Republican state Rep. Brad Raffensperger held a comfortable lead over former Democratic congressman John Barrow on Tuesday in a runoff election for Georgia secretary of state that took place amid lingering concerns about voter disenfranchisement in a state likely to remain a battleground in 2020.
Raffensperger’s election would continue a losing streak for Democrats, who have not won a statewide election in Georgia since 2010, and would ensure that stricter election laws pushed by state Republicans remain in place unless legal challenges overturn them.