Gov. Brian Kemp’s primary watch party opened just as the polls closed, and confident supporters who streamed through the doors of the College Football Hall of Fame predicted a big victory over former U.S. Sen. David Perdue.
But the buzz among some operatives and donors was about another Republican race where the outcome was in doubt.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was written off by many a year ago, a pariah among many Republicans after he famously refused Donald Trump’s demand to “find” enough votes to overturn his election defeat.
Now polls give him a strong chance of landing a June runoff against U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, the Trump-backed Republican who has relentlessly promoted the former president’s election fraud lies. Early returns suggest a tight race.
And operatives say Raffensperger has an outside shot of winning the race, potentially thanks to help from tens of thousands of Democrats who crossed over. Anecdotal interviews indicate some voted to punish Trump-backed candidates.
Can it happen? Some veteran politicos are skeptical. Others are privately predicting it.
Stay tuned.
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