Associated Press and Reuters, May 23, 2018

Democratic voters in Georgia nominated a candidate on Tuesday who could make history as the first African-American female governor in the United States.

Stacey Abrams won her party’s nomination in a closely watched race showcasing divergent Democratic strategies on how to win in a Republican-dominated southern state.

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The Atlanta attorney and former state General Assembly leader also has been unabashed in her insistence that the way to dent Republican domination in Georgia isn’t by cautiously pursuing the older white voters who’ve abandoned Democrats over recent decades.

Rather, she believes the path is to widen the electorate by attracting young voters and nonwhites who haven’t been casting ballots.

She’ll test her theory as the underdog against either Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle or Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who will meet in a July runoff.

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Several races were also a referendum on long-simmering divisions within the Democratic Party.

Early returns in a metro-Houston matchup showed attorney Lizzie Fletcher leading activist Laura Moser in what became a proxy for Democrats’ fight between liberals and moderates.

National Democrats’ campaign committee never endorsed Fletcher, but released opposition research against Moser amid fears that she’s too liberal to knock off vulnerable Republican Rep. John Culberson in the fall.

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In the governor’s race, Democrats tapped former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez to take on Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in November. Valdez is Texas’ first openly gay and first Latina nominee for governor.

In the Texas governor’s race, Democrats tapped former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez to take on Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in November. Valdez is Texas’ first openly gay and first Latina nominee for governor

Kentucky Democrats picked a female former Marine fighter pilot, Amy McGrath, in a snub to the party establishment for a U.S. House seat district that Democrats hope to put into play.

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