Republicans talk about unity in Georgia but censure Kemp, others

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Kelly Loeffler had a warning.

The former U.S. senator from Georgia, defeated in a January runoff amid Republican infighting, told her hometown GOP committee Saturday that only a unified party can avoid a repeat in the 2022 midterms.

“What I saw in my campaign is that we need to do better. We just need to get to work doing it,” Loeffler told Fulton County Republicans at their annual convention.

Yet Republicans can’t seem to get past 2020.

In the hours after Loeffler’s plea, at least a half-dozen local party committees voted to condemn their fellow Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, for not helping overturn President Donald Trump’s November defeat. Two counties already had done so.

Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer, himself seeking another term, eagerly noted in his rounds to local conventions that he’s sued “a Republican secretary of state.” And in Fulton County, the state’s most populous, a flood of new delegates ousted several incumbent officers despite their pledged fealty to Trump.

The tension reflects the former president’s ever-tightening grip on the Republican Party and suggests that even unabashed conservatives like Kemp are at the mercy of continued finger-pointing and competition to be the loudest echoes for Trump’s false assertion of a rigged 2020 election.

Kemp and Raffensperger were both the targets of Trump’s ire after they certified Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow win in Georgia. Some counties added demands that Raffensperger resign.

A Kemp aide focused on how few counties out of 159 have formally condemned the governor, saying he’s “grateful” for grassroots support and looks forward to a primary campaign where he can tout his “successful record.” A Raffensperger aide did not respond to a request for comment.

Indeed, the pair staved off some condemnations. Gwinnett County, part of the metro Atlanta core, voted down the measures. A handful of other counties, including Fulton, censured Raffensperger but had no floor vote at all on Kemp. Other counties avoided votes altogether when they adjourned because too few delegates remained to conduct business after long days.

The trend nonetheless shows Kemp has work to do to shore up his right flank ahead of 2022.

“I’m disappointed in Kemp, and I’d absolutely consider someone else,” said Ruth Anne Tatum, a retired Alpharetta schoolteacher who was among the scores of first-time delegates to attend the Fulton County convention.