Alice Stewart is a CNN political commentator and former communications director for Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author; view more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Republican voters in Georgia responded to a vicious primary runoff by showing thunderous support for Trump-backed candidate Brian Kemp over Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Kemp, Georgia's secretary of state, won a resounding victory Tuesday after a bruising nine-week showdown filled with secret recordings, outrageous ads and nasty name-calling.

Alice Stewart

Needless to say, Southern gentility was gone with the wind in this race.

Critics say the brutal runoff took its toll on the GOP and showed division among the ranks. Republicans in my home state say nothing could be further from the truth. Georgia GOP Chairman John Watson tells me Tuesday's victory shows there's "no lack of clarity" and certainly "helps in the healing."

After declaring victory, Kemp wasted no time setting his sights on his Democrat opponent, Stacey Abrams, whom he referred to as an "out-of-touch, radical liberal." Abrams will be a formidable candidate, with national money and manpower, running to be the first black female governor in America. I'm told the GOP has a solid ground game in place but is not taking anything for granted.

Cagle, endorsed by Gov. Nathan Deal, began the race as the heir apparent. Dominating in the polls, he had high name recognition and tremendous financial backing. Things started going south when he was secretly recorded discussing his political motivations for backing "bad public policy" and describing the GOP primary as a race to be "the craziest" candidate with "the biggest gun" and "the biggest truck."

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