OnPolitics: POTUS calls on lawmakers to 'stand up to the gun lobby'

Hello, OnPolitics readers.

Primary elections in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas Tuesday were among the most important challenges ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Incumbent Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp beat former Sen. David Perdue, who was backed by former President Donald Trump, by a roughly 3-1 margin. Trump's pick Rep. Jody Hice also lost to incumbent Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Both Kemp and Raffensperger refused Trump's demands to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss in the state.

The wins will likely be considered major rebukes of Trump and the "big lie" that President Joe Biden did not win the presidential election.

In another crucial election outcome, former football star Herschel Walker won the Georgia Republican primary race for U.S. Senate. Walker, who earned Trump's endorsement during his campaign, will run against Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock in November. Stacey Abrams, who lost a run for governor to Kemp by less than 2 percentage points in 2018, also won the Democratic primary unopposed.

• Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., survived Trump's retracted endorsement to make it to a runoff election against former leader of the Business Council of Alabama, Katie Britt.

• Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the Republican primary for governor of Arkansas.

• A neck and neck race between moderate Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and progressive primary challenger Jessica Cisneros is too close to call.

• And incumbent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's win over Republican George P. Bush, son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, could signal an end to the Bush political dynasty.

It's Chelsey with today's top stories out of Washington.

'Enough is enough'

After a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left at least 19 children dead, President Joe Biden called on lawmakers Tuesday to “stand up to the gun lobby” and take action.

“I had hoped when I became President I would not have to do this again. Another massacre,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “Beautiful, innocent second-, third- and fourth-graders.”

“As a nation we have to ask ourselves, ‘when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby,’” he continued.

The shooting was the deadliest mass killing at a U.S. grade school since Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. At least three adults also died during the Texas attack.

Before the speech, Biden issued a proclamation ordering flags to be flown at half-staff through Saturday to honor the victims of the school shooting.

“I am sick and tired of it. We have to act," Biden said Tuesday. "Don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.”

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Connecticut senator delivers emotional speech after Texas shooting

"What are we doing?" asked Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on the Senate floor Tuesday after the second mass shooting at an elementary school in a decade.

The shooting, carried out by an 18-year-old assailant, happened days after another 18-year-old gunmen killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.

"Just days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down African American patrons, we have another Sandy Hook on our hands," Murphy said. "Our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they're going to be next. What are we doing?"

Murphy said mass killings on this scale only happen in the U.S. and nowhere else. The Connecticut Democrat asked lawmakers why they make the effort to run for a Senate seat while doing nothing about school shootings.

"Every ounce of love and thoughts and prayers we can send we are sending, but I'm here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees, and beg my colleagues find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely," Murphy said.

The 18-year-old gunman died in a shootout with police.

Today marks two years since the death of George Floyd. USA TODAY's Editorial Board reflects on what the nation still owes him. — Chelsey

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden calls on lawmakers to stand up to gun lobby after Texas shooting