Former President Donald Trump chalked up some victories in Tuesday’s primaries, but he suffered a trio of defeats where it most mattered: Georgia, epicenter of Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Three Republicans on whom Trump had declared war for refusing to do his vote-fixing dirty work — Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr — all cruised to victory, trouncing Trump-backed challengers who had endorsed Trump’s election fraud lies.
Given the heavy emphasis that Trump’s ploys played in these campaigns, Georgia Republicans have spoken loud and clear about their abhorrence of election manipulation. They have done Republicans elsewhere a huge favor by showing them it’s OK to stand up for what’s right while still being loyal to the party.
Trump narrowly lost Georgia to Biden in November 2020. His subsequent efforts to get Georgia’s Republican leaders to overturn the results was in itself justification for impeachment and, arguably, criminal charges. Most infamously, Trump — then a sitting president, remember — personally called Raffensperger, Georgia’s top election official and a member of the president’s party, to pressure him into committing fraud.
