David Perdue’s insurgent challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp depends entirely on the pull of Donald Trump’s support in the closing days of the race. But the former president’s sway is no longer the sure thing it once was in GOP politics.
The AJC poll published earlier this morning shows Kemp with an enormous 53-27 lead over Perdue. But what is just as troubling for his campaign is the results of another question on Trump’s clout.
A majority of likely GOP voters say either that Trump’s endorsement makes no difference to them (36%) or that they’re less likely to support someone he’s backed (15%). Less than a third of respondents say they are “much more likely” to vote for someone he’s endorsed.
This survey comes a few weeks after we posted a recent UGA study that suggested Trump’s endorsement had little influence on the race for governor and the U.S. Senate, but could be more important in down-ticket races.
Ben Williams, a fire chief in the west Georgia town of Manchester, is one of those die-hard Trump backers with an independent streak. He told us he’s backing Kemp even though it means breaking with the former president.
“I’m pro-Trump, but I’m not letting his influence affect me on a state race,” he said.
***
Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones’ latest financial disclosure showed he outraised his competition in the 10th Congressional District in the first quarter, after getting into that race with Donald Trump’s endorsement.
But Jones’ choice of consultants also caught our attention, since neither seems to have much experience in 10th District Republican politics-- and both have run afoul of the law.
Jones listed the Kerik Group as a consultant and paid the firm of former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik $5,000.
Kerik is a close Trump ally who pled guilty in 2009 to eight felony charges of fraud and false statements. Kerik served three years in prison, but received a presidential pardon from Trump in 2020.
Kerik frequently tweets about Jones, but when we reached out to him to see what else he’s doing in the race, he said he would not contribute to a “smear campaign.”
Jones also paid $10,230 in consulting fees to the 8745 Group, a limited liability company that’s listed as “dissolved” by the Secretary of State’s office.
The consultant behind the 8745 Group is former state Rep. Frank Redding, a former Democratic lawmaker from DeKalb County.
Redding resigned from the state Legislature in 1992 after more than 10 years in the General Assembly, as a federal extortion investigation swirled around him.
He later pled guilty and served three years probation for taking $2,000 in exchange for his vote on a bill that would have put Georgia strip clubs out of business.
Reached by phone, Redding called Jones a good friend and complained that the AJC has not treated Jones fairly. He said the payments from the Jones campaign are for “strategic advice and counsel.”
***
On the day after Gov. Brian Kemp and former Sen. David Perdue mixed it up in a fiery debate, Perdue held a press conference at the scene of an early morning police investigation in Buckhead.
Perdue accused Kemp of saying Sunday night that he’d “keep his powder dry” on crime around the state. (Kemp was actually talking about the snail-slow Buckhead cityhood legislative process at the General Assembly this year.)
“He’s been asleep at the wheel, keeping his powder dry for the last four years. It’s time to do something about it,” Perdue said, hammering the “keep his powder dry” line seven more times at the presser and calling Kemp “a weak leader.”
But asked if he’d campaign for Kemp in the event the former senator loses the primary, Perdue said, “Absolutely.”
“I’m gonna make damn sure… Stacey Abrams is not the next Governor.”
***
Gov. Brian Kemp, in the meantime, spent his morning signing a new anti-gang law, surrounded by dozens of law enforcement officers.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the city of Buckhead,” Kemp said. “But I wasn’t going to wait around two years for a process to play out for something to be done about crime.”
He talked up his role in deploying Georgia National Guard troops outside of state-owned buildings during the summer of social justice protests and of launching a new anti-crime task force.
“What I did was take action well over a year ago by creating a crime suppression unit … I was doing something long before someone else.”
***
Most Georgia Republicans are steering clear of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene or openly supporting her reelection bid. But one of her top GOP rivals is getting some key outside help.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is hosting a May 3 Capitol fundraiser for Jennifer Strahan, one of several Republicans challenging Greene in the deeply conservative 14th District. While Greene is favored to win, and has far out-raised her challengers in the May 24 primary, Strahan is angling to force Greene into an unpredictable runoff.
***
POSTED: James Salzer has a new piece up this morning with the news that Gov. Brian Kemp has appointed a longtime campaign donor to Georgia’s ethics commission. More:
Such an announcement in itself may not be surprising: governors have always appointed donors to boards.
But the appointment Kemp made late last week comes as the commission is continuing its investigation into Democrat Stacey Abrams' 2018 gubernatorial campaign and groups it says may have illegally coordinated with the candidate's bid for office.
***
Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black is placing a bet that a new TV advertisement dinging GOP frontrunner Herschel Walker over his immigration stance will help him rise in the polls.
Black’s campaign put at least $37,000 behind the ad, according to media buyers, which evokes Walker’s past remarks that he supported a pathway to citizenship for millions in the country illegally.
An uphill battle is an understatement. Black trails Walker 66-7 in the AJC poll that published earlier this morning.
What’s just as bad for his cash-strapped campaign: An overwhelming majority of likely GOP voters know too little about him to form an opinion.
***
Former SEAL Team 6 member Latham Saddler has raised nearly $3.8 million for his race against Herschel Walker and the others in the GOP primary field, but he’s trailing both Walker and Black in our latest AJC poll, due mostly to his low name ID.
We caught up with him at a Women for Saddler event in Buckhead Monday that brought out more than 100. He told the crowd about his background and policies and hammered Walker for skipping GOP debates in his “basement strategy.
“What does he think the United States Senate does? It’s the deliberative body of Congress. That’s your job, to debate policies,” Saddler said in an interview later of Walker’s refusal to debate ahead of the Republican primary. “I thought he was a competitor.”
Saddler is also hoping to raise his statewide profile with his second ad up this morning, titled “Serious times.”
***
The ad wars are heating up in Georgia, as Secretary of State Democratic candidate, state Rep. Bee Nguyen goes up with her first statewide ad this morning.
***
Monday also brought a trove of new records that drew further attention to the role Georgia lawmakers played in trying to help then-President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election.
CNN published thousands of text messages sent to and from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows between the November election and President Joe Biden’s inauguration two months later. That includes messages sent on Jan. 6, 2021, as lawmakers tried to get Trump to quell the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Barry Loudermilk pleaded with Meadows to get Trump to encourage his supporters to go home. U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde sent a text days later expressing his support for Trump in the aftermath.
Some of the messages have already provided new fuel for the group hoping to keep Greene off the Georgia ballot by alleging she facilitated or encouraged the Jan. 6 riot.
She said during testimony on Friday that she could not remember if she encouraged Trump to invoke martial law in hopes of reversing Biden’s presidential victory. The texts show she raised it to Meadows.
“In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall (sic) law,” she wrote on Jan. 17, 2021. “I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know.”
Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech For People, the group seeking to prevent Greene from running again, said he will amend the complaint in light of her newly released texts.
***
In Washington today: The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Georgia’s Sen. Jon Ossoff will hold a hearing this morning on a contractor that was fined $65 million last year for failure to maintain military housing.
The AJC’s Christopher Quinn and Jeremy Redmon report that poor maintenance by Balfour Beatty Communities left military families, including those at Georgia’s Fort Gordon, in substandard housing with health problems attributed to mold and pests.
Balfour Beatty pleaded guilty to fraud last December in federal court for lying about repairs while pocketing millions of dollars in performance bonuses. The subcommittee has looked into additional complaints.
It’s the subcommittee’s first hearing since Ossoff took over as chair in 2021. Capt. Samuel Choe, a former resident of military housing at Ft. Gordon managed by Balfour, is among the scheduled witnesses. Balfour residents have also agreed to testify under oath.
***
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer has lined up a procedural vote, likely later today, to move Georgia native Lisa Cook closer toward confirmation to the Federal Reserve Board.
“Coming from humble beginnings in rural Georgia—where her family fought racial segregation—Ms. Cook would make history as the first Black Woman ever to sit on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,” Schumer said Monday.
“In short, Ms. Cook absolutely belongs on the Fed and I look forward to the Senate confirming her soon.”
***
As always, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
Sign Up to receive the Morning Jolt & AJC Politics newsletters in your inbox.
