Former Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue, who is former President Donald Trump’s choice in the ongoing Republican primary race for the Georgia governorship, is losing to incumbent Brian Kemp by almost 38 percent in a new survey from ARW Strategies. The poll found Kemp with 59.4 percent of the support and Perdue — who has heartily embraced Trump’s lies about the integrity of the 2020 elections — with just 21.5 percent. A full 10.5 percent of respondents said they were undecided, but that entire group picking Perdue wouldn’t change the overall outcome.
New: House Republican Mo Brooks refuses Jan. 6 committee request for cooperation: “At one time I would have voluntarily testified before the Nancy Pelosi Witch Hunt Committee… But that time has long passed.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) May 2, 2022
Trump has shown up in Georgia to rally support for Perdue, but the move evidently wasn’t enough to change the former Senator’s fortunes. It was probably revealing that Georgia reporter Greg Bluestein described rally-goers at that particular Trump event as showing remarkably low levels of enthusiasm while the ex-president spoke. “This crowd is hardly applauding. Not the same sort of enthusiasm I’ve seen at other Trump rallies,” the reporter explained. Bluestein also characterized the crowd size as strikingly small — something that seems likely to have gotten on Trump’s nerves, if he even admitted the truth.
JUST IN: The Trump Organization will pay $750,000 to settle with the Washington DC attorney general over its civil lawsuit alleging it misused funds raised for Trump's inauguration, DC Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement. – @KaraScannell reports
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) May 3, 2022
Trump turned against Kemp over the governor’s refusals to go along with attempts to undercut the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Trump got on the phone with Kemp in December 2020, pushing the Georgia leader to call a special legislative session for the purpose of having legislators appoint electoral college members for Georgia who backed Trump, although Biden won Georgia. The Washington Post characterized Trump’s push to Kemp as including a hope that the governor would have a role in essentially cajoling state legislators into action. Infamously, Trump also spoke over the phone with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Trump implored Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to flip the state from Biden, something Raffensperger couldn’t have legitimately done since there was no real-world evidence of widespread missing votes. Raffensperger also pushed back.
The special grand jury has been seated for the Fulton County DA's investigation into whether Trump and his allies unlawfully tried to interference in Georgia's 2020 election.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 3, 2022
To have someone like Perdue in power in place of Kemp could threaten the national process of electing the president. What if Perdue is at the helm in Georgia during the next presidential election, and what if Trump runs again — and loses in Georgia again? It’s not far-fetched to imagine that Perdue would seek to undercut the perceptibly unfavorable outcome. If Kemp isn’t above 50 percent in the eventual primary results, then he and the second-place finisher — presumably Perdue — will have to face off in a follow-up run-off election featuring just the two in the race. But recent polling suggests that Kemp will be able to avoid having to go to a run-off election, meaning he’ll be set to face Democratic contender Stacey Abrams once again.
NEW #GAGOV poll shows Kemp lead getting even bigger against Perdue, nearing 60 percent support in GOP primary. Perdue at 22 percent. pic.twitter.com/dfqh00rkZJ
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) May 3, 2022
