Tomorrow, Donald Trump will arrive in Georgia for a rally with two purposes — to bolster his hand-picked candidates in key battleground races, and to underscore the need for these candidates to support his lies about the 2020 election.
This move once again puts gubernatorial candidate David Perdue and secretary of state candidate Jody Hice, both scheduled to attend and speak, in direct opposition with the current Republican incumbents of those positions, Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger — demonstrating just how much of a mess these races are for Republicans.
“All of this infighting puts Republicans in an awful place in Georgia,” said Alexandra De Luca, spokesperson for American Bridge 21st Century. “While Democrats are laser-focused on repeating their victories in 2020 and electing Stacey Abrams and pro-democracy candidates up and down the ballot, the GOP is squabbling and making a mess of their race. Whoever comes out of this primary will be wounded and bruised going into the general, because voters don’t care about Trump, Perdue and Hice’s conspiracy theories. They just want the government to work for them, and that’s why Democrats have the leg up in this race.”
Despite being right-wing extremists themselves who support (and have signed legislation) restricting Georgians’ voting rights, Kemp and Raffensberger drew Trump’s ire back in 2020 for refusing to overturn the results of the 2020 election — both the Senate race Perdue lost and the presidential race Trump lost.
In retaliation, Trump endorsed challengers to their incumbent positions, and the campaigns have been a mess since, given Trump’s personal power to direct the Republican Party — and its voters — is at stake. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
- “Perdue’s challenge hinges on Trump’s support. He invokes the former president at the start of every campaign stop and echoes Trump’s falsehoods about widespread election fraud costing him the 2020 election.”
- “Trump filmed a direct-to-camera TV spot for Perdue that’s now airing statewide. And Donald Trump Jr. completed a statewide swing this week to boost the former senator’s campaign.”
- “There’s plenty of reason for Trump to step up his commitment. Perdue’s campaign serves as one of the marquee tests of his influence, and he has vowed to defeat Kemp after the governor refused his demands to reverse his narrow 2020 defeat, something the governor has no power to do.”
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Published: Mar 25, 2022 | Last Modified: Apr 1, 2022