Trump’s influence falters in Georgia as Kemp, Raffensperger won GOP primaries

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Tuesday’s Republican primaries in Georgia were a big disappointment for former President Donald Trump.
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger crushed their challengers who were backed by Trump.
• Kemp and Raffensperger have drawn Trump’s ire after they would not go along with the former president’s claim that the 2020 election was somehow stolen.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger won in Tuesday’s GOP primaries against challengers endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Trump had waged a revenge campaign against the two Republicans for refusing to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

According to Edison Research, Kemp won by a huge margin — 73% to 22% — against former U.S. Senator David Perdue, who was endorsed by Trump. The state’s voters supported Kemp’s conservative policy record, including voting restrictions enacted last year.

However, the results do not change the fact that Republicans are expected to take back control of at least one chamber of Congress in the midterms. This would give the GOP the power to block President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

Raffensperger defeated Trump-backed U.S. Representative Jody Hice — a victory that had not been seen coming. Experts had forecast neither would secure a majority, which would lead to a run-off. Edison Research projected that Raffensperger had won by 52% to 34% after 96% of the votes were counted.

According to conservative commentator Erick Erickson, Raffensperger’s victory was “the big tip-off” that Georgia Republicans wanted to stop disputing the 2020 results.

“Georgia Republicans do like Trump, but they’re tired of his bullshit and want to move on,” Erickson wrote on Twitter.

But Georgia was not a total loss for Trump as his U.S. Senate endorsement, former American football running back Herschel Walker, handily won the Republican nomination.

Kemp will run against Stacey Abrams, a progressive who is unopposed in her Democratic primary. In his victory speech, Kemp vowed to defeat Adams again and accused her of seeing the governorship as a “stepping stone” to the White House.

“Our battle is far from over,” Kemp said. “Tonight, the fight for the soul of our state begins to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor or the next president.”

In the November elections, Republicans are favored to win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, analysts say Democrats have a better chance of remaining in control of the Senate.

Source: Reuters