The divide is deepening in Georgia between the state’s Republican leaders and President Trump’s most ardent supporters that have some wondering if the latest spat over a long-shot Texas lawsuit will widen the GOP schism and tank the party’s chances in the Senate runoff races.
Several Georgia Republicans have rallied this week around Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit that demands the 62 Electoral College votes in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin be invalidated.
Paxton, currently under indictment for securities fraud and facing an FBI investigation over allegations of bribery and abuse of office, asked the court to allow a motion challenging the results in the four battleground states that Joe Biden won and allow each state’s lawmakers to decide their electors rather than the voters. The move would overturn more than 20 million votes.
On Wednesday, Trump and 17 GOP-led states that Trump won filed motions backing Paxton’s bid. Trump also filed a motion “in his personal capacity” as a presidential candidate. The Supreme Court has not yet made a ruling on Paxton’s request.
Almost immediately after the lawsuit was announced earlier this week, officials in the four states that would be affected pushed back.
“I feel sorry for Texans that their tax dollars are being wasted on such a genuinely embarrassing lawsuit,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, called Paxton’s efforts a “publicity stunt.”
In Georgia, Republican Attorney General Chris Carr’s office called the lawsuit “constitutionally, legally, and factually wrong.”
Since then, nearly half of Georgia’s Senate GOP members, including Senate Majority Whip Steve Gooch, a Republican, have issued a statement siding with Paxton.
Many of the same senators who praised the lawsuit also held a hearing last week that allowed hours of fraud claims from witnesses and experts courtesy of Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, locked in tight matchups against Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff that will determine which party takes control in the U.S. Senate, also waded into the Texas lawsuit controversy.
“This isn’t hard and it isn’t partisan,” Loeffler and Perdue said in a joint statement. “It’s American. No one should ever have to question the integrity of our elections systems and the credibility of its outcomes.”
On Tuesday night, Trump purportedly called Carr and told him not to rally other Republicans against the Texas lawsuit. The call lasted about 15 minutes and took place at the urging of Perdue, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Last month, the duo called for Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to resign after he said there had been no widespread voter fraud. His comments were met with death threats as well as contempt from members of his party.
Georgia’s election manager, Gabriel Sterling, jumped into the fight and said Loeffler and Perdue’s comments helped open a “floodgate of crap” from conspiracy theorists.
On Tuesday, Georgia’s GOP Chairman David Shafer boasted on social media that the state party is suing Raffensperger over ballot observer access. His tweet has gotten more than 5,000 likes.
“Do not be discouraged. @GaRepublicans are doing everything in our power to assure the integrity of the January 5 runoff elections, including suing our own @GaSecofState,” Shafer tweeted. “We will never give the fight for election integrity.”
Do not be discouraged. @GaRepublicans are doing everything in our power to assure the integrity of the January 5 runoff elections, including suing our own @GaSecofState. We will never give the fight for election integrity.
— David Shafer (@DavidShafer) December 8, 2020
Loeffler, Perdue, and the Georgia GOP have also turned on Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. They have blamed him for not intervening in the election and called for his ouster too.
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan warned Tuesday that the constant infighting could backfire and damage the Republican Party’s reputation in the state. He told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the GOP needs to focus on the upcoming senatorial races and not be consumed by unfounded claims made by Trump or those doing his bidding, such as Giuliani and former attorney Sidney Powell.
“I’m very, very worried that this affects our brand of conservatism,” Duncan said. “The Republican Party. We got good days in front of us. We need to look for opportunities to improve.”
A Republican strategist in Athens, Georgia, told the Washington Examiner that the party “needs to get their priorities straight” or else they might be “collectively crying over something else in January.”
