Perdue, Kingston advance to GOP runoff in hard-fought Ga. Senate race

May 20, 2014: Georgia Republican Senate candidate, David Perdue, left, talks with his mother Gervaise Perdue, at an election night party while waiting for results from Georgia's primary election. (AP)

Businessman David Perdue and Rep. Jack Kingston advanced to a July runoff election in Georgia's fiercely contested GOP Senate primary Tuesday night.

The two GOP establishment favorites were able to hold back a Tea Party-aligned challenger as they vie for the nomination, seeking an open seat that Republicans are fighting to defend from a heavily backed Democratic nominee.

The winner of the July 22 vote will oppose Michelle Nunn, who easily won the Democratic Senate primary, in November.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting late Tuesday, Perdue had 31 percent of the vote, with Kingston garnering 26 percent. In third place, missing out on the runoff, was Tea Party favorite and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, who received 22 percent of the vote. Reps. Paul Broun of Athens and Phil Gingrey of Marietta were in fourth and fifth, respectively.

A runoff in Georgia occurs when no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

The primary has been closely watched nationally, with Republicans needing just six seats to claim a majority in the Senate. Nunn is considered a formidable opponent, and Republicans can ill afford to lose the seat left open by retiring Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Although the state has voted reliably Republican in recent years, Democrats see an opening with changing demographics in the state -- a growing minority population and residents moving in from out of state.

"I want to be the candidate in November," Perdue told a cheering crowd of supporters. "I've begged you for a year, get me into this general election in November because we will not allow (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid to have one more vote in this United States Senate."

Perdue, a cousin of former Gov. Sonny Perdue, saw his standing rise in recent weeks due in part to TV ads depicting his four opponents as crying babies who had their chance to fix the nation's problems. Perdue, who cast himself as an outsider, chipped in at least $2.1 million of his own money to his campaign.

Kingston, a longtime congressman, dominated in fundraising throughout the GOP race and drew support from dozens of state and local officials. Of the three congressmen, Kingston was considered the strongest and received the backing of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent nearly $1 million in TV and online ads promoting him.

Handel also sought to claim the outsider mantle. She built momentum in the final month with the help of a comment by Perdue about her lack of a college degree and endorsements from the likes of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but her lack of money hurt her ability to match Perdue and Kingston in critical TV advertising.

Kingston had cast himself as a frugal politician, and he and others pounced on the chance to say Perdue would raise taxes when the former CEO said spending cuts alone couldn't fix the nation's fiscal problems. Perdue dismissed the attack as "deceitful."

Gingrey focused his campaign on the metro Atlanta area and his pledge to repeal the federal health care law in his first term "or go home," while Broun sought to line up tea party support with his plan of evaluating legislation by whether it's right/moral, constitutional, necessary and affordable.

Perdue's comment turned off Sant Perez, 55, an Atlanta sales manager for a television station, who initially considered him along with Kingston and Handel. He ultimately voted for Kingston, saying Perdue's comments made him seem elitist.

"I like Handel, but I think Kingston has a better shot" to beat Nunn because of his experience and more moderate views, Perez said.

On Tuesday evening, Nunn celebrated her victory with a few hundred supporters in a hotel ballroom. Her father, a moderate who represented Georgia in the Senate for years, was among the family members by her side.

"We don't know who the candidates on the other side are going to be but we know that these candidates are all in the race to extremes," Nunn said. "They're more interested in scoring political points than in solving actual problems. Those aren't the Georgia values I know."

The other Republicans in the race were patent lawyer Art Gardner and network engineer Derrick Grayson. Neither had raised much money and trailed in the polls. On the Democratic side, former state lawmaker Steen Miles, psychiatrist Branko Radulovacki and ROTC instructor Todd Anthony Robinson were also on the ballot.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.