This is a column of opinion and analysis by 13WMAZ's Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Randall Savage.
Casey Cagle may have set a record by delivering his concession speech a mere hour and a half after the polls closed in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial runoff.
But there wasn't any need for Cagle to postpone his announcement.
When the first returns were posted, Brian Kemp jumped out to a double-digit lead, and it continuously grew throughout the evening.
A few weeks ago, Cagle, Georgia's lieutenant governor, enjoyed the lead in polls gauging voter preferences in the race to become the next governor. In those polls, Kemp, the Secretary of State, remained the underdog.
But things changed when Clay Tippins, a former Navy Seal and fourth-place finisher in the May 22 GOP primary, secretly used his cell phone to record his conversation with Cagle.
In that recording, Tippins said Cagle acknowledged shifting his position on a proposal to increase tax credits for private schools from $58 million to $100 million.
Prior to the shift, Tippins said Cagle wanted to cut the tax credits, not increase them. But Tippins said that changed when Cagle learned the Waltons Foundation, strong charter school advocates, made it known that the foundation was preparing to pump up to $3 million in a gubernatorial campaign.
Cagle wanted the $3 million so he acknowledged on the recording that Cagle supported what he acknowledged was bad legislation for political purposes.
Tippins released part of his recorded conversation at various stops around the state. Cagle's lead in the polls began dropping and continued falling until polls a week before the runoff indicated the two gubernatorial hopefuls were in a dead heat.
Five days before the election, however, President Donald Trump tweeted that he supported Kemp in the runoff because Kemp was tough on crime and illegal immigration. Trump also liked Kemp's support of an individual'[s rights to own guns.
Shortly after Trump's endorsement, the White House announced that Vice President Mike Pence would visit Macon to campaign for Kemp. An overflow crowd greeted Kemp and Pence at the Saturday rally held at the Macon Centreplex.
Polls taken after the Pence visit indicated that Kemp had taken the lead and was poised to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination. The final poll indicated Kemp would win the nomination by capturing more than 67 percent of the vote.
Kemp received 69 percent to Cagle's 31. He'll now face Democrat Stacey Abrams in the November general election.
As lieutenant governor, Kemp presided over the Georgia Senate and had tremendous influence over legislative matters in that chamber. State Sen. David Schafer served as president pro-tem. In that role, Schafer was the second most powerful person in the Senate. With Cagle running for governor, Schafer joined the lieutenant governor sweepstakes.
Schafer was defeated by Geoff Duncan in the runoff.
Gov. Nathan Deal is term limited and couldn't seek re-election this year. With Deal leaving office, compounded by Kemp's victory over Cagle and Schafer's loss to Duncan, some key figures in Georgia's legislative process will be out.
That means there will be three new sheriffs under the Gold Dome when the 2019 General Assembly convenes in January.
