Two days after the Republican runoffs in 2018, Brian Kemp and Casey Cagle pledged to put aside their bitter rivalry at a “unity rally” in a metro Atlanta hotel. But with another round of runoffs Tuesday poised to set the GOP ballot, there’s no kumbaya moment on the schedule.
It’s a reflection of how vastly state Republican politics have changed over the last four years, as Donald Trump-driven dynamics have caused new fissures in the state GOP. It’s also an indication of the declining role of the state GOP – and the rising power of Kemp.
Kemp walloped David Perdue by a bigger margin in the May primary than he defeated Cagle in the June 2018 runoff, winning a broad mandate from conservatives. So did other GOP incumbents who defeated Trump-backed challengers.
Those huge victories mean that while Kemp and his allies plan to step up their appeals to far-right voters who voted against them, their bigger concern might be appealing to the broader electorate that will cast ballots in November.
And even though Perdue has pledged to help Kemp defeat Stacey Abrams, many of the governor’s allies hope he keeps his distance lest voters be reminded of the anti-Kemp, far-right stances he took – and racist remarks he made – in the closing weeks of the race.
It also underscores a lack of faith in the state GOP, whose chair David Shafer has alienated Kemp and other Republican incumbents because he cast his lot with Trump-endorsed challengers.
Discussions are ongoing about using the Kemp leadership committee, which can raise unlimited funds and coordinate with campaigns, to circumvent the state party. To his critics, Shafer hasn’t helped his cause by engaging in running Twitter spats with Anthony Kreis, a left-leaning law school professor at Georgia State University.
“The Chairman of the GAGOP used his time on the job to find primary challengers to the existing incumbent Republicans,” wrote Erick Erickson, the conservative commentator, on social media. “Maybe he doesn’t need to whine about what others do on the job.”
Meanwhile, it’s Democrats who may need more fence-mending later this week. While Republicans avoided statewide runoffs, four Democratic overtime matchups are on Tuesday’s ballot – and Abrams is placing a major bet by taking sides in three of them. Read more here.
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RUNOFF COUNTDOWN. Tuesday marks runoff Election Day for the top two finishers in a slew of May 24th primary elections.
Among the top-tier races down to the wire:
- Democratic candidates Charlie Bailey and Kwanza Hall face off for the nomination for lieutenant governor;
- Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen and former state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler are in the running for Secretary of State;
- GOP runoffs will decide the nomination in the 6th Congressional District between Rich McCormick and Jake Evans; in the10th between Mike Collins and Vernon Jones; and in the 2nd Congressional District between Chris West and Jeremy Hunt.
- In Augusta, the nonpartisan mayor’s race has come down to Steven Kendrick and Garnett Johnson, the Augusta Chronicle reports.
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TRUMP’S ‘PERFECT’ CALL. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and chief deputy Gabriel Sterling are among the witnesses scheduled to appear Tuesday before the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, the AJC’s David Wickert reports.
Raffensperger and Sterling are set to testify about the pressure they faced from President Donald Trump and his allies to investigate election fraud lies in the 2020 general election.
They are likely to recount the now infamous phone call where Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory, along with efforts from others to intimidate election workers.
Trump is trying to shape the narrative ahead of Tuesday’s hearing. He posted on his Truth Social social media site that his January 2021 call to Raffensperger was far from problematic.
“My phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State, with many other people, including numerous lawyers, knowingly on the line, was absolutely PERFECT and appropriate,” the former president wrote.
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LISTEN UP. The ninth season of the AJC’s popular “Breakdown” podcast premieres today with a focus on the Fulton County investigation into former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election.
The podcast is hosted by legal affairs reporter Bill Rankin and Tamar Hallerman, the former Washington insider who is now covering every twist and turn of the special purpose grand jury investigation.
The first episode digs into that Jan. 2, 2021, phone call where Trump asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the nearly 12,000 votes he needed to win the election.
You can download Breakdown from podcasting platforms such as iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher.
And look for a special crossover edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, with Bill and Tamar telling us how it all came together.
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GOT LOUDERMILK. Georgia’s U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk had more to say about the controversy surrounding the tour he gave at the Capitol complex on the day before Jan. 6 riot and how the House committee investigating the insurrection has framed it.
Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Nashville, Loudermilk said the committee was trying to destroy his reputation, the AJC’s Shannon McCaffrey reported.
“If you’ve paid any attention to the news, you will undoubtedly have seen me and my family on the news because we are now under a ruthless and false attack by the Jan. 6 committee,” Loudermilk, R-Cassville, said.
“They have decided they want to push a narrative that somehow I gave a reconnaissance tour of the Capitol the day before the attacks of Jan. 6.”
The committee has asked Loudermilk to voluntarily appear for an interview about the tour, but he has not responded. Video footage of the tours seems to show a member of the tour photographing Capitol Police security equipment and the hallways used to access the Capitol building. The Capitol Police have said the congressman did nothing suspicious.
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FATHER’S DAY. Also on hand at the Faith & Freedom conference on Father’s Day weekend was Herschel Walker, who sat down with Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed for a Q&A on stage. That’s same setup as their conversation earlier this year at the Georgia Freight Depot.
Walker addressed the news from last week that he has three children he’s never discussed publicly, along with his 22-year-old son, Christian. From the AJC’s Shannon McCaffery:
Walker said he was prepared for whatever comes his way in the race against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock, which could determine control of the Senate.
“I knew what I signed up for when I got into this and they don't realize that," he said.
He then invoked a biblical verse: “I need to let them know that no weapon formed against me shall ever prosper."
Politico spoke with conference goers at the conservative confab, where Walker got a standing ovation.
Paulina Macfoy, an Atlanta resident attending the conference, said “Jesus Christ will answer" the question of how Walker's parenting decisions square with his faith and his repeated criticism of absent fathers.
Macfoy maintained that she believes Walker is a “good candidate" because he “stands for family," and said it was a “waste of time" to report on his personal life."
“He who is without sin, cast the first stone," she said.
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DNC PITCH. A delegation from Atlanta made the city’s formal pitch to host the 2024 Democratic convention on Friday in Washington, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
U.S. Rep. and Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Nikema Williams led the in-person delegation, while Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and former Mayor Shirley Franklin appeared by Zoom along with other city officials.
Their message to the DNC: Atlanta has everything the other cities can offer -- the hotels, accessible transportation, historic sites and recreation -- plus it’s in a battleground state that holds the keys to Democrats’ future success.
Atlanta is one of at least four cities under consideration, along with Chicago, Houston and New York.
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LOW BLOW. The 2nd Congressional District race continued its trend toward the down & dirty over the weekend as unsourced robocalls went out to GOP voters, apparently to drive votes away from Jeremy Hunt.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer’s Nick Wooten spoke with one Hunt voter who reported receiving up to 30 similar robocalls. More:
One call attempted to make Hunt appear as if he were not supportive of former President Donald Trump. Another call makes it seem as if Hunt is attacking Chris West for using his Christian views to get votes. A voter told the Ledger-Enquirer that he's received 30 robocalls ahead of the runoff.
"It's time to bring the Republican Party out of the past and into the future with Jeremy Hunt," one of the calls says. “Although some of former President Trump's policies did well, his divisive language was just too much for our country. We have an opportunity with Jeremy Hunt to be smart and modernize our party for the better. No more conspiracy theories. No more racism. Lock arms and join us for victory June 21."
A spokesman for Chris West, Hunt’s GOP rival Tuesday, said he had nothing to do with the calls.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
For the first time in history, Juneteenth is a federal holiday. The House and Senate are out and President Joe Biden is at home in Delaware.
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JUNETEENTH. It’s also Georgia’s first time to recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday for state employees. Gov. Brian Kemp issued a proclamation Sunday declaring June 19th as Juneteenth in the State of Georgia.
Top Democratic candidates fanned out over the weekend to commemorate the holiday with parades, solemn memorials and visits to churches.
U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock marched in a Juneteenth procession in East Point, where they were joined by U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams and other party leaders.
Stacey Abrams celebrated Juneteenth at a College Park event, where she visited Black-owned small businesses and spoke with owners.
On Monday, the Republican National Committee will hosting a Juneteenth celebration and cookout at the party’s Black American Community Center in College Park, featuring Senate candidate Herschel Walker.
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CONGRATULATIONS! Are in order to Donna Lowry and the team at GPB’s Lawmakers, which won a Southeast Regional Emmy Award over the weekend for its coverage of the 2021 session of the Georgia General Assembly.
Lawmakers is expanding its footprint next month, with its new series, “Beyond the Dome.” The show will look at what happens when lawmakers finish their work at the General Assembly and the laws they’ve passed go into effect.
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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.
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