Georgia’s Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has aligned himself with state Republicans President Trump has raked over the coals in recent days and has warned the GOP could risk “alienating voters” by spreading misinformation about election fraud ahead of two crucial January runoff races.
Duncan’s support of Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger makes him the highest-profile Republican to defend the state leaders after Trump bashed both for refusing his demands to interfere with the results of the Georgia election over claims of a “rigged” outcome.
“It troubles me that some folks are willing, just for the sole intent of flipping an election, of spreading misinformation,” Duncan said during an interview on CNN.
He added that he has spoken to friends who have sent him pro-Trump conspiracy theories that he has debunked in seconds.
Duncan also said he was “concerned” about the amount of misinformation that “continues to fly around” involving far-fetched plots to make ruby-red Georgia turn blue in the Nov. 3 election.
“I think we are better than this,” he said. “My hope is that we move past this here in Georgia and as a country.”
Georgia’s Republican Party has been hit by in-fighting over the outcome of the presidential race that has played out in a very public and ugly way, with key figures taking sides and pushing others under the bus.
GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are locked in tight runoff races against Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Both Georgia senators have sided with Trump, claiming there is widespread fraud in Georgia and have called for Kemp to step up and for Raffensperger to resign.
Trump has tweeted multiple times about Georgia’s voting system. On Monday, he referred to Kemp as “hapless” and implored him to use nonexistent “emergency powers” to root out alleged election fraud and overturn state results that put President-elect Joe Biden ahead of Trump by more than 12,000 votes.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted he was “ashamed” he endorsed Kemp for governor in 2018.
As Trump continues his blame game, some Republicans in the state fear that the doubt the president is sowing about the integrity of the election could depress turnout in January.
Eric Johnson, a campaign adviser to Loeffler and a former GOP leader of the Georgia Senate, told the New York Times the president needs to stay on point. “You can’t say the system is rigged but elect these two senators,” Johnson said. “At some point [Trump] either drops it or he says I want everybody to vote and get their friends to vote so that the margins are so large that they can’t steal it.”
Despite knocking Georgia, Trump announced late last week that he would travel to the state on Saturday to stump for Loeffler and Perdue, even though some aides have expressed concern over whether his anger toward Kemp and Raffensperger would take center stage.
Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer told the Washington Examiner he sees Saturday’s visit as an opportunity to bring the fractured party together.
“We need the president’s help to win the runoff elections and are delighted that he is returning,” Shafer said. “His supporters here want to see him.”
Separately, Donald Trump Jr. has been campaigning for the Georgia GOP candidates. In a six-figure radio ad being released Tuesday, he told voters that the runoff isn’t just about electing two Republican senators but that it was about preserving his father’s accomplishments.
