As a turnout in Georgia’s primary reportedly runs high, Donald Trump has blasted out an email reiterating his endorsement of David Perdue, whom the polls say is set to lose heavily in his challenge to incumbent Brian Kemp.

Here’s the former president’s message:

Far-right Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the highest-profile Republicans facing a primary today, but her race has gotten little attention. That’s partly because none of her five challengers of her is particularly well known, but more because her incredible fundraising power of her (she’s raked in $9.2m this cycle) makes her the envy of candidates across the country.

Fresh off his appearance with Georgia’s Brian Kemp, a Trump target who looks set to survive, Mike Pence is continuing his campaign roadshow by stumping for North Carolina’s Tedd Budd, the GOP nominee for the state’s open Senate seat.

Unlike Mr Kemp, Mr Budd had Mr Trump’s backing over former Governor Pat McCrory. The seat is crucial to Republicans’ efforts to retake the Senate.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp looks set to survive his challenge from Trump-backed ex-senator David Perdue – and if he does, it will be with the help of none other than Mike Pence, who has been steadily cultivating a personal image of integrity by defending his decision not to try and overturn the 2020 election in Congress.

For some, the two men’s apparently successful link-up raises the prospect that Donald Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican Party might not be quite as tight as it once seemed.

Ace The Bulwark‘s Charlie Sykes described it on MSNBC last night: “You have the party rallying around a look and conservative Republican governor who is in no way to RINO, but has been targeted specifically and really solely because of his refusal to go along with the Big Lie. So this is a pure referendum on Donald Trump’s most important obsession with him, and he’s going to lose badly in a crucial state.

The Michigan gubernatorial race is a top target for Republicans, with Democratic incumbent and Trump bete noire Gretchen Whitmer fighting for re-election in a purple state. But the party has hit a major hiccup: several of its candidates have failed to qualify for this August’s primary.

As reported by the Associated Press, the affected candidates include former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who has led in primary polling despite campaign problems, and businessman Perry Johnson, who has spent millions of his own money to run. Their election petitions were challenged by Democrats who accused them of mass forgery of the signatures required by law.

The impossibly close Pennsylvania primary between Dr Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick has taken another turn, with Mr McCormick taking legal action to count mail-in and absentee ballots posted in undated envelopes.

The challenge comes with the two candidates still separated by fewer than 1,000 votes, putting them well within the margin that triggers an automatic recount. That mail-in ballots may put Mr McCormick over the top is not lost on Donald Trump, who has called on his endorsee Dr Oz to prematurely declare victory and thus delegitimize the outstanding votes.

Read more below from Politico.

Just as Mike Pence stood up for Brian Kemp in Georgia yesterday in direct opposition to Donald Trump’s endorsement of David Perdue, Texas Senator Ted Cruz hit the trail for Alabama congressman and Senate candidate Mo Brooks, who earlier this year lost the ex-president’s backing after he began to tank in the polls.

Mr Brooks responded by sharing the alarming claim that Mr Trump has repeatedly asked friends and colleagues about the possibility of having himself somehow reinstalled as president between now and the next election.

Here’s video of Mr Cruz standing up for the abandoned representative, who it seems may have made a late rally in the race.

Georgia’s Brian Kemp may become known, at least after Tuesday, as the man who did the impossible: Defeat a candidate backed by Donald Trump in a Republican primary in the deep south.

That certainly looks to be the case as the incumbent governor charges into Tuesday’s primary with a double-digit polling lead over David Perdue, the Trump acolyte who looks to be set to deliver the former president his first defeat of the 2022 primary season.

Read more from John Bowden.

Georgia’s Republican voters look set to choose as their Senate nominee Herschel Walker, a former NFL player who was already wildly popular before Donald Trump endorsed his campaign.

Mr Walker is polling strongly against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock, who was elected in a special election runoff at the start of 2020. However, he has long raised concerns among more establishment-leaning Republicans with his periodically erratic public statements and behaviour, and they also worry his personal baggage may be too much for many general election voters to swallow.

He faces an allegation of domestic violence dating back two decades, when his then-girlfriend told police that he threatened to “blow her head off” during an argument. However, I have told Axios last year that he’s “accountable” for his previous violent behaviour.

Read more from John Bowden:

David Perdue, the former senator whom Donald Trump backed to take on Brian Kemp in Georgia, looks set to lose heavily in the state’s primary today, but he’s pulling out all the stops in the race’s final hours – and indulging in some old-fashioned racism directed at Stacey Abrams, who’s running for governor on the Democratic side.

This isn’t the first time Mr Perdue has pointed to a candidate of colour’s non-whiteness to draw a contrast. In 2020, as he fought what turned out to be a losing Senate battle against Democrat Jon Ossoff, Mr Perdue took to deliberately mispronouncing Kamala Harris’s name from her at rallies for comedic effect.