Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
Stories Chosen For You
On Tuesday, May 24, Republicans voters in Georgia will decide whether they want incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp or former Sen. David Perdue as their gubernatorial nominee — and the polls haven’t been looking even remotely good for Perdue. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is unopposed. And Kemp’s comments about Abrams indicate that he not only views her as a formidable opponent in Georgia’s gubernatorial race — he also sees her as a possible presidential candidate at some point in the future.
Unless the polls are way, way off, Georgia’s 2022 gubernatorial race is almost certain to become a rematch between the 48-year-old Abrams and Kemp — who narrowly defeated her when she ran for governor in the 2018 midterms. A Fox News poll released on May 18 found Kemp with a 32% lead over Republican primary challenger Perdue. If Perdue loses that badly to Kemp, it will be a major humiliation for former President Donald Trump — who has endorsed Perdue and slammed Kemp as a RINO: Republican in Name Only.
Perdue, a Trump loyalist, has been campaigning on the Big Lie and falsely claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump through widespread voter fraud — a claim that Kemp rejects. And Perdue’s unending obsession with 2020 obviously isn’t resonating with Republican voters in Georgia, a state that President Joe Biden won fair and square.
At this point, Kemp’s main concern obviously isn’t defeating Perdue in the primary — it’s going up against Abrams in the general election. During a speech on Saturday, May 21, Kemp avoided sounding too cocky about his ability to defeat Perdue. “Don’t believe the polling,” Kemp cautiously told a crowd near Athens, Georgia. But it was his comments about Abrams that were the most revealing.
Kemp told the crowd, “Be excited about the momentum, but use that to encourage you even more to leave no doubt on Tuesday. And then on Wednesday, we will all unite on the mission to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor or our next president.”
Kemp’s “president” comment speaks volumes. Kemp could have stopped with the “make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor” part; instead, he indicated that he sees Abrams as becoming a possible Democratic presidential nominee in the future.
Although Abrams lost to Kemp in 2018, that gubernatorial race established her as a major rock star in the Democratic Party. Abrams probably would have enjoyed a double-digit landslide victory had that race taken place in a deep blue state like California, New York or Massachusetts; instead, Abrams went up against Kemp in Georgia, which was deeply Republican in the past and has evolved into a swing state — and she came within striking distance.
Arguably, Abrams’ 2018 campaign helped pave the way for Biden’s victory in Georgia in 2020 as well as the victories of Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the U.S. Senate runoffs that followed in early 2021. Abrams demonstrated that a Democrat can be highly competitive in a statewide race in Georgia, and in 2020, the Biden campaign —with a lot of encouragement from Abrams — made the Peach State a high priority.
Biden has said that if his health holds up, he will seek reelection in 2024. And if Biden runs in 2024 —whether he is reelected or voted out of office — a big question for Democratic strategists becomes: who would have the best chance of defeating a Republican in 2028? Kemp obviously sees Abrams as a possibility.
Abrams has her work cut out for her in the months ahead. Between President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings, the worst inflation in more than 40 years and frustration over the COVID-19 pandemic, Democratic strategists fear that 2022 could see a major red wave like 1994 or 2010 — and that frustrated swing voters could be going to the polls with a punish-the-incumbent-party mindset.
Regardless, Kemp obviously isn’t taking Abrams’ 2022 gubernatorial campaign lightly. And if his comments on May 21 are any indication, he not only views Abrams as a gubernatorial candidate, but also, as a strong contender for the Democratic Party’s first post-Biden presidential nominee.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Georgia Republicans shrug off Trump's infamous call to Raffensperger: 'Not good, but he was mad as hell'
May 24, 2022
A panel of Georgia Republicans spun conspiracy theories about Donald Trump's election loss, and made excuses for his corrupt efforts to overturn his loss.
MSNBC's Elise Jordan spoke to several focus groups of Georgia voters, both Democratic and one Republican, and found GOP voters remained unconvinced the former president lost the election, dismissing the record number of votes received by Joe Biden as implausible and serving up a bizarre conspiracy theory drawn from the recent film "2,000 Mules," by right-wing provocateur Dinesh D'Souza.
"It's kind of like an assault on our personal freedoms, our rights as an American, to ensure that our votes are counted," said Kristi, a white woman in her 30s. "But we can't ensure that. I put that vote in, and I think, well, I hope this counts."
Jordan asked the voters if they believed it was appropriate for Trump to call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and ask him to "find" exactly enough votes to overturn his loss there, but they offered excuses for that request -- which is under investigation by local prosecutors.'
IN OTHER NEWS: Roger Stone's tax problems may yield a 'treasure trove' of info for the Jan 6th committee: report
"No, it's not good," said Martin, a self-described "ultra-MAGA conservative." "But he was mad as hell because he knew he got screwed, and he sees the results and says, this doesn't make any sense. "
Kristi just shrugged and smirked, but another white man of about 60 continued to press fraud claims.
"We have people that padded the boxes," said the second man, Cris. "I mean, if it was a straight-up, honest election, then he would have won."
"There was not a good enough check and balance," offered another woman, who appeared to be in her 50s. "You vote, but like she said, is your vote going to count? Is this a dead person's vote? Who is this? There is no check and balance."
Another white woman complained that questioning the validity of other voters' ballots would get her smeared as bigoted.
"Because if you try to check it, then you're anti- whatever that person is," she said. "You're against the voter rights of other people."
05 24 2022 07 12 45 youtu.be
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Kellyanne Conway says Trump lost in 2020 -- and blames campaign for not telling him the 'grim reality'
May 24, 2022
Former Trump White House counselor Kellyanne Conway acknowledges in her new book that former President Donald Trump legitimately lost the 2020 presidential election, and she blames his campaign for not leveling with him.
Politico reports that Conway accused the campaign of failing to execute its strategy for securing a second term, and then refusing to own up to its mistakes after Trump's defeat.
"Despite the mountains of money Trump had raised, his team simply failed to get the job done," Conway writes in her new book, "Here's the Deal." "Rather than accepting responsibility for the loss, they played along and lent full-throated encouragement (privately, not on TV) when Trump kept insisting he won."
It was this refusal to admit their failings that fed into Trump's delusions that he could somehow reverse the outcome of the election, writes Conway.
READ MORE: Trump-backed candidate sounded ‘foghorn’ of racism after getting endorsement from ‘low-energy Don’
"The team had failed on November 3, and they failed again afterward," she argues. "By not confronting the candidate with the grim reality of his situation, that the proof had not surfaced to support the claims, they denied him the evidence he sought and the respect he was due. Instead supplicant after sycophant after showman genuflected in front of the Resolute Desk and promised the president goods they could not deliver."
Conway also says that this left many Trump supporters "stuck in a parallel universe" where they really believed he would never leave office, or would even be "reinstated" at a later date.
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2022 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}