th just northeast of atlanta. this is beaudreaux's district. but mcbath is the front-runner. doug, what are the dynamics at play here? >> these are two partners in congress who supported each other. they were elected at the same time, two new women who fought tough races to get into congress. carolyn bourdeaux fought hard to lose her first race in congress,

lost by only a few hundred votes. had to fight hard to win her race two weeks ago. seems like they handed her a gift by giving her a democratic district. then lucy mcbath moves in and challenges here. they've been presentity genteel -- bordeaux's biggest issue against mcbath seems to be why didn't you stay in the sixth district and fight it out there? >> i want to read part of "the new york times" analysis on this race. ms. mcbath, a black woman from the suburbs of atlanta embraced by some liberal organizations and senator elizabeth warren, but not typically seen as a left wing candidate. ms. bow droe appealed to those in central right territory. both represent in many ways parts of the sprawling biden coalition that democrats are straining to hold together heading into a challenging midterm election season.

how much can democrats learn? how much should they read into how this race eventually goes tonight? >> i think what we've seen, we've been successful in building multiracial coalitions in georgia. the republicans saw that. in a 50/50 state they gerrymandered us out of power in the state. we're up against the repeated tactics, not just voter suppression, but gerrymandering that pitted these two great candidates against each other in today's primary. >> what do you think? the polls would suggest that mcbath is going to win? >> certainly the conventional wisdom is mcbath is going to win. >> could there be a surprise? >> bordeaux has a toehold in the district that mcbath doesn't have. she's been going to churches, going to town meetings. mcbath was very visible in the sixth district. mcbath has got this great story

and kind of a celebrity. bordeaux is a technocrat. >> we will see. going to be an interesting night, doug richards, nikema williams, thank you. donald trump looms over so many races this primary day, his impact on a race where he pulled his endorsement next. you're watching special primary day coverage only on msnbc. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occured. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. finding the perfect project manager isn't easy.

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rigorously tested by us. real world tested by you. and delivered to your door in as little as one hour. miss allen over there isn't checking lesson plans. she's getting graded on her green investments with merrill. a-plus. still got it. (whistle blows) your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. back live in atlanta, it's not an exaggeration to say never before in history has there been a race for secretary of state in any state that has been more closely watched or consequential than today's republican race in georgia. republican brad raffensperger who famously rejected donald trump's pressure to overturn the election in 2020 is facing off against trump-backed congressman

joe highs who fully embraced trump's false claims and objected to georgia's electoral votes being counted for biden. an office that would be responsible for certifying election results in a state incredibly rushl in in 2020, th implications of today's primary will tell us what we need to know about any close race here in 2024. joining me now, darren johnson, southern regional director for the obama campaign and a democratic strategist and doug richards, a reporter in atlanta. let's just say, there's a rematch between biden and trump in 2024, or a republican who believes the big lie. can you overstate the importance of what happens in the secretary of state race here? >> the secretary of state race here in georgia is one to watch. while the governor's race is

preeminent and a senate race. the secretary of state race is so important. one, all georgians, this is bipartisan. we want safe, secure and accurate election results. secondly, we were on the national stage for voter ige regularities, things that went wrong. more importantly, you have a secretary of state who is being attacked by the former president and encouraging him to break the law. secretary of state raffensperger did stand up to donald trump. he paid those consequences. he received death threats. i believe democrats have a good chance to be very competitive and win this race. no matter who emerges on the republican side, hice or raffensperger, they have been damaged because they have a former president who has everything to attack the current secretary of state and put a dark cloud over georgia. we just want elections to be accurate. we don't want anybody to be feeling like they are disenfranchised or suppressed. you have a lot of republicans spreading that lie that the 2020 elections were false. that's not true here in georgia. >> give us the state of the

race, doug. where are we? >> we had a poll a few weeks ago that showed raffensperger with the lead. the majority of voters were undecided. my sense from talking to voters is that, especially republican voters, is that they are not -- there are many of them who are are a significant number who will not vote for hice because he's trump backed. there are a lot of casual voters out there who don't see the dynamic that you are talking about, about how hice could potentially put his finger on a scale in a presidential election two years from now. many of them are sort of treating it like a normal down ballot race. hey, who do i vote for? it's puzzling and troubling a little bit. >> i have to say that certainly for years and maybe even for

decades, when i talked to grass-roots democrats who have been working in the trenches, one thing they have been telling me a long time is the democratic party needs to pay more attention to legislative races, they need to pay more attention to secretary of state races. have they not, because that was the message we got for a long time, and do you any what we saw in 2020 was a wake-up call? looking at what state legislatures have done in passing statewide abortion bans, looking at, again, what happened state by state by state with donald trump trying to pressure secretaries of state to change the election results? >> here in georgia, democrats, we had power until 2002. up until 2020, we spent the last 18 years trying to regain that power, playing by the rules that the republicans put in place. all of the early vote rules, absentee ballot, vote by mail, they were put in place by

republicans. what happened in 2018 is we figured out a way to beat republicans at their own game. we did not win the governor race, when 2020 came along we said, cool, we can play by the republican rules, we can get people to vote by mail, get people to vote absentee, and then you have drop boxes because of covid was put out there. now the republicans have taken that back. i think you are right. in this state, we have known the role of the secretary of state, he or she should be to uphold the law and make sure people feel confident. the republicans attack local county parties. they don't give them resources to make sure ballots are counted. they are taking away access that we had in 2020 because republicans lost. i think this secretary of state race, i want to say besides the governor and u.s. senate race is the most important. if hice is elected, i don't necessarily want to say he will do everything he can to overturn the election. i will tell you this, if the

election is close and you have someone who is a trump endorsed candidate, unlike raffensperger, voters should be concerned about list motive and what he said previously. >> we are waiting for results in places like pennsylvania. if there's something had a keeps us up late into the early morning hours or beyond, what is it tonight? >> probably -- i would look at the secretary of state race first, given that the polls seem to show kemp is likely -- >> all the publicity, did it help raffensperger? at least the name recognition. in most of america, if you asked a common voter, what's the name of your secretary of state, they wouldn't have any idea. >> my sense of that is that a lot of the people who are voting for brian kemp probably will also vote for raffensperger because they think like kemp, raffensperger has done a good job. i'm not saying all of them are going to do that, nor will it be enough to provide a majority. because kemp has such -- seems to have a solid hold on the republican party in the state,

in that office, that may trickle down to folks like raffensperger. >> is there an upset you might see? >> the only upset that i see that is -- if one of the races that we think is solid goes to a run-off. about brad raffensperger, he is the most popular secretary of state in the country. it's the reason why he is popular. he was pressured by a former president to break the law. he refused to do so. that's going to help and hurt him. ultimately, he doesn't get credit because he was the first to sent out an absentee ballot application to all voters, the first to publish the purge list. we have been going through this a long time in georgia. republicans have reduced early voting location, early vote time, taken away sunday voting. i think while he did the right thing, he is being retaliated on because many republicans believe georgia is the key to the south. if we keep georgia, that's it for republicans. >> we have to let that be the last word. thanks to both of you for being with us.

that's going to do it for me. i will join you every weekday at 1:00 p.m. stick with msnbc for all the results. first, "andrea mitchell reports" up next. reports" up nexttake you to a d. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor if latuda is right for you.

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