Loeffler Sides With Trump Over Kemp As Intraparty Feud Boils Over 5 Days Before Runoff

“Loeffler Did Not Defend Governor Kemp. In Fact… She Sided With President Trump”

With just five days to go until the critical runoff election, unelected Senator Kelly Loeffler has found herself at the center of the intensifying “intraparty war” among Georgia Republicans. Yesterday, President Trump called for the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, to “resign from office,” just days before he is headed back to Georgia for a campaign event for the state’s two vulnerable GOP senators. Now, Loeffler is refusing to defend the political patron who appointed her to the open Senate seat against the president’s wishes.

It’s the latest “unwelcome development” in the bitter Republican battle that has plagued the Georgia Senate races, beginning with Loeffler’s appointment a year ago. Kemp’s choice to appoint the “political mega-donor” to the Senate without consulting Trump created a “‘nasty’ feud” between the governor and the president — with Loeffler right in the middle. In response, Loeffler has gone to remarkable lengths to demonstrate absolute loyalty to Trump, pledging to stand with him “100%” of the time no matter what the consequences. The growing feud between President Trump and other GOP statewide officials in Georgia is driving “a wedge” among voters, “risking a larger GOP split” and threatening Loeffler and Senator David Perdue.

Loeffler and Perdue have joined Trump in pushing “dangerous” false claims against the state’s election administrators without evidence and even called on the Republican Secretary of State to resign over baseless election fraud claims. As a result, Trump’s relentless accusations of fraud have “corroded trust in Georgia’s voting system among members of the party base.”

Read more about Loeffler’s awkward dilemma in the nasty feud between the governor who appointed her and the president she says she agrees with “100%”:

AJC: As runoff nears, Trump complicates GOP case by demanding that Kemp resign

• The president’s attack on Kemp, calling him an “obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia,” further inflames an internal Republican battle between Trump’s loyalists and some state GOP leaders who refute his false claims of widespread voter fraud.

• And the increasing tension comes as U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are trying to project a united Republican front ahead of Tuesday’s runoffs against Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

• The attack is another unwelcome development for Perdue and Loeffler, who have both tried to appease Trump by refusing to acknowledge Biden’s victory and, most recently, backing his call for $2,000 direct stimulus checks.
  
• Though Loeffler was appointed to the office by Kemp in December 2019, and counts him as one of her most important allies, she has not rushed to counter the president for fear of alienating him.
  
• At a campaign stop in Savannah on Wednesday, Loeffler blasted Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, when pressed on Trump’s demand for the governor to resign.

WSAV: “Loeffler was asked about a tweet from President Trump where he called for the resignation of Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. She refused to comment on the president’s actions.”

WJCL: “At a campaign stop in Savannah, Senator Kelly Loeffler did not defend Governor Kemp. In fact, as Jessica Battista explains, she sided with President Trump…We pressed her again if she believes Governor Kemp should resign.”

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