Fani Willis and judge presiding over Trump election interference case defeat challengers in election

Two key players in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump have defeated challengers in Tuesday's election.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee both won. Willis is the prosecutor who last year obtained a sprawling racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others, and McAfee is the judge who was randomly assigned to preside over the case.

Willis beat progressive attorney Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary and is now set to face off against Republican Courtney Kramer in the fall. McAfee won a nonpartisan contest, which means he will serve a full four-year term beginning in January.

The intense public interest in the election case has thrust both Willis and McAfee into the national spotlight, giving them greater name recognition than occupants of their offices might otherwise have.

With her high name recognition, the advantages of incumbency and a hefty fundraising haul, Willis' victory in the primary was not terribly surprising. As she moves on to the general election, the odds would seem to be in Willis' favor as well. Fulton County includes most of the city of Atlanta and is heavily Democratic, about 73% of its voters having cast ballots for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Kramer, who has ties to some of Trump's most prominent allies in Georgia and has drawn campaign contributions from both the county and state Republican parties, told reporters when she qualified to run that the Trump indictment prompted her to challenge Willis. In a post on the social platform X earlier this month, she wrote, "The future of Fulton and safety in our community should not be controlled by self-interested politicians who use their