Grassroots anger at Kemp springs up in GOP meetings
The grassroots anger at Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other top state officials who refused to overturn former President Donald Trump’s election defeat bubbled up on Saturday at several county GOP meetings across the state as activists gathered to censure or rebuke the GOP leaders for their stances.
Republican delegates in more than a halfdozen counties passed resolutions over the past week assailing Kemp for not doing more to help Trump’s false claims of voting fraud. And several more also punished Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who have also drawn Trump’s wrath.
The governor’s forceful defense of a new election rewrite that includes new restrictions to voting pushed by pro-Trump forces has put him on more solid footing with his party’s base, but the fallout of the weekend showed he’s still not in the clear.
Though he has so far escaped a top-tier Republican primary opponent, former Democrat Vernon Jones launched a challenge against him
Friday, vowing to win over anti-Kemp conservatives despite only switching to the GOP earlier this year.
And while most local GOP groups refused to rebuke Kemp, the mostly rural counties that did offered evidence that the governor must still shore up his base in an expected rematch against Democrat Stacey Abrams, the nationally known voting rights advocate and former House leader who narrowly lost to him in 2018.
Even a fraction of Republicans who remain skeptical of Kemp could pose problems to Kemp in November 2022, much like a sharp turnout drop in conservative rural areas hampered U.S. Senate incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the January runoff defeats to Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
“Many of the Trump supporters that did not return and vote in the January runoff will not return to vote for Kemp in 2022,” said Brian Pritchard, a North Georgia GOP activist and commentator. “The only way to get a Trump supporter to vote for Kemp is to get Trump to endorse Kemp. And we don’t see that happening.”
While efforts to punish Kemp went nowhere in many counties and were blocked by the governor’s allies in others, delegates in a range of counties voted to rebuke him. They include censure votes in Appling, Chattooga, DeKalb, Jasper, Lowndes, Lumpkin, Pierce and Pickens counties. They join two others — Murray and Whitfield — that punished him last week.
“When people censure politicians, they are holding them accountable in a public forum,” said newly elected DeKalb GOP chair Marci McCarthy, who described the vote as a part of mounting backlash against the establishment.
“I encourage all those that are not pleased with their elected representatives to vote in the Republican primary, vet your candidates and get involved.”
Still, Kemp avoided what could have been sharper fallout. In Fannin County, delegates voted overwhelmingly to censure the governor though it wasn’t formally approved because there was no longer a quorum.
Hall County activists dinged Duncan and Raffensperger — who are vilified by many in the base for more forcefully opposing Trump’s lies about a “rigged” election — but sidestepped a rebuke of Kemp.
Ellis Davis, a Camden County activist, said local Republicans rallied around Kemp and attacked Jones as someone who is not a “legitimate” candidate for the GOP nod.
“Certain individuals that have ulterior motives introduced anti-Kemp resolutions and they were promptly voted down,” said Davis. “His leadership and care is evident in all that he does and the fact that all anti-Kemp resolutions were voted down is proof of that.”
And state Sen. Jason Anavitarte reported a sense of bonhomie in Paulding County around GOP efforts to overhaul the voting system and another resolution that applauded Kemp’s aggressive approach to reopening the economy during the pandemic.
“Everyone was energized and participated in the party process,” said Anavitarte, elected in 2020. “Overall, everyone was unified to win in 2022.”
Kemp’s campaign said it was “grateful” for the support from the county GOP organizations that didn’t punish him.
“We look forward to hitting the campaign trail in the coming months to highlight his successful record of economic growth, keeping Georgia open, standing up for election integrity and putting hardworking Georgians first,” said Kemp campaign spokesman Tate Mitchell.