With all 65 Richmond County precincts reporting, Johnson received 16,313 votes, or 42.8%. Kendrick finished second with 13,531 votes, or 35.5%. Eric Gaines received 5,442 votes, or 14.28%, and Lori Myles received 2,832 votes, or 7.43%.

Because no candidate cleared 50%, the race moves to a runoff between Johnson and Kendrick. The June matchup gives Augusta another round in a familiar contest: Johnson and Kendrick also met in the 2022 mayoral runoff, which Johnson won.

Augusta Commission results

Augusta voters also decided several commission races Tuesday, returning some incumbents, rejecting another and leaving one district unresolved.

In District 2, incumbent Stacy Pulliam narrowly defeated Corey Johnson, receiving 1,665 votes, or 51.56%, to Johnson’s 1,564 votes, or 48.44%.

In District 4, incumbent Lonnie Wimberly won another term with 3,250 votes, or 62.67%, defeating Alvin Mason, who received 1,936 votes, or 37.33%.

In District 6, challenger Tamika Bean defeated incumbent Tony Lewis. Bean received 2,645 votes, or 59.34%, while Lewis received 1,812 votes, or 40.66%.

In District 10, incumbent Wayne Guilfoyle defeated former Commissioner Ben Hasan. Guilfoyle received 11,163 votes, or 55.13%, while Hasan received 9,085 votes, or 44.87%.

District 8 will also go to a runoff. Evett Williams led with 2,453 votes, followed by Michael Cioffi with 1,923 votes. Roger Garvin received 696 votes. Williams and Cioffi advance to the June 16 runoff.

Wright wins contested Superior Court race

In the local judicial race, incumbent Superior Court Judge Ashley Wright defeated Alexia Payne, according to WJBF’s 2026 Georgia Primary Election results.

With 100% reporting, Wright received 22,385 votes, or 53.60%. Payne received 19,375 votes, or 46.40%.

The race was the only contested local judicial race on the Augusta ballot. Other local judicial seats were uncontested. Superior Court Judges Amanda Nichole Heath and Jesse Stone appeared without opposition. State Court Judges Ashanti Lilley Pounds and Monique Walker also appeared without opposition, as did Carletta Sims Brown for chief judge of Civil and Magistrate Court.

Wright’s win means the Superior Court race was settled Tuesday and will not join the mayor’s race or Commission District 8 on the June runoff ballot.

Statewide races continue into June

Several major statewide Georgia primaries also remained unresolved after Tuesday and will continue into the June 16 runoff.

In the Republican U.S. Senate primary, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former college football coach Derek Dooley advanced to a runoff, while U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter was eliminated. The winner will face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who was unopposed in his primary.

In the Republican governor’s race, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson advanced to a runoff. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic nomination for governor.

Down ballot, statewide runoffs also emerged in races for lieutenant governor and secretary of state. Democratic state Sen. Josh McLaurin and former state Sen. Nabilah Parkes advanced in the Democratic lieutenant governor race, while John Kennedy and Greg Dolezal were headed to a Republican runoff. In the secretary of state races, Tim Fleming and Vernon Jones advanced on the Republican side, while Penny Brown Reynolds and Dana Barrett advanced on the Democratic side.

Georgia’s statewide judicial races did not produce the breakthrough Democrats had hoped for. Incumbent Supreme Court Justices Charlie Bethel and Sarah Hawkins Warren won reelection, while Justice Ben Land was unopposed.

What the results show

Locally, Tuesday’s results point less to a sweeping anti-incumbent mood than to a selective electorate. Voters returned Pulliam, Wimberly, Guilfoyle and Wright, but defeated Lewis in District 6 and left District 8 unsettled.

The mayor’s race is similarly unresolved. Johnson enters the runoff with the lead, but not with a majority. Kendrick’s path depends on whether he can consolidate enough of the votes that went to Gaines and Myles while keeping turnout alive into June.

For Augusta, the next phase is not a new election so much as a narrower one. The field has been reduced. The choices have sharpened. And the city’s voters will now decide whether Johnson gets another term or Kendrick completes the rematch he forced Tuesday night.