Crossover Dem voters were 'consequential' in beating Trump-backed Georgia election deniers: analysis

On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Trump-backed candidates in Georgia lost in part due to people who voted in the Democratic primary in 2020 before crossing over to participate in the Republican primary.

"An Associated Press analysis of early voting records from data firm L2 found that more than 37,000 people who voted in Georgia’s Democratic primary two years ago cast ballots in last week’s Republican primary, an unusually high number of so-called crossover voters," reported Steve Peoples and Aaron Kessler. "Even taking into account the limited sample of early votes, the data reveal that crossover voters were consequential in defeating Trump’s hand-picked candidates for secretary of state and, to a lesser extent, governor."

Trump backed several candidates who embraced his "Big Lie" — former Sen. David Perdue to take on incumbent Gov. Brain Kemp, Rep. Jody Hice to take on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and businessman John Gordon to take on Attorney General Chris Carr.

All of Trump's candidates lost, with the incumbents cruising to relatively easy victories.

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In Georgia, voters do not actually register with a political party and can request either primary ballot each election, so it is unclear how many of these 37,000 voters from the AP analysis are lifelong Democrats who voted strategically, or Republicans who simply crossed over for Biden in 2020 and are returning. However, at least some appear to be the former.

"Diane Murray struggled with her decision all the way up to Election Day," said the AP. "But when the time came, the 54-year-old Georgia Democrat cast a ballot in last week’s Republican primary for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. While state law allowed her to participate in either party’s primary, she said it felt like a violation of her core values to vote for the Republican. But it had to be done, she decided, to prevent a Donald Trump -backed 'election denier' from becoming the battleground state’s election chief."

You can read more here.