Former President Donald Trump’s grip on his Republican Party has suffered a slip again this week, after his handpicked candidate for the Georgia governor lost at the polls.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp defeated former Senator David Perdue in Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary.
Trump recruited Perdue to challenge the incumbent in the primaries after Kemp rejected Trump’s pleas to overturn the 2020 Georgia election results.
The primary was closely watched as another test of Trump’s hold over the Republican party.
Kemp is a staunch conservative, and drew Trump’s dismay after he certified that his state had lawfully, legally, democratically been won by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential elections. This was not what Trump wanted him to do. Trump alleged there were some 11,000 votes for him to be found that would reverse the result, but the governor disagreed, as this was not true.
Trump’s unfounded claims that the election was “stolen” from him has become a divisive issue within the Republican party. Trump populists still say the election was stolen from Trump. It has continuously been proven this is not remotely true.
It is widely expected that Perdue’s loss will intensify discussion over what influence Trump’s endorsement has, versus what limitations it has, especially in races where Trump is opposing an incumbent.
Chris Christie, who was once a close ally of Trump, celebrated Kemp’s victory, saying Georgia was not going to kick out a great governor or be willing participants in the “DJT Vendetta Tour.”
Voters have been deciding in their states over the past few weeks who each parties’ official candidates will be in the midterm elections in November.
Now Kemp will face off once again with Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams, whom Kemp very narrowly defeated in 2018. Abrams accused Kemp of suppressing votes in their previous election in 2018.
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