Vernon Jones exited the race for the Republican nomination for Georgia governor, leaving former Sen. David Perdue with an unobstructed opportunity to oust Gov. Brian Kemp.
The move excited Perdue supporters, who appeared to relish the chance for a one-on-one matchup with Kemp and expressed confidence their candidate would scoop up Jones’s presumably anti-incumbent supporters as the May 24 nominating contest nears. Perdue, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running primarily on the former president’s claims that the governor facilitated election fraud in 2020 and delivered Georgia’s electoral votes to President Joe Biden. He has trailed Kemp in recent public opinion polls.
“Vernon Jones is a conservative patriot who cares deeply about Georgia. We need his voice and we need him in the fight,” Perdue said in a statement, welcoming the endorsement Jones delivered with his withdrawal from the gubernatorial primary. “I’m proud to have his support of our Trump-endorsed campaign.”
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Jones, trailing badly in most primary polls, dropped out of the governor’s race on Monday and plans to run for Congress in the midterm elections instead. The former Democrat and former state legislator, who is black, was a strong Trump supporter in the 2020 presidential race and was the first Republican to jump into the 2022 primary against Kemp, making his decision to leave the race and endorse Perdue predictable.
Indeed, at first glance, Jones’s move would appear to benefit Perdue, in that the possibility of the anti-Kemp vote dividing itself in the primary has evaporated. But Kemp supporters believe the pro-Trump forces have miscalculated. With Jones out of the race, Kemp can focus his energy on defeating Perdue and will avoid a June 21 runoff if he finishes on top. In Georgia, the first-place candidate must finish with 50% of the vote, or a runoff contest ensues.
Perdue found that out the hard way. In November 2020, the then-senator finished ahead of Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff but failed to clear 50% of the vote. Weeks later, in a Jan. 5, 2021, runoff, Ossoff topped Perdue and was elected to a six-year term in the Senate, where he now serves.
“The calculus on behalf of David Perdue to get Vernon Jones out of the race is absolutely absurd,” a Kemp booster said. “The best shot they had of beating Brian Kemp was to get him into a runoff.”
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Stacey Abrams, who lost to Kemp narrowly in 2018, is running again this year and is considered the putative Democratic nominee.
