The biggest event on the Georgia political calendar before Election Day is the much anticipated debate in Savannah between U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican hopeful Herschel Walker on Oct. 14. Could Donald Trump follow up the next day with a campaign visit?
Several GOP officials say there are ongoing discussions about the former president holding a rally in Georgia on Oct. 15. It would be his first event in the state since a late March rally in Commerce and take place days before the start of early voting.
The officials stress that the talks are fluid and still in the early stages, but that Trump has been eager to return to Georgia. One Republican with direct knowledge of the discussions said it would potentially be held “off the beaten path” — at a stop far outside metro Atlanta.
Though a Trump visit would help energize his fervent base of supporters, it would also bring plenty of headaches for Georgia Republicans who have tried to steer clear of his polarizing brand of politics.
It would also put a spotlight on Trump’s recent high-profile losses in Georgia and controversies here.
The former president recruited a host of 2022 GOP challengers to take on Gov. Brian Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Insurance Commissioner John King. All four Trump-backed candidates were destroyed in the May primary, while his picks for open House seats lost in runoffs.
Trump, of course, had better luck with other candidates. He called for Walker to run for Senate and endorsed him even before he entered the race. Trump also backed state Sen. Burt Jones for lieutenant governor, along with several safe House incumbents.
At Trump’s last Georgia visit in March, he drew a smaller and less enthusiastic crowd than previous stops in the state, and it was designed primarily to damage Kemp and his allies.
Since then, an uneasy truce inside the party has prevailed, with Trump largely refraining from peppering the GOP incumbents with insults. They, in turn, have avoided antagonizing him for fear of ostracizing his base.
Now some Republicans have real concerns about a replay of the 2021 runoffs, when Trump’s visits galvanized Democrats and deepened divides within the GOP. The result was a Democratic sweep.
“Bringing Trump back to Georgia three weeks before Election Day is the quickest road to going 0-for-3 in winnable Senate races over the last two years,” said one senior GOP official.
***
Credit: Bob Andres for the AJC
Credit: Bob Andres for the AJC
TRUCE? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released today shows why Gov. Brian Kemp and other GOP incumbents aren’t enthusiastic about reviving Trump-driven tensions.
Republicans today are in a strong position. As we’ve written before, the poll shows that the Republican “civil war” could be effectively over in 2022, with Kemp and other Republican leaders on the winning side.
The governor has maintained his hold on the party’s base with roughly 92% of Republican support. That’s significantly more GOP backing than Senate nominee Herschel Walker, who has drawn about 84% from his fellow Republicans.
***
Credit: Arvin Temkar / AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar / AJC
BIDEN HARRIS. Even as Republicans fret about a return visit by Donald Trump, Stacey Abrams again made clear that she would campaign with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia.
“There is no reticence on my part,” Abrams said at an event late Monday hosted by the nonprofit news organization The 19th at Buckhead Theater.
“I know people will try to spin up stories where they don’t exist. I welcome President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to come to Georgia because that’s one of the ways we show Georgia what the Democrats have delivered for our state.”
The Democrat was also asked how “persuasion voters” differ from swing voters, our AJC colleague Kelly Yamanouchi reports.
“I focus attention more strongly on those voters who have already been persuaded about what they believe, but they have not been persuaded that their behavior in elections will actually change the outcome,” Abrams said.
“We are persuading this group of voters that if you show up, things really will change,” Abrams said.
***
GEORGIA ON HIS MIND. Even as former President Donald Trump is contemplating a visit to the Peach State ahead of the next election, he is insisting he did nothing wrong when he tried to overturn the last election in Georgia.
Late Monday afternoon, Trump released a statement through his “Save America PAC” deriding the city of Atlanta, along with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Willis is leading a special grand jury probe into possible election interference by Trump and his associates, including his infamous call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the roughly 11,000 votes Trump would have needed to win Georgia’s electoral votes in 2020.
In his statement, Trump referred to himself as “a very popular president, Donald J. Trump,” called the grand jury probe a “witch hunt,” and insisted his hour-long back-and-forth with Raffensperger was “an absolutely PERFECT phone call,” with nobody on the recorded conversation raising any objections to what he said.
In fact, Raffensperger refuted many of Trump’s false claims as he made them and said at one point, “Well Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”
***
Credit: Jason Getz / AJC
Credit: Jason Getz / AJC
WASHINGTON ON WARNOCK. A new Politico piece details Washington Republicans’ efforts to find the most effective way to demonize U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is still the senior pastor at Atlanta’s famed Ebenezer Baptist Church, as he approaches Election Day against GOP nominee Herschel Walker.
The item describes the contest between Warnock and Walker as “perhaps its best pick-up opportunity this fall” for Republicans, and includes several quotes that give an insight into the views that senators of both parties hold of Warnock.
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican of Louisiana, said: “He’s a bright guy and he’s a good pastor. I like him. We just have a different philosophy. I will say positive things about Herschel, but I’m not going to say anything bad about Sen. Warnock.”
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, said of Warnock: “I could say confidently, in the last 100 years of Senate history, there has been no one like him.”
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said of a new GOP strategy to attack Warnock’s finances: “There’s way too much focus on personalities in politics, and I would prefer us to talk about the differences in policies.”
But U.S. Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said the Democrat’s financial arrangements, which include a $7,400 monthly housing stipend from Ebenezer, are fair game. “Lord knows they’ve attacked Herschel on all kinds of stuff.”
***
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
QUESTIONS ABOUT QUESTIONS. The November ballot will have plenty of names you may not recognize, along with questions you may not have considered. Yes, it’s statewide ballot question season, with two constitutional amendments being put to a statewide vote after the Legislature approved them for the ballot, and two tax exemption proposals on the ballot.
The Savannah Morning News has a terrific overview of the four statewide ballot questions this year, including the backstories of how they ended up being put to voters in the first place.
***
U.S. PRISON DEATHS. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff will chair a hearing of the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Tuesday, when he’ll detail the findings of a 10-month study into uncounted deaths at federal prisons. It’s part of the subcommittee’s ongoing work examining U.S. prisons and the American prison population.
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, Ossoff released a recording of a chilling call between an incarcerated man and his mother, with the man detailing his health crisis and begging her to help him. He later died in custody.
***
JOHN LEWIS ACT. U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams is joining Democratic colleagues for a news conference this afternoon in hopes of urging the U.S. Senate to pass voting legislation named after the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis.
The news conference is scheduled to coincide with National Voter Registration Day. Williams is a co-chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus.
***
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The House will bring up a Senate-passed bill to allow people to separate themselves from the student loan debt of a spouse or ex-spouse;
- The U.S. Senate continues to work through confirmations. Separately, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has taken steps to advance the Disclose Act, legislation that would require political organizations to release more donor information.
- President Joe Biden will deliver remarks in the Disclose Act before departing for New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
***
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
COBB CASH. Down-ballot races have a funny way of making a big difference at the top of the ticket. One race to watch is the solicitor general’s race in Cobb County, the only county-wide local race on the ballot this year, where Democrat Makia Metzger is facing off against Republican Courtney Brubaker for the open position.
The Marietta Daily Journal reports that Metzger is far outraising Brubaker, with about $104,000 as of the latest disclosure deadline, compared to Brubaker’s $21,200. But the paper notes that Metzger’s haul includes more than $60,000 she has loaned herself in the race.
Along with the solicitor’s race, the local Cobb contest getting the lion’s share of the attention, even above the Senate and governor’s contests, is the school board race between Board Chair David Chastain and his Democratic challenger, Catherine Pozniak.
***
TOWN HALL TIME:
- Dr. Rich McCormick, the Republican nominee in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, hosts a public safety town hall meeting tonight. Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman, School Board Chairman Wes McCall, state Sen. Greg Dolezal and other candidates will join the discussion on school safety, gangs, human trafficking and law enforcement funding.
- U.S. Reps. Jody Hice and Rick Allen will have a joint telephone town hall meeting tonight at 5 p.m. RSVP and submit questions here.
***
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.
