Originally published by The Hill
A Republican candidate in Georgia’s gubernatorial race who ran a “Deportation Bus Tour” to the state’s "sanctuary cities" was defeated in the GOP primary Tuesday night.
State Sen. Michael Williams, who skipped out on running for reelection for his state seat in order to mount a gubernatorial bid, earned about 5 percent of the vote in the primary, according to The Associated Press.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp came out on top out of the seven candidates competing in the GOP primary on Tuesday. The two men will advance to a July runoff for the Republican nomination.
Williams, a former co-chair of President Trump’s campaign in Georgia, gained national attention for his “Deportation Bus,” which he said he would use to find and house undocumented immigrants “to send them back to where they came from.”
“We’re not just going to track them and watch them roam around our state,” Williams said in a commercial announcing the tour. “We’re going to put them on this bus and send ‘em home.”
He faced a hiccup when the bus broke down at the start of the tour, but it was quickly repaired and continued on the journey.
Williams had faced low poll numbers throughout the race, with a University of Georgia poll finding that only about 3 percent of voters said they supported the candidate.
He had positioned himself as a staunch opponent of sanctuary cities, or jurisdictions that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
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