Perdue invokes Trump election lies in Georgia GOP primary
RINGGOLD, Ga. (AP) — As he met with voters recently in a part of northwest Georgia where Donald Trump is still very popular, David Perdue invoked his belief in the lie that elections in 2020 and 2021 were stolen from the former president and himself.
"First of all, it was stolen," Perdue said. "The facts are coming out."
When the rally was over, Perdue visited the storefront office of a group that similarly espouses election falsehoods. Perdue posted a photo on his Facebook page of himself beaming as the group's cofounder talks under a banner proclaiming "a legal vote requires the rule of law."
The emphasis on false election claims is a reminder of how far Perdue has veered to the right ahead of next month's primary against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. He's evolved from a business-minded conservative who won a U.S. Senate seat in 2014 by focusing on federal spending to a hard-liner who associates with conspiracy theorists.
That tracks with the broader shifts in the Republican Party under Trump. But some in the GOP warn that the fixation on past elections will do little to win a general election in Georgia, where moderate voters are crucial.
"I think David Perdue had a broad appeal in 2014," said Eric Tanenblatt, former chief of staff to ex-Georgia Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and a former fundraiser for David Perdue who is backing Kemp in the primary. "I think he was a lot more relatable because he was talking about issues that were a lot more appealing to the broader electorate."
Perdue, who was personally courted by Trump to enter the race as retribution for Kemp not going along with election lies, has trailed in the governor's race. But as the May 24 primary nears, the former chief executive of Reebok and Dollar General insists he hasn't changed.
"Even in the Senate, I was an outsider," Perdue said in Ringgold. "I was never part of the good ol' boys club up there, trust me."
Still, Perdue's sharpest focus is on claims that Georgia's 2020 presidential election and 2021 Senate runoffs, in which Perdue lost to Democrat Jon Ossoff, were fraudulently won by Democrats. No credible evidence has emerged to support Perdue and Trump's claims of mass voter fraud. Federal and state election officials and Trump's own attorney general have said the election was fair, and the former president's allegations were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.
During the speech, he touted his lawsuit that seeks to unseal physical ballots for examination in Atlanta's Fulton County, making allegations without evidence that poll workers took bribes and people were paid to gather and deliver ballots illegally.
"Who paid you to deliver those harvested ballots?" Perdue asked, suggesting that was a question his lawsuit would settle.
Perdue in 2014 was channeling some of the same business man outsider themes that Trump harnessed so powerfully two years later. But he was more subtle then, introducing himself to voters as a "different type of person" who cared most about reforming federal spending.
Perdue wasn't generally seen as the most conservative choice in 2014. After winning the primary, he defeated Democratic candidate Michelle Nunn, whom he said he still considered a friend years later, a nod to a bipartisanship out of vogue among hardcore partisans.
While Perdue was considered a strong conservative in the Senate, there were times he could reach across the aisle. He sought to curb school shootings by promoting better practices for campus safety and security. Perdue offended some conservatives by voting for $900 billion in additional Covid-19 relief in December 2020, while locked in a runoff with Ossoff.
Perdue was never afraid to play to the far right. In 2016 he asked an evangelical Christian audience to pray for President Barack Obama, citing a psalm that calls for vengeance on the enemies of God: "Let his days be few, and let another have his office." Perdue denied wishing actual harm on the president.