Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon says he doesn’t expect abortion to play a significant part in this year’s race to the White House.
McKoon told the hosts of “Politically Georgia” on Tuesday that he thinks immigration and the economy will remain the top issues in this year’s presidential campaign.
”The Roe v. Wade decision has put abortion in the hands of governors and state legislatures. I do not see it playing significantly in this race. I don’t see it being seen as a federal issue,” the former state legislator said.
The chairman also spoke about the state party’s annual convention, which starts this weekend in Columbus.
He expects the tone of the convention to be about moving forward from 2020 and looking ahead to November’s election.
“I think it’s about the forward-looking action that we have taken as Georgia Republicans over the last three years,” McKoon said.
However, factions remain in the party as leaders continue to solidify support behind former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee.
Most notably, prominent Republicans such as Gov. Brian Kemp will likely not attend the convention.
Still, McKoon says the convention will be well attended. “I’m delighted that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson, Insurance Commissioner John King (will attend),” the party chairman said. “I believe this is going to be one of the best-attended conventions.”
“We are united behind President Donald Trump, whether you talk to Gov. Kemp about that or Brian Pritchard about that,” McKoon said.
Party leaders voted Friday to strip Pritchard of his leadership post as first vice chair after a judge ruled he voted illegally nine times while serving probation for a felony check forgery conviction.
“No one was excited to take the action we did last Friday,” McKoon said. “But I don’t think I would expect you or anyone else to take me seriously when I talk about election integrity and the importance of fairness in Georgia elections if we weren’t to take action.”
“We’ve taken care of the business in our house now,” the former state senator said. “We can move forward and press forward to the general election.”
McKoon also commented on a new New York Times/Sienna poll showing Trump leading President Joe Biden by double digits in Georgia.
“Yes, I think Donald Trump has a lead. I’m cautiously optimistic, but we are not taking our foot off the gas,” McKoon said.
“I mean, you look at the 2022 election, it’s obvious Georgia remains a center-right state,” McKoon said. “We’ve just got to go out and make sure we don’t leave anything on the table.”
Wednesday on “Politically Georgia”: Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander will join the show.
