President Trump’s endorsement helped boost Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp to a commanding victory in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday night, while Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle was undone by his own words.
Kemp was winning 69 percent of the vote while Cagle remained stuck in the low 30s.
Cagle wound up on top of a crowded field of Republican contenders during the first round of voting in May, but his 38.9 percent of the vote was well below the 50 percent threshold for avoiding a runoff. Kemp received 25.6 percent, but the polls soon showed a one-on-one race would be tight, as he and Cagle battled over their conservative credentials and support for Trump.
To that end, Cagle said he would block a tax measure that would benefit Delta after the airline ended a National Rifle Association member benefit. (The NRA endorsed Cagle for governor.) He also pledged to crack down on sanctuary cities.
Kemp ran ads saying he would round up and help deport “criminal illegals” in his own truck. He had another spot in which he is portrayed wielding a shotgun against a man who wanted to date his daughter. The 55-year-old billed himself as “politically incorrect.”
These moves appeared to attract Trump’s attention and won Kemp a coveted Twitter endorsement. “Brian is tough on crime, strong on the border and illegal immigration,” the president tweeted. “He loves our Military and our Vets and protects our Second Amendment. I give him my full and total endorsement.”
Vice President Mike Pence also campaigned for Kemp. “Brian Kemp will bring the kind of leadership to the Statehouse that President Donald Trump has brought to the White House,” Pence said on Saturday.
Trump’s favor has been important in recent Republican primaries. A perceived lack of enthusiasm for the president pushed Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala., into a runoff. Trump then backed her, helping her to win that second race.
Trump endorsed against Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., partially causing Sanford to lose renomination. Trump also urged West Virginia Republicans to vote against Don Blankenship in the state’s senatorial primary, potentially stalling any momentum the controversial former coal executive generated from a quirky debate performance in which he lashed out against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The president delivered again for his chosen candidate Tuesday night. According to one poll, more than one-fifth of Georgia GOP primary voters preferred a candidate who would be a more loyal Trump ally.
Cagle stumbled when he was caught on a secret tape recording saying the Republican primary had been reduced to “who had the biggest gun, who had the biggest truck, and who could be the craziest.” This appeared to suggest his conservatism competition with Kemp was less than sincere.
“The problem is in a primary — and you and I are just talking off the record, frank — they don’t give a shit about those things. OK. In the general election, they care about it, OK. But they don’t care about it in a primary,” Cagle is heard whispering.
Kemp’s camp blasted this as insulting the primary electorate, saying in a statement that “the new audio also exposes Cagle’s real opinion of Republican voters in Georgia. Like Hillary Clinton, Casey Cagle thinks the electorate is a basket of deplorables who lack the intelligence” to care about the issues.
Cagle’s campaign shot back that the lieutenant governor was talking about his crazy opponents, not the voters.
Another sting recording captured Cagle saying he supported a bill that was “bad public policy” a “thousand different ways” to block a rival from receiving super PAC support.
Yet Cagle enjoyed the support of outgoing Republican Gov. Nathan Deal as he sought to cap a Georgia political career that dated back to when he was elected state senator at age 28 in 1994.
It wasn’t enough.
“As a small business owner and conservative reformer, Brian Kemp is the best candidate to promote job growth, recruit new business investment, and move Georgia forward,” said Tennessee Bill Haslam, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, in a statement. “As Governor, Brian will cut taxes, spur job creation, and build on Governor Nathan Deal’s positive reforms for the state. The Republican Governors Association is proud to support Brian Kemp’s campaign to be the next governor of Georgia.”
The tumultuous primary set up a general election campaign against Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams, who is vying to become the first black woman elected governor. Abrams defeated a more centrist rival for her party’s nomination back in May.
