Rally marks debut of GOP primary ‘Trump ticket’

The rewards of an early Donald Trump endorsement will be on display Saturday in Georgia when a three-man ticket of candidates he’s backing in 2022 Republican primaries will be featured at one of his signature rallies. But GOP opponents of Trumpbacked candidates aren’t folding in Georgia and some say the former president’s nod could hurt Republicans in a general election in the closely divided state.

Trump’s endorsement blitz is a frank attempt to keep remaking the party in his image, with Republicans eagerly courting his favor. But like everything else about the former president, it’s a rule-rewriting approach, said Casey Dominguez, a political science professor at the University of San Diego.

“We haven’t seen presidents in recent years try to drive a wedge within their own party, which is what happens in a primary election,” Dominguez said. “He’s playing factional politics in the party.”

Trump will be joined at the rally in Perry, about 100 miles south of Atlanta by three candidates he has endorsed, including Herschel Walker, who recently launched a Senate campaign. Trump urged the former football great to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.