The lead prosecutor in Donald Trump’s Georgia election meddling case has won the state’s Democratic primary election in her bid for a second term.
Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis defeated challenger Christian Wise during Tuesday’s primary and will now face Republican Courtney Kramer in November’s general election.
Judge Scott McAfee, the judge presiding over Mr Trump’s Georgia case, also won his first full term, after he was appointed to the court last year.
The two Georgia figures have drawn intense scrutiny for their role in the high-profile criminal case against Mr Trump.
Judge McAfee was appointed to the bench by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to fill an empty seat. On Tuesday, he won a nonpartisan judicial race and was elected directly to the seat by Atlanta-area voters.
On 5 November Ms Willis will face Ms Kramer, a Republican lawyer who interned in the Trump White House and was accused of playing a role in overturning Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Ms Kramer faces an uphill battle to victory in the Democratic stronghold of Fulton County, which includes Atlanta.
Her campaign, though, will likely focus on criticism of Ms Willis’s handling of the Trump case, which includes allegations of misconduct related to an affair with her former co-prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Ms Willis’s election victory follows controversy over revelations of her romantic relationship with Mr Wade, a special prosecutor she appointed to Mr Trump’s case.
Mr Wade resigned from the case after details of his romantic relationship with Ms Willis were brought to light in court.
Ms Willis, who has denied allegations of impropriety, remained on the case while Judge McAfee denied Mr Trump’s lawyers’ requests to have her removed.
However, the Georgia Court of Appeals is reviewing whether to overturn the judge’s ruling and remove Ms Willis from the case.
The appeals court’s review slows the legal proceedings and makes it unlikely that the case will go to trial before the presidential election in November.
Republicans in Georgia and Washington have launched investigations into Ms Willis and her office.
“I need people around the country to support me big and small, to think that we are going to be a country that still believes in the rule of law,” she told The Rachel Maddow Show on Monday.
“We are not going to allow people to be attacked while they do their job.”
