Trump ally announces campaign
ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed a conservative Georgia congressman in his bid to unseat the Republican secretary of state who refused to help overturn the November election results.
Rep. Jody Hice, a Tea Party favorite and Trump acolyte, is the first major challenger to Brad Raffensperger since the secretary of state certified President Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia and disputed Trump’s false allegations of fraud.
Trump’s endorsement marks his most direct attempt at retribution against those he blames for his loss and reaffirms his continued influence over the Republican Party.
“Jody has been a steadfast fighter for conservative Georgia values and is a staunch ally of the America First agenda,” Trump said in a statement that repeated the unsupported allegations of fraud.
In a statement, Raffensperger criticized Hice for supporting Trump’s false fraud claims.
Hice didn’t mention Trump in his announcement but has said previously that he expected the former president’s support. Trump has said separately that he also wants to help defeat Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, another Republican, in 2022.
“Every Georgian, in fact every American, has the right to be outraged by the actions and, simultaneously, the inaction of our Secretary of State,” Hice said in a statement Monday.
Both Kemp and Raffensperger have said they were simply following the state’s election law and fulfilling their required duties.
The developments Monday drew immediate plaudits from the right.
“The establishment still doesn’t get how popular Trump is with the base, but they will,” said Debbie Dooley, an early Tea Party organizer and Trump ally who is close to Hice. “Jody can excite the base and raise money.”
Hice was part of a group of Republican officials who relentlessly pushed Trump’s false claims of voter fraud. He endorsed a lawsuit filed by Texas against Georgia and other battleground states seeking to overturn Biden’s victory in the U.S. Supreme Court — a suit the high court rejected — and he objected to the certification of Electoral College votes even after a proTrump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.