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CANTON, Ga. Nowhere in the United States did the tea party seem better poised for victory than in Georgias open Senate race. The Peach State, along with South Carolina, has anchored the movement for the past five years, providing Congress with four of the 25 most conservative voting records.

Yet on a recent evening, Rep. Jack Kingston (R) strode across the stage at Cagles Family Farm with the surprising air of a front-runner. He is exactly the kind of candidate the tea party movement most reviled: a 22-year member of Congress with a history of doling out federal dollars.

In this crowded Republican primary, however, Kingston has seemingly found a path toward the top and is poised to advance beyond the May20 primary to what is likely to be a two-candidate runoff in July. His most conservative challengers, meanwhile, have struggled to catch on.

The Savannah congressmans position in this Senate race is emblematic of the tea partys pains nationwide. On Tuesday, the movement floundered in North Carolina, where the establishment choice, Thom Tillis, cruised to the nomination over underfunded conservatives. In Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) has eviscerated his tea party challenger ahead of the May20 primary.

The movements Washington-based advocates, disappointed in the quality of conservative candidates, have stayed on the sidelines or have latched on to people who dont fit neatly into their anti-establishment mold.

Kingston, 59, has not run from his experience or his time in Washington. Instead, he has trumpeted them and has tried to make the warfare inside the GOP an issue. At the candidate forum in this northern exurb of Atlanta, Kingston asked the crowd of about 300: How many of you think the conservative family is divided? And how many of you know divided we fall? Most people raised their hands. He spent the next two minutes outlining his career in the House, distancing himself from the loudest voices on the right.

We have got to win the Senate back, and we cant do it with rhetoric. We have got to do it with a plan, he said.

Kingston and businessman David Perdue a multimillionaire cousin of former governor Sonny Perdue have been atop most polls and have raised more money than their most conservative rivals, creating the possibility that the July 22 runoff will leave conservatives without a candidate. If no one receives more than 50percent of the vote in the primary, the top two candidates will proceed to the runoff.

A victory by Kingston or Perdue would make it harder for Democrats to take over the seat of retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R). Michelle Nunn, a fundraising dynamo from her years running a large charity organization, has been one of the best Democratic recruits this season. To help her win, Democrats had hoped that Republicans would nominate one of the more conservative candidates in the race someone such as Rep. Paul C. Broun, a hard-right firebrand who might struggle among centrist suburban voters.

With no candidate expected to be close to 50percent in the May 20 ballot, the fight is to advance to the runoff. This means that Broun and two other more natural conservatives Karen Handel, a former secretary of state running as a Sarah Palin acolyte, and Rep. Phil Gingrey have a chance if they can somehow make it into the top two. Handel is the only one of the trio to show momentum in recent weeks, but many party strategists question whether her underfunded campaign can break through in the closing days.

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Tea party faces uphill climb in crowded Republican Senate primary in Georgia

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- In the intraparty battle for the GOP, score Round 1 for the Republican establishment over the tea party.

CNN projects that North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis has won the state's GOP Senate primary. Tillis, who was backed by many mainstream Republicans, topped 40% of the primary vote Tuesday, avoiding a runoff in July.

Tillis beat a bunch of more conservative candidates for the chance to face off this November against first-term Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who is considered very vulnerable in the general election. Flipping her seat and five others held by Democrats would give Republicans control of the Senate.

In his victory speech, Tillis slammed Hagan's record, tying her to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and calling them "an echo chamber for President Obama's worst ideas."

"We need to be clear, it's not the end of a primary, it's really the beginning of a primary mission, which has been the mission all along and that is to beat Kay Hagan and to make Harry Reid irrelevant," he said.

Rand Paul stumbles and four other takeaways from election night

"You know, their failures, both Obama's and Kay Hagan's, are obvious," Tillis added.

"We know a lot of them -- our government is borrowing too much money and it's dangerously in debt to China. Obamacare is not working. And Obama and Hagan's left-wing political agenda is driving up our energy prices and making our country less safe.

"For six years, she's voted with Obama and against North Carolina," he said.

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Tea party candidate loses

BOSTON (AP) -- Tea party-affiliate Mark Fisher is rejecting an offer from the Massachusetts Republican Party to certify him as a candidate for governor in exchange for delaying any additional legal proceedings in his lawsuit against the party until after the election.

Fisher said Wednesday he's moving ahead with his lawsuit and wants the court to stick to a June 16 trial date. He said he wants the court to force the party to release tally sheets from the Massachusetts Republican Convention.

The party maintains that Fisher fell just short of becoming eligible for the ballot by failing to win the backing of 15 percent of the delegates at the March convention. Charlie Baker won the party's endorsement.

Fisher sued, claiming that the party violated its own rules by including blank ballots in the tally and adding 54 additional blanks to the total after the roll call on the convention floor.

"They're willing to put me on the ballot only if the criminal activity isn't exposed," Fisher said in a telephone interview. "We need the tally sheets. Where did those extra 54 ballots come from? It's how they stole the election.

"Just put me on the ballot," he added.

Baker and Fisher are the only candidates seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the September primary. Five Democrats and several independent candidates are also vying to succeed Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, who is not seeking a third term.

In their court filing, party leaders denied wrongdoing but said in "the best interests of the public, as well as the Republican Party," they would no longer contest Fisher's certification in exchange for a delay in additional legal proceedings until after the election.

"The litigation has become a distraction to the Republican Party and a drain on its resources, which should be used for the election of its candidates," argued party leaders, including MassGOP chair Kirsten Hughes.

They also faulted Fisher for an "unwavering commitment to publicize every aspect of the case both by speaking to newspapers and publishing on his web page and on Facebook every aspect of the dispute" and said he used "relationships within the Republican Party to carry his torch and caused increased disruption to the party."

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Tea-party affiliate Fisher rejects GOP offer

North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R) turned back a tea party challenger Tuesday in the state's GOP primary for US Senate. Republicans hope to pick up that seat in November, on the way to winning Senate control.

The Republican establishment is breathing a collective sigh of relief after Tuesdays victory by Thom Tillis speaker of the House in North Carolina in the states GOP primary for US Senate.

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Speaker Tillis won 46 percent of the vote, beating seven other competitors, including two insurgent candidates with high-profile support. By topping 40 percent, Tillis avoids a divisive, costly runoff in July. He can now focus immediately on defeating freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D), one of the Democrats most vulnerable senators in the November elections.

Tillis is definitely the most electable among the field, says Republican strategist Ford OConnell. But its not time to pop the champagne. Kentucky and Georgia are next.

In the Kentucky primary, on May 20, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R) looks set to defeat his tea party challenger, businessman Matt Bevin. But in Georgia, also on May 20, the GOP primary for the seat held by retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) features a crowded field with no clear frontrunner and appears headed for a July runoff. Some of the candidates are far-right conservatives with a history of making provocative statements. The Democrats have a strong likely nominee in nonprofit CEO Michelle Nunn.

Republicans need a net gain of six seats to take over the Senate, and can ill-afford to lose any seats they currently hold. The GOP establishment is also loathe to see the party squander pickup opportunities by nominating undisciplined or hard-line candidates who make comments that turn off general election voters.

No more Todd Akins is the partys mantra in 2014, a reference to the former Missouri congressman who lost his US Senate race in 2012 after a comment about legitimate rape.

In North Carolina, establishment Republicans feared another Akin in libertarian tea party candidate Greg Brannon, a physician who last year likened food stamps to slavery, among other provocative assertions. Dr. Brannon came in second Tuesday with 27 percent. Charlotte, N.C., pastor Mark Harris came in third with 18 percent.

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No joy for tea party in early round of GOP primaries, including N. Carolina

Asheville, North Carolina (CNN) - It was a tough loss.

Tea party members in North Carolina put in countless hours to elect U.S. Senate candidate Greg Brannon.

When he didnt get enough votes to force a runoff against establishment GOP opponent Thom Tillis in Tuesdays primary election, the leaders of one local tea party group wondered if it's worth competing in national races.

Speaking to 15 Brannon supporters and tea party members at a German/Italian restaurant in the suburbs of Asheville, Jane Bilello looked drained and defeated.

Washington just might be lost, she said with heavy shoulders.

It was all that money from Washington, one woman sitting at the long table mumbled aloud about a reason for Tillis' win.

5 takeaways from election night

In an interview after the results came in, Bilello, chairwoman of the Asheville Tea Party, said shes not sure tea party candidates can compete against the well-resourced, well-financed machine of the Republican Party.

Washington is very tough. We fight the GOP, Bilello said. We just constantly fight the Republicans.

Tillis' campaign and groups supporting it spent 10 times what Brannon and his supporters did. Tillis had the financial support of the Chamber of Commerce and former George W. Bush strategist Karl Roves American Crossroads. While Brannon had the support of the tea party, the FreedomWorks organization and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, it wasnt enough.

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Tea party members in North Carolina might give up on national races