The 2022 Republican Primary clearly demonstrated Georgia voters can think for themselves.

Going into the primary, there were big questions about whether the loyalties of voters were with traditional values and longstanding Republican stalwarts or with conspiracy theories and former President Donald Trump-backed candidates.

In the majority of cases, Republicans chose their traditional values and supported more traditional GOP candidates, such as Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, along with other down ballot choices that appear to show most Republicans rejected false claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election and attempts to overturn the will of the voters in that election.

While Trump endorsed candidates across the nation, many of them winning their primary bids, no candidate had stronger backing from the former president than David Perdue.

No figure in American politics had stronger opposition from Trump than Brian Kemp.

So what happened?

Georgia Republicans had their own mind and voted their own conscience.

Repeated, false claims of a stolen presidential election clearly backfired in Georgia.

The failed Trump-Perdue crusade for vengeance should be a wake-up call for the GOP.

Raffensperger, another very traditional Republican with a conservative pedigree, who flatly rejected Trump’s call to “find” the exact number of votes needed to overturn the results, faced a challenge from Trump’s hand-picked candidate, U.S. Rep. Jody Hice. Once again, voters stayed with Raffensperger. Trump-endorsed candidates for insurance commissioner and attorney general also lost.

Of course, Trump-backed Herschel Walker won the GOP primary race for U.S. Senate but Walker’s appeal goes way beyond politics and anyone would have to admit that the large field of candidates, lacking in statewide brand recognition, contributed to Walker’s dominance. In other words, that primary race is more of an anomaly than a bellwether because of Walker’s celebrity.

Of course, there are instances of Democrats jumping the fence and voting in the Republican primary affecting election outcomes but Kemp’s victory over Perdue was so lopsided it is clear it was Republicans who rejected Perdue and his conspiracy-laced platform.

It is time for voters to go to the polls again for runoff elections, and the fall General Election will be here before you know it.

Regardless of the outcome of the runoffs or the General Election, we should all — conservatives and progressives — accept the will of the voters, and reject wild, reckless, baseless election conspiracy theories.