Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King is sounding the alarm on party donations heading into the mid-terms.
“The usually low-key King posted a lengthy statement to social media, almost a manifesto, after Democrats managed to flip a Republican state House seat in Oconee and Clarke counties,” wrote Atlanta Journal Constitution Senior Political columnist Patricia Murphy. “That unexpected special election loss followed two 26-point Democratic routs in November for a pair of statewide Public Service Commission seats, which Georgia Republicans have dominated for decades.”
Murphy reports the PSC upsets came after another September special election to fill former state GOP Sen. Brandon Beach’s deep-red seat finished with the Republican contender winning 10 percentage points behind what the Republican incumbent won the year before.
“Georgia Republicans, we have a problem,” King wrote, before describing unmotivated GOP donors, unmotivated Republican base voters and a muddled party message that put other issues ahead of people’s difficult economic realities.
“Unless the party changes course,” he warned, Republicans will be outraised, outspent and defeated next year, too.
“Everyone behind the scenes knows it, even if hardly anyone is willing to say it publicly,” King wrote.
“As his statement ricocheted around GOP circles this week,” fellow Republicans reached out to thank him for speaking up, said Murphy.
“Somebody had to say something,” one said.
Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon denies the party has a problem, chalking the PSC losses as the result of the timing of the races, which overlapped with off-year city elections that typically turn out more Democrats.
“These elections don’t have any predictive value,” McKoon said, but other party team players aren’t buying it.
Murphy reports “a communications vacuum” at the state level as Gov. Brian Kemp enters his last year in office and the state’s next top three Republicans — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — face off in a primary race to replace Kemp. Each one is trying to put affordability at the top of their list of issues, but they’re all competing against each other, including on messaging. And President Donald Trump’s own message operation in Washington isn’t helping, with Trump dismissing Americans’ affordability issues as a “Democrat hoax.”
“You’re doing better than you’ve ever done!” Trump said at a recent rally in Pennsylvania, but Georgia Democratic Party Chair Charlie Bailey called Trump’s comments “insulting and idiotic.”
“This isn’t rocket science,” said Bailey. “If you do things that hurt folks and make it harder for people to achieve the American dream, they might have a bad reaction to that. And that’s what we’re seeing in Georgia.”
Murphy said King had sought to run for Senate in 2026 but dropped out when he learned Trump was not giving him an endorsement in the GOP primary. Murphy said that snub has given King the freedom to be the Republicans’ very own Paul Revere, warning the GOP, “The midterms are coming!”
“Only Republicans can decide if they’re willing to listen,” said Murphy.
Read the AJC report at this link.