Donald Trump lost big in Georgia on Tuesday as primary voters rejected three Republican candidates endorsed by Trump in favor of Republicans who refused to perpetuate the former president’s “Big Lie” about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary-General Brad Raffensperger and Attorney-General Chris Carr won their primary elections decisivelyWith about 74 percent to 52 percent and 74% of the vote respectively, All three candidates are rank-and-file Republicans — with the major distinguishing feature that none of them acquiesced to Trump’s demands to overturn President Joe Biden’s Georgia winNovember 2020
The three politicians had drawn particular ire from Trump, who blamed them for his loss — though Georgia’s 16 electoral votes still wouldn’t have been enoughTrump to give him the election. Trump, however, sought to exert his influence over the state and, as members of his party, did. Eliminating politicians who wouldn’t stand by him as he attempted to overthrow the government over his 2020 election loss.
Georgia Republican voters’ decision to send the incumbent politicians to the general election is a sign that Trump’s influence may be waning among his base. His endorsers have been triumphingIn some elections, Georgia’s losses are A major blow to his grip on his followers — or at least a blow to his strategy of directing all of the party’s attentiontowards the 2020 election.
Raffensperger’s win over Rep. Jody Hice (R-Texas) was a particularly surprising result. Raffensperger was the one who received it. Trump’s infamous callDemand that Georgian election officials be fired find him more votesto win the election. The secretary of state rejected Trump’s demands, and an internal GOP pollHe found that he would lose easily as a result. Hice, however, was hand-pickedRaffensperger was expelled by the former president.
“The people of Georgia must replace the [Republicans In Name Only] and weak Republicans who made it all possible,” Trump saidRaffensperger was a topic that was discussed at a Georgia rally last January. “In particular, your incompetent and strange — eh, there’s something wrong with this guy — your Secretary of State Raffensperger.”
Congressional Republicans’ and other GOP members’ continued obsession with so-called RINOs over the past year makes Trump’s loss even more of a blow; experts say that the loss shows that messaging about the 2020 election just isn’t energizing Republican voters anymore, and that attacks from Trump aren’t enough to sink a candidate.
Raffensperger is far, far from being a sham. A friend can vote. He has made moves that would have prevented voting rights from the past. including formingA group to root out and criminalizeAbsentee ballot-related voter fraud allying withTrue the Vote, a conservative voter suppression group, is being represented. Kemp, who signed Georgia Republicans’ sweepingAfter the election, voter suppression bill, and Carr, who supported the law, aren’t civil rights heroes either.
Wins for Carr, who faced Trump’s pick John Gordon, and Kemp, who beat Trump-recruited David Perdue, are less surprising to election experts, but still a show of voters’ priorities. Even though they We made it easiertheir party to openly biases or overturns future election results. both politicians had rejected Trump’s coup attempts.
“[E]verybody and their dog down in Georgia knows exactly what this means: total, abject humiliation for the former president,” wrote Truthout’s William Rivers Pitt on Monday, before the primary. “If it happens like it seems it will, this one will leave a big, broad mark.”
Stacey Abrams, on the Democratic side is busy won her uncontested primaryelection for governor. Abrams is a long-standing supporter of voting rights and stands in sharp contrast with the Republican candidates. However she lost to KempHer 2018 gubernatorial campaign launched her to Democratic fame. Recognition of national names — and, perhaps, a better chance at breaking Republicans’ nearly decade-long grip on the governor’s office.
