Free Republic

First-time political candidate David Perdue won a surprise victory over favored Rep. Jack Kingston in the Republican runoff for the US Senate nomination in Georgia. Kingston, who had the backing of the US Chamber of Commerce as well as conservatives such as my Salem colleague Erick Erickson, had been leading in almost every poll as the runoff approached. In the end, Perdue’s outsider message may have won the day: Businessman David Perdue stunned Georgia’s Republican political establishment Tuesday by capturing the party’s U.S. Senate nomination in his first run for office.The former CEO of Reebok and Dollar General toppled 11-term...

Conservative Nebraska Senate candidate Ben Sasse has opened up a 14-point lead in the latest poll before Tuesday's GOP primary. A Megellan Strategies survey of likely GOP primary voters, 92% of whom said they would definitely vote in the May 13 primary, found Sasse leading with 38%, while liberal Republican Sid Dinsdale is in second with 24%. Establishment Republican Shane Osborn, who is backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is in third with 20%. Sasse is endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), conservative talk radio host Mark Levin, the...

The Republican primary race for Nebraska governor is a dead heat between Attorney General Jon Bruning and businessman Pete Ricketts, while Midland University President Ben Sasse has built a sizable lead over his GOP rivals for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, according to new poll numbers. The Magellan Strategies poll of 525 likely Republican voters was conducted May 8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The poll was conducted one day after Bruning received endorsements from Gov. Dave Heineman and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert. The results were posted online by the Legacy...