GOP Infighting & Disarray Continues In Georgia Just Two Weeks Before Runoff Election

Growing Republican Feud Is Driving “A Wedge” Among Voters, “Risking A Larger GOP Split” Which “Could Be The Kind Of Division That Opens The Door For Democrats”

With only two weeks until Georgia’s Senate runoffs, Republicans remain entrenched in a nasty intraparty battle that threatens to undercut Senator David Perdue and unelected Senator Kelly Loeffler’s chances in January. New reports reveal that the growing feud between President Donald Trump and Georgia Republican officials is driving “a wedge” among voters, “risking a larger GOP split.”

The conflict has created so much animosity that Georgia Republicans are concerned that some voters “may throw up their hands in this chaos, vote Democratic, or skip the election.” One longtime Republican elected official called it “the most frustrating time of his public service career.” The discord is also aimed at Loeffler and Perdue as they hit the trail––at a rally on Monday, the senators were “heckled by members of the audience” as their voices were “drowned out” by angry voters “single-mindedly devoted to the president.” One aggrieved rally attendee expressed uncertainty that Loeffler and Perdue “were going to win, because in failing to secure the most loyal Trump supporters, ‘they are missing the MAGA vote.’”

The GOP’s internal chaos comes at an “inopportune time” for Georgia Republicans as their conflict “could be the kind of division that opens the door for Democrats to do very well.” New polling reveals the potential extent of the GOP’s damage: a recent runoff survey discovered that “Republicans here in Georgia appear to be increasingly turned away from the runoffs over rhetoric about the election” and appear to be “less likely to vote in Senate runoffs.”

The infighting rages on as it becomes “a foregone conclusion that Trump will help stand up a primary challenger” to Governor Brian Kemp, who appointed Loeffler to the Senate. Last night, the president even “lashed out” at Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for acknowledging that Joe Biden won the election.

Read more about how the messy GOP war threatens Perdue and Loeffler’s seats:

NPR: Trump Drives A Wedge Among Georgia Republicans, Risking A Larger GOP Split

By Emma Hurt

• Trump has called Gov. Brian Kemp, a longtime ally with whom he has had some previous tensions, a “clown” and a “fool,” and he has referred to Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as “Republicans in name only.”

• That’s because those officials have stood by Georgia’s election as legally conducted, in the face of unfounded claims of widespread fraud from the president. Legal challenges to the election from the Trump campaign and supporters have failed in federal, superior and state courts in Georgia. Multiple recounts have upheld the result.

• But for some Republican voters, the confusion persists.
  
• “We don’t know,” Bradley said. “We don’t know if it’s just a ploy to get us not to vote Republican, too.”
  
• But there are other people, she said, who may throw up their hands in this chaos, vote Democratic, or skip the election.

• The GOP can’t afford to lose any votes right now. Georgia’s runoff elections on Jan. 5 will decide control of the U.S. Senate, as GOP incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively.
  
• The president retweeted a post suggesting Kemp and Raffensperger should go to jail and has encouraged another Georgia Republican, Rep. Doug Collins, to run against Kemp in 2022.

• Some Republican Georgia voters have adopted the campaign against their governor.

• This division in the Republican Party is happening at a very inopportune time, says Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia.

• “As we saw in November of this year, the Republican Party does not have a large commanding lead within Georgia. It is fairly close,” he said. “It could be the kind of division that opens the door for Democrats to do very well in 2022.”
  
• Rampant misinformation about the election and the pressure from the president has put Georgia Republicans in a difficult situation, even though the petition for a special session has not succeeded.

• State Rep. Chuck Martin, a longtime Republican and 18-year veteran of the General Assembly, called it the most frustrating time of his public service career.

New York Times: Senate Candidates Duel in Georgia as G.O.P. Voters’ Anger Persists

By Astead W. Herndon and Rick Rojas

• As Mr. Trump continues to rail against the election results and spread baseless allegations of voter fraud, Republicans in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections have deployed a strategy of avoidance.
  
• Mr. Perdue and Ms. Loeffler were both heckled by members of the audience, who called on them to more forcefully back Mr. Trump’s attempts to subvert the election. Some held signs calling for a special session of Congress to overturn the Electoral College vote, while others pushed the senators to vote against certifying the election results.
  
• In his remarks, Mr. Perdue nodded to the anger among those in the crowd, whose voices had drowned out Ms. Loeffler at one point.

• Many in the audience were not there for her, for Republicans, or even for Ms. Trump. They were single-mindedly devoted to the president and his unfounded claims of election fraud, which threaten to fracture the party. Ms. Trump at one point praised Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, a frequent target of Mr. Trump’s, which caused some attendees to bristle.
  
• Nancy Babbitt, who attended the rally, was upset that Ms. Loeffler had, to this point, refused to say whether she would vote to certify the election results in the Senate on Jan. 6, the day after the runoffs. Ms. Babbitt said she was unsure that Ms. Loeffler and Mr. Perdue were going to win, because in failing to secure the most loyal Trump supporters, “they are missing the MAGA vote.”
  
• “What are they hiding?” Ms. Babbitt asked.

11Alive: Poll shows Georgia Republicans increasingly see election as rigged, less likely to vote in Senate runoffs

By Jonathan Raymond

• Amid President Donald Trump’s continued insistence that the election was stolen from him, Republicans in Georgia are increasingly seeing the 2020 outcome as illegitimate, according to findings in a new 11Alive poll.
  
• But it is winning over Georgia Republicans in the court of public opinion, according to the poll conducted exclusively for 11Alive by SurveyUSA. And it could have an impact on the state’s critical Jan. 5 Senate runoffs.

• Perhaps most immediately concerning for national Republicans looking for Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to maintain control of the Senate, Republicans here in Georgia appear to be increasingly turned away form the runoffs over rhetoric about the election.

• In the earlier poll, 20% of Republicans who weren’t likely to vote said they wouldn’t because the process is rigged. In the latest poll, that number has more than doubled to 42%.

• The polling indicators consistently showed increasing Republican skepticism of the process cutting across a range of other questions: Asked if they have confidence the January runoff votes will be counted accurately, nearly half of Republican respondents – 48% – said they had no or little confidence.

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