ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger faces a stiff challenge in the primary Tuesday, nearly two years after drawing the ire of former President Donald Trump for refusing to try to reverse Trump’s loss to the Democrat Joe Biden in the state.
Trump was quick to endorse US Rep. Jody Hice last year when she announced she would challenge Raffensperger. The secretary of state was a prime target among numerous top state officials Trump blamed for his loss in Georgia, which has long reliably voted for Republican presidential candidates. Trump also criticized Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is fighting a Trump-backed candidate in Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary.
Hice has fully accepted Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and opposed Georgia’s electoral votes being counted for Biden. State and federal officials, including Trump’s own attorney general, have said there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Votes in the Georgia presidential election were counted three times, with each count confirming Biden’s victory.
The three contenders in the Republican primary — Hice, former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle and former probate judge and magistrate TJ Hudson — have criticized Raffensperger’s handling of the 2020 election, saying it caused Georgians to lose confidence. in the system.
Raffensperger has responded, staunchly defending his record and insisting that Georgia’s elections are fair and safe. He also made banning noncitizens from voting, a popular platform among conservative Republicans that is already enshrined in Georgia law, a centerpiece of his re-election campaign.
Trump’s obsession with his electoral loss and his unproven claims of widespread fraud have highlighted secretary of state races in negative votes across the country.
In a notorious phone call on January 2, 2021, Trump suggested that Raffensperger could “find” enough votes to tip the state’s presidential election in his favor. Raffensperger’s unwillingness to bow to pressure from Trump raised his profile across the country.
On the Democratic side, five candidates are fighting for their party’s nomination. All of them have defended the right to vote and criticized a radical election law passed by Republicans in the General Assembly in 2021 that shortened the period to request an absentee ballot, added an ID requirement, restricted drop boxes and stripped Secretary status of your seat. in the State Board of Elections, among other things.
State Rep. Bee Nguyen, who holds the seat previously held by Democratic gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, leads the pack in fundraising and has garnered some significant endorsements. The other candidates are: Floyd Griffin, state senator and former mayor of the city of Milledgeville; Michael Owens, former chairman of the Cobb County Democratic Party; John Eaves, former chairman of the Fulton County Commission; and Dee Dawkins-Haigler, former state representative from DeKalb County.
Reference-www.inquirer.com