Former President Donald Trump will headline a Sept. 25 rally in Perry, his first appearance in the Peach State since the U.S. Senate runoff elections back in January.
The Save America rally will be held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 2 p.m.
The announcement of Trump’s appearance comes only a few days after University of Georgia football great Herschel Walker announced his candidacy for the GOP Senate nomination.
Walker, who counts Trump as a close friend and supporter, is hoping to challenge Democratic incumbent Rev. Raphael Warnock next fall. Warnock ousted Kelly Loeffler in one of Georgia’s two Senate runoffs, with Democrat Jon Ossoff defeating Republican David Perdue in the other contest.
Trump has given indications he might seek the GOP White House nomination in 2024, after Joe Biden defeated the Republican incumbent in last November’s presidential election. Biden carried Georgia in an election in which Trump continued to allege voter fraud.
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan outlines his agenda for the 2020 legislative session at the State Capitol on January 13, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced Monday he will not seek reelection to another term as Georgia’s second-highest state elected official, opening the door for a fierce 2022 campaign between Republicans and Democrats vying to replace him.
In a statement, Duncan – a Republican – said he plans to create a political organization called “GOP 2.0” aimed at “healing and rebuilding” the national Republican Party amid the fallout from former President Donald Trump’s continued claims of voter fraud in the 2020 elections.
Duncan’s pivot away from Trump via public statements and television news appearances since the November 2020 general election pitted him against the former president and his allies who continue to hold a large influence over the state’s Republican Party and conservative voters in Georgia.
“The national events of the last six months have deeply affected my family in ways I would have never imagined when I first asked for their support to run for lieutenant governor in 2017,” Duncan said Monday.
“Through all of the highs and lows of the last six months, they have never left my side and are once again united behind me in my pursuit of a better way forward for our conservative party – a GOP 2.0.”
Duncan, a former health-care executive and Minor League Baseball player who served three terms in the Georgia House of Representatives, has focused much of his tenure as lieutenant governor pushing for investments and policy initiatives to position Georgia as what he calls “the technology capital of the East Coast.”
He has presided over three legislative sessions as head of the Georgia Senate since winning election over Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico by a narrow margin in 2018. Duncan said Monday he plans to preside over redistricting efforts in the Senate later this year as well as during the 2022 legislative session.
Duncan’s absence from campaigning next year will likely prompt stiff competition among Republicans during the 2022 primary. Several Democratic contenders have already thrown their hats in the ring including state Reps. Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone.
State Democratic leaders pounced on Duncan’s announcement Monday to bash Georgia Republicans as too tied to Trump, whose insistence that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent without solid proof fueled violent rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“Donald Trump and the far-right have completely taken over the Republican Party with extreme rhetoric, racist voter suppression policies and a barrage of blatant lies about our presidential election,” said Scott Hogan, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia.
“While Republicans try in vain to salvage their broken party, Democrats are focused on electing new, forward-looking leadership to the lieutenant governor’s office and [other] statewide offices in 2022.”
Democrats have already rolled out a roster of candidates for statewide offices beyond lieutenant governor including attorney general, secretary of state, insurance and labor. Democratic 2018 gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has not yet announced whether she will launch a rematch against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr talks about criminal gangs at the State Capitol on Jan. 27, 2020.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Tuesday he plans to run for reelection in 2022, setting up a likely bruising campaign against one of several strong Democratic challengers.
The announcement by Carr, who as attorney general is one of the state’s top Republicans, comes as incumbent Georgia Republican officeholders prepare to fend off a growing roster of Democratic candidates who see momentum from wins in the 2020 election cycle.
Carr has already drawn Democratic challengers in Atlanta attorney and state Sen. Jen Jordan as well as former prosecutor Charlie Bailey, who lost to Carr in 2018 by about 100,000 votes.
Competition looks to be stiff between the Democratic nominee and Carr, who previously served as then-U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s chief of staff and as commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development.
Georgia Democrats have narrowed the playing field since 2018 amid changing suburban demographics and strong grassroots efforts that helped win the state’s most recent presidential and U.S. Senate contests, handing Democrats control of Congress until at least the 2022 midterms.
The number of candidates from both parties has been building in recent weeks for campaigns to unseat incumbent Republicans in statewide offices across the board including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and labor and insurance commissioners.
Gov. Brian Kemp, who is running for a second term, has drawn Republican challengers in former DeKalb County CEO and state Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat turned Republican, and Appling County educator Kandiss Taylor.
Should he win the primary, Kemp is expected to face a possible rematch with 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams. She has not yet announced whether she will run in 2022.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who took heat from former President Donald Trump for not moving to overturn his losing 2020 election results in Georgia, is set for a primary battle against U.S. Rep. Jody Hice of Greensboro and former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle.
Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen of Atlanta has also thrown her hat in the ring to run against Raffensperger.
Democratic state Reps. Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone are both running to win Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s seat. Duncan’s office has signaled he may not seek reelection.
State Sen. Lester Jackson of Savannah and state Rep. William Boddie of East Point, both Democrats, are running against Republican Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. Democratic state Rep. Matthew Wilson of Brookhaven has challenged Republican Insurance Commissioner John King.
The list of candidates looking to unseat top Georgia incumbents is growing early ahead of the 2022 election cycle. (Photo by Beau Evans)
More candidates threw their hats in the ring Tuesday to run for top offices in Georgia’s 2022 elections including secretary of state and a suburban Atlanta congressional district.
State Rep. Bee Nguyen, D-Atlanta, launched her campaign against Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, adding to a growing lineup of Democrats vying to flip statewide seats following historic wins in Georgia’s presidential and U.S. Senate races during the 2020 cycle.
Republican Eric Welsh, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former Coca-Cola executive, also announced Tuesday he will compete for U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath’s 6th Congressional District seat, which she flipped to the Democrats in 2018 amid changing voter demographics in Atlanta’s suburbs.
The roster of candidates from both parties has been building in recent weeks for campaigns to unseat incumbent Republicans in statewide offices across the board including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, labor and insurance.
Nguyen is among the first Democratic candidates to kick off a challenge against Raffensperger, who has already drawn Republican primary competition from U.S. Rep. Jody Hice of Greensboro and former Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle.
Welsh will look to run a more formidable campaign against McBath for the suburban congressional seat north of Atlanta, after former Republican U.S. Rep. Karen Handel lost the seat to Democrat McBath in 2018 and fell short of recapturing it last year.
McBath’s seat is one of two Democrats have flipped in recent years that Republicans are aiming to win back to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican emergency-room doctor Rich McCormick is already raising money for a rematch against Democratic U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux in the 7th Congressional District northeast of Atlanta.
Gov. Brian Kemp, who is running for a second term in the governor’s office, has drawn Republican challengers in former Dekalb County CEO and state Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat turned Republican, and Appling County educator Kandiss Taylor.
Should he win the primary, Kemp is expected to face a possible rematch with 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams. Abrams has not yet announced whether she will run in 2022.
Several Republican candidates have also kicked off campaigns against Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who won a runoff in January alongside U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff to hand Democrats control of Congress.
Other high-profile Republicans who may be weighing campaigns against Warnock include U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson of West Point and former University of Georgia football star Herschel Walker, whom former President Donald Trump urged to run in March.
Further down the ballot, Republican Attorney General Chris Carr is set to square off against either Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, an Atlanta attorney who launched her campaign last month, or Atlanta attorney and former prosecutor Charlie Bailey.
Democratic state Reps. Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone are both running to win Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s seat. Duncan’s office has signaled he may not seek reelection.
State Sen. Lester Jackson of Savannah and state Rep. William Boddie of East Point, both Democrats, are running against Republican Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. Democratic state Rep. Matthew Wilson of Brookhaven has challenged Republican Insurance Commissioner John King.
Recently enacted law changes for Georgia elections have become a lightening rod for national debate on voter integrity following the 2020 election cycle. (Photo by Beau Evans)
The State Election Board held its first meeting Wednesday since Republican lawmakers in the General Assembly removed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s voting powers on the board.
Georgia’s recent controversial election legislation changing mail-in and early-voting requirements included a new rule stripping the secretary of state’s chairmanship of the board and giving state lawmakers authority to appoint its chair.
Vice Chairwoman Rebecca Sullivan led Wednesday’s board meeting in Raffensperger’s stead amid complaints from the board’s sole Democrat, David Worley, who panned the Republican-pushed election legislation as “completely ignorant” and driven by refuted claims of voter fraud.
A new nonpartisan board chair has not yet been picked by the General Assembly or approved by Gov. Brian Kemp, who signed the Republican-led elections bill in late March and has repeatedly touted the voting law changes as needed to bolster confidence in Georgia’s election system.
The elections bill, which passed along party lines last month, included dozens of rule changes such as tighter absentee voter identification, expands early-voting weekend hours and bans non-poll workers from handing out food and drinks within 150 feet of voters waiting in line outside precincts.
It also empowers the state board to suspend and temporarily replace up to four county or city election officials at any given time who are found to be performing poorly, pending a formal hearing to decide on disciplinary recommendations from an outside review panel.
Opponents have viewed that rule change as a potential way for local or state officials upset about an election’s outcome to overturn the results, similar to how then-President Donald Trump pressured Raffensperger to reverse Trump’s losing vote tally in Georgia in the 2020 general election.
Worley slammed the rule change Wednesday and pledged to oppose any future efforts aimed at interfering with county and city election offices that the five-member board might take up.
Defenders of tighter state oversight of local elections activities have pointed to officials in several areas such as Fulton County, which faced criticism over long lines outside polling places and slow turnaround of results during the 2020 cycle.
State Rep. Matthew Wilson (left) is running against Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King (right) in the 2022 elections. (Official state photos)
The field of Democratic candidates lining up to flip Republican-held state offices in Georgia for the 2022 election cycle has added another contender.
State Rep. Matthew Wilson, D-Brookhaven, announced his candidacy Wednesday against Republican Insurance Commissioner John King, who was appointed in 2019 amid felony fraud charges brought against his predecessor.
Wilson, who is among the General Assembly’s few openly gay members, launched his campaign in a video on social media highlighting his experience battling insurance companies as a personal-injury attorney based in Atlanta.
He joins a growing roster of Democratic state lawmakers challenging Republican incumbents for lieutenant governor, attorney general and labor commissioner after Democrats flipped Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats and helped spur President Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 elections.
King, a U.S. Army National Guard major general and former Doraville police chief who is Georgia’s first Hispanic statewide officeholder, has spent much of his tenure helping Gov. Brian Kemp expand COVID-19 testing facilities and temporary overflow hospital beds.
King replaced former Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck, who was indicted on fraud and money laundering charges shortly after taking office in 2019 amid a federal investigation into allegations he stole more than $2 million from the Georgia Underwriting Association, where Beck had previously worked.
Running on the Democratic ticket with Wilson so far in the 2022 cycle are state Sen. Jen Jordan of Atlanta, who is vying to unseat Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, as well as state Reps. Erick Allen of Smyrna and Derrick Jackson of Tyrone, who are both competing for lieutenant governor.
Current Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan’s office has indicated he may not seek reelection in 2022, leaving the field potentially wide open for Republican primary contenders aiming to hold Georgia’s second-highest office.
Democratic state Sen. Lester Jackson of Savannah has also thrown his hat in the ring to run against Republican Labor Commissioner Mark Butler.
Not yet officially on the Democratic ticket is rising star Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost to Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial race and is expected to wage a rematch campaign in 2022.
The upcoming primary elections are set for May 24, 2022, and the general elections set for Nov. 8, 2022.
