Trump's bid to reshape GOP faces biggest hurdles in Georgia
ATLANTA >> Donald Trump hoped to avoid a stinging defeat in the Georgia governor's race on Tuesday as Republican primary voters decided the fate of the former president's hand-picked candidate to lead one of the most competitive political battlegrounds in the U.S.
In all, five states were voting, including Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota. But none had been more consumed than Georgia by Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
After incumbent GOP Gov. Brian Kemp refused to accept Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia, the former president sought retribution by personally recruiting former Republican Sen. David Perdue to mount a primary challenge. But Kemp emerged as a powerful fundraiser who tapped into the benefits of incumbency. In the final days of the campaign, he unveiled plans for a $5.5 billion, 8,100job Hyundai Motor plant near Savannah.
Perdue's allies were bracing for a lopsided defeat, the only question being whether Kemp would win the 50% majority he needed to avoid a runoff election next month.
“We're not going to have a runoff,” said Matha Zoller, a longtime Republican activist and northeast Georgia talk show host with ties to both Trump and Perdue. “It's going to be embarrassing.”
The results could raise questions about where power resides within the GOP. While Trump remains deeply popular among the party's most loyal voters, the opening stage of the midterm primary season has shown they don't always side with his picks. Other prominent Republicans, meanwhile, are growing increasingly assertive.
Trump's own vice president, Mike Pence, rallied with Kemp in the Atlanta suburbs on Monday evening.
“Elections are about the future,” he told the crowd, adding that “when you vote for Brian Kemp tomorrow, you will say yes to a future of freedom here in Georgia. You will say yes to our most cherished values at the heart of everything we hold dear.”
Trump, meanwhile, held a telephone rally for Perdue, describing him as “100% MAGA.”
As 19-year-old Brody Nelson voted Tuesday in the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock, he said Trump's influence in the governor's race was a “big deal” in his decision to back Perdue.
“When Trump was in office, he did a lot for this country, and he did a great deal to help small businesses and the people who were struggling in the world compared to the rich and the powerful,” he said.
But Nathan Johnston, a 42-year-old land surveyor, said he was voting for Kemp because of his leadership during “a tough four years.”
“Our economy has been doing good in Georgia,” he said. “We didn't stay shut down any longer than we had to and worked our way through the pandemic, and the economy is doing pretty good, so I think that reflects well on him.”
Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats elsewhere were grappling with ideological and strategic divisions that will determine what kind of candidates to nominate and which issues to prioritize for the November general election.
Democrats were especially focused on a runoff election in south Texas, where longtime incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar was facing a fierce challenge from progressive Jessica Cisneros in a race where abortion was a prominent issue. Cuellar is the last anti-abortion Democrat serving in the House.
Republicans were deciding a series of lower-profile primaries.
In Arkansas, former Trump aide Sarah Huckabee Sanders was expected to claim the Republican governor's nomination. And in Alabama, conservative firebrand Rep. Mo Brooks was running to represent the GOP in the race to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby. Brooks, a leading figure at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the Capitol attack, initially won Trump's endorsement, although Trump rescinded it after watching Brooks struggle in the polls.
No state had more consequential elections this week than Georgia, a longtime Republican stronghold that has shifted Democratic in recent elections. Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by less than 12,000 votes in 2020, and Democrats narrowly won both Senate seats two months later.